Swimming

Splash, Splash, Splash

Swimming has a long recorded history over thousands of years, with early cave drawings, written references, and mosaic and clay work depicting the sport.
Swimming events have been included in the Olympic Games since the first modern Olympics in 1896 in Athens.
Although swimming’s popularity grew in the 1800s, the first book about swimming was published in 1538, written by German Professor, Nicolas Wynman.
The Japanese have the earliest record of swimming competitions, dated 36 BC.
There are four typical styles of swimming called freestyle or front crawl which has its origins in Native America, Pacific Islands and West Africa; breaststroke, the style most used in early British competitions; butterfly, a variant of breaststroke which came about in 1933; and backstroke.

Special swimming clothes are used for swimming, and they can be called ‘swimsuits’, ‘bathers’, ‘togs’, ‘swimming costumes’, ‘cossies’ and other names, depending on where you live, and they can include one piece suits; two piece, which are generally called ‘bikinis’; board shorts; swim or racing briefs, often known as ‘speedos’; as well as others.
The 20th century has seen many significant developments in swimming styles, and has included underwater studies of the various strokes, and the official recognition of butterfly as its own style in 1952.
The International Swimming Federation (FINA) was founded in 1908, and began keeping records on world record swimming results.
Swimming can be dangerous in certain environments, such as in the ocean when rips and currents are present, or without proper knowledge and skill, and can be fatal, resulting in drowning.
Basic swimming and water safety skills have been included as part of the school curriculum in some countries around the world, and many parents pay for their children to attend swimming lessons with recognised trainers outside of school hours.