About the Sport – Swim England Competitive Swimming Hub

Update on swimming officials training courses after pools get reopening date

ianwhadcoat — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 13:57:19 +0000

Swim England has issued updates on several of its swimming officials training courses for volunteers now pools have been given a date to reopen across the country. Many of the courses required a practical assessment which were put on hold during the coronavirus lockdown. Claire Coleman, Swim England Head of Volunteering and Pathways, said: “We … […]

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An introduction to swimming at the Olympics

mikepattinson — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 12:08:28 +0000

Athletes have been racing in competitive swimming at the Olympics since the very first modern day Olympic Games in 1896, where it was one of the original nine sports. The sport remains one of the most popular and universal Olympic sports to this day, with swimmers from 166 nations competing at London 2012, 19 of them seeing … […]

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An introduction to swimming at the Paralympics

mikepattinson — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 11:24:51 +0000

Swimming was one of the original sports when Sir Ludwig Guttmann’s Stoke Mandeville Games became the first modern Paralympic Games at Rome in 1960. While the Games were originally only open to athletes with spinal injuries, it has gradually become more inclusive and swimming at the Paralympics now includes 14 classifications of disability. There are … […]

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An introduction to competitive pool swimming

Fri, 13 May 2016 14:30:12 +0000

Competitive pool swimming is one of the most exciting and popular sports in the world, with swimmers from 190 countries competing at the 2015 World Championships in Russia. While the number of swimmers and the distance swum in pool swimming can vary, the goal is always the same – to finish first! How many swimmers … […]

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The history of competitive swimwear

mikepattinson — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 16:14:20 +0000

One of the biggest changes in competitive swimming since the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 has been in swimwear. Read on for a brief history of competitive swimwear. At the early stagings of the Games, men and women used to wear one-piece swimsuits made of wool, fully covering their bodies from hips to shoulders. In … […]

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The history of individual medley swimming

mikepattinson — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 15:48:38 +0000

Before butterfly was established as an individual stroke in 1952, individual medley races comprised of just three strokes and were typically swum over three or six lengths. It was in a 150 yard individual medley race – known at the time as ‘three-stroke medley’ – that one of the first examples of butterfly arm technique … […]

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The history of butterfly swimming

mikepattinson — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 15:48:54 +0000

The history of butterfly stroke started in the 1930s when it developed as a style of swimming breaststroke. Swimmers and coaches began to realise that breaststroke was quicker when a swimmer recovered their arms forward above the water and the arm technique – as well as the swimming term ‘butterfly’ – was born. While an … […]

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The history of breaststroke swimming

mikepattinson — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 15:49:09 +0000

Breaststroke was the most common stroke across the first competitive swimming races in Europe in the 19th Century. The development of front crawl saw breaststroke overtaken as the fastest swimming stroke, but its popularity remained and a separate breaststroke competition was included in the Olympic Games for the first time in 1904. One of the … […]

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The history of front crawl swimming

mikepattinson — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 16:06:20 +0000

While swimming researchers have traced the history of front crawl to originating as far back as the Stone Age, the first mention of the stroke in a competitive context was reported by The Times newspaper in 1844. Invited to swim in a race in London, two native Americans, Flying Gull and Tobacco, were said to be lashing the … […]

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The history of backstroke swimming

mikepattinson — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 15:49:26 +0000

Backstroke swimming developed as an offshoot of front crawl, with swimmers copying the overarm technique on their backs. One of the most important developments in the history of backstroke was made in the late 1930s when Australian swimmers began to bend their arms for the underwater phase of the stroke. This new technique was faster than using the traditional … […]

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