Why Swimming?
Swimming is a sport everyone can enjoy – boys, girls, adults and even babies. It’s also one of the best ways to exercise ever! Swimming helps build the muscles in your upper back, shoulders, arms and chest. It also stretches your muscles and helps improve posture. There are so many benefits to swimming that lots of athletes like runners, cyclists and skaters use it for cross-training.
About the Sport
SPEED SWIMMING
There are four competitive swimming events – the freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and the butterfly. The most important thing to remember about mastering any or all of these strokes is technique, technique, technique! A good technique means knowing how to stroke efficiently so that you’re not wasting energy. The result? That energy you save may provide you with the extra speed you need to improve your overall time or win the race.
“Fun Fact: At the first modern Olympic Games held in Athens in 1896, swimmers boarded a boat that took them out to the frigid waters of the Saronic Gulf where they dove into the sea and raced to the finish line on shore.”
COMPETITIVE EVENTS
FREESTYLE In this event, the competitor may use any stroke he or she wishes. The front crawl, the fastest of the strokes, is usually chosen. Alternating overarm strokes and the flutter kick are used, and the head remains in the water with the face alternating from side to side to breathe.
“Fun Fact: Did you know that Hollywood’s original Tarzan, Johnny Weissmuller, was the first person to break the one-minute mark in the 100-metre freestyle?”
BACKSTROKE In the backstroke event, the swimmer must stay on his or her back at all times except for when the swimmer comes to the wall to do the flip turn. The arms do most of the movement in this stroke. It is important that this movement is as continuous as possible. Just like the freestyle, the backstroke is a continuous stroke.
BREASTSTROKE The arms work together with the breaststroke, rather than alternately as they do in freestyle. One of the first strokes that is taught, the breaststroke is the slowest of all competitive strokes.
BUTTERFLY The butterfly is the most difficult and exhausting stroke in swimming and one of the hardest to master. In the butterfly, the position is the same as the breaststroke, but requires the swimmer to execute a dolphin-like kick, while making a windmill-like movement with the arms.
In addition to the four competitive swimming events mentioned, there’s also an individual medley in which the swimmer uses all four strokes beginning with the butterfly. In the medley relay, there are four swimmers and each one uses a different stroke beginning with the backstroke.
“Fun Fact: The first men’s bathing suit weighed 4 kg (9 lbs.) fully soaked and was so heavy, it had a tendency to fall down!”
Athlete Profile
MIKE'S MOMENT IN ATHENS
Mike Brown of Perth, Ontario made his first real mark on the swimming scene when he won a bronze medal in the 200 m breaststroke at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. In the 2004 Athens Olympics, Mike was Canada’s top individual place finisher. He broke the Canadian breaststroke record a total of three times in two days! For inspiration, Mike turns to a video documentary about Victor Davis and Alex Baumann, two of Canada's greatest swimmers. At 20 years old, Mike is sure to follow in their footsteps.
History
WHEN DID IT ALL START
Swimming has been around practically forever. In fact, the earliest record of the sport dates back to the Stone Age and 'the cave of swimmers' which is located in southwestern Egypt. In the 1800s, competitive swimming using the breaststroke was introduced in Europe. In 1844, a group of Native Americans participated in a British competition using the much faster front crawl. Flying Gull took first place and another Native American named Tobacco took second.
Swimming was introduced as an official Olympic sport for men in 1896 at the first modern Games in Athens. Today, there are 50,000 registered swimmers in Canada, 10,000 registered competitive swimmers in Ontario, with over 140 clubs in Ontario.
“Fun Fact: Did you know a natatorium is a building constructed for the purpose of housing a swimming pool and related equipment?”
Contact Info
FIND OUT MORE
Swim Ontario
1185 Eglinton Ave. East, Suite 105
Toronto, ON
M3C 3C6
416-426-7225
http://www.swimontario.com
