Swimming is the movement by humans or animals through water, usually without artificial assistance. Swimming is an activity that can be both useful and recreational. It has been known since prehistoric times.
The English are considered the first modern society to develop swimming as a sport. In 1896, swimming became an Olympic sport for men with the 100 meters and 1500 meters freestyle competitions held in open water Soon after, as swimming gained popularity, more freestyle events were included, followed by the backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke, and lastly, the individual medley.

Types of swimming strokes:

Dog Paddle
• One of the simplest strokes.
• Involves reaching forward with the arms underwater and using a modified flutter kick.

Butterfly stroke
• It is the most difficult and exhausting stroke.
• The body is in a prone position.
• Involves the dolphin kick with a windmill-like movement of both arms in unison.
• When swimming competitively, the swimmer must not swim underwater

Breast Stroke
• Involves frog kicking alternates with a simultaneous movement of the arms from a point in front of the head to shoulder level.
• When swimming competitively, the swimmer’s head must be kept above the surface of the water at all times.

Freestyle stroke
• Swimming where any stroke is used.
• When swimming competitively, only 15 meters can be spent underwater from the start or from each turn

Backstroke
• Involves alternate over-the-head arm strokes and a flutter kick in a supine position.
• When swimming competitively, only 15 meters can be spent underwater from the start or from each turn.

Rules according to the strokes

Freestyle: Walking on the bottom, pulling on the lane rope, not touching the wall on a turn, or not completing the distance.

Backstroke: Pulling or kicking into the wall once a swimmer has turned passed the vertical onto the breast. Turning onto the breast before touching the wall with the hand at the finish of the race.

Butterfly: Alternating movements of the arms or legs; pushing the arms forward under instead of over the water surface (underwater recovery); a breaststroke style of kick; touching with only one hand at the turns or finish.

Breaststroke: An illegal kick such as flutter (freestyle), dolphin (butterfly), or scissors (side stroke); not on the breast; alternating movements of the arms; taking two arm strokes or two leg kicks while the head is under water; touching with only one hand at the turns or finish.

Swimming can be continued for a lifetime because there’s no impact of it. It builds cardio respiratory fitness. It is a sport that gives you relief from the heat in summer and burns your calories.

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 22nd, 2008 at 1:57 pm and is filed under swimming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.