The History Of Swimming, Intriguing As An Aqua Blue Exploration

Listening to the ideas and thoughts of today’s woman has always been an exciting prospect for Femcompetitor Magazine and as our audience continues to grow, so does the desire of our female readers to contribute to our dynamic publication.

We welcome that.

One such reader who requested to make a contribution is Julie.

Julie? Please say hello to your friends.

“I am Julie, and I’m on the content team at Poolvacuumhq.com. Being an ardent swimming lover, I write almost everything about home improvement or swimming ranging from product reviews and also awesome safety tips on living a healthy life.”

Sounds intriguing.

Isn’t summer a great time to relax by the pool, take a dip to cool off and maybe enjoy some refreshments?

We love the warm summers and lying by and swimming in the pool.

Please enjoy Julie’s article on the history of swimming.

Understanding The History Of Swimming

Swimming is something that comes naturally to most animals. However, men have to learn swimming because they are not born swimmers. However, this has not prevented human

beings to become prolific and excellent swimmers with practice and expertise. Though competitive swimming might be just a few hundred years old, if we look back at the history of

swimming we would come to know that human beings have used swimming for various reasons.

If one looks the old scriptures and ruins of Harappa and Mohenja Daro, you will come to know that there have evidences to show that swimming was very much a part of the lives of

human beings. The stone engravings show clearly the proof that the men and women of those days might have used breaststrokes and dog paddles as the most common methods of staying

a float in water and moving around. However, swimming in the real sense of the term might be just around 500 to 600 years old which is very new compared to the overall age of the earth

and civilization. Hence instead of concentrating on the early days of swimming, we will try and learn more about the other aspects of swimming which are not so very old.

England Might Have Played A Big Role

It would be pertinent to mention here that England might have played a very important and significant role in making swimming popular. It was the first country in the world where

swimming was considered to be a recreational sport and there were also competitions held around it.

The first competitions in swimming might have been held on 1837 and man-made swimming pools were used for the purposes of such competition. During this period the National Swimming Society in England was also set up. It organized a number of competitions and these became hugely popular within a short period of time. This also led to the construction of a number of pools and various other swimming associations and organizations came into being. This happened continuously but it might have gathered pace during the year. The year also saw the formation of the Amateur Swimming Association of Britain. This basically was an organization and it had more than 300 clubs under its control. However, in all these associations and clubs, the breaststroke and the more recently discovered sidestroke where the only types of swimming competitions that were held.

Getting Into Olympics

The inclusion of swimming as an even in the 1896 Olympics was indeed a turning point and a watershed moment. This Olympics saw competitors vying against one another in the 1500

meter freestyle and the 100 meter freestyle. The events were held in open water. Though there were only two events in this Olympics, this went a long way in giving the much needed thrust to

swimming in the years and decades to come.

Many more styles were added and these included backstroke, breaststroke, individual medley, and butterfly strokes. However, it would be pertinent to mention here that women were not

made a part of these Olympic swimming events for many years. It was only in the year 1912 that women made their debut in Olympic swimming. Since then things have moved forward at great speed and swimming became one of the most common sports and events in all Olympics.

Apart from Olympics, there were also a number of other events and competitions where swimming was perhaps the only event. It also gave birth to various water based events like water polo and so on.

Speed Modifications

From the year 1890 to perhaps even today, swimming has gone through many changes apart from becoming hugely popular. Several modifications in the techniques of swimming came into

being. This happened because different countries, counties and regions made some big changes in the way they learned and mastered the breaststroke. All this happened during the period

1935 to 1945 and it might also have moved on till the 1950s. This made the sport popular but it also created quite a bit of controversy and differences of opinion as far as perceptions and

thought processes related to swimming.

Further this period also saw the Second World War happening. This resulted in a big shortage of fabric for making swimming suits. This perhaps was another big harbinger of change as far as

the history of swimming was concerned. It saw the emergence of two piece swimming suits for women and this was first used in the public domain in 1943. Further these few years and

perhaps decades also saw techniques being changed so that the participants and competitors had a better chance of winning medals. Swimmers spent much more time in the water and the

main objective was to gain advantage as far as speed was concerned. This technique and strategies might have been honed a bit, but they still continue to be as relevant today as they

were around 68 years back.

Long Distance Swimming

Apart from short and medium distance swimming, over the past 50 to 60 years we also saw long distance swimming also become highly popular. We saw medleys of 1500 meters and also

cross country and cross-ocean swimming. These were grueling and tiring events and it is possible that some mishaps and even deaths might have happened to a number of participants

because of asphyxiation, fatigue and other such reasons. The cold waters of the western countries might also have caused such problems to many such competitors who were valiant

and brave in their efforts to create history.

The Final Word

It would be pertinent to mention that the growth of swimming might have happened only in the past 150 to 175 years. However, since man graduated from animals, swimming was perhaps

only natural to him. Since he spent his time on land, swimming as a skill got lost over a period of some thousand years. But once he got into the water and tried flapping his legs and hands

around, it was only a matter of time before he became interested in this sport and starting learning it in right earnest.

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