Swimming

V

Other Swimming Activities

Swimming is integral to several sports, including body boarding, snorkeling, surfing, synchronized swimming, triathlon, underwater diving, and water polo. People also should have strong swimming skills in a variety of other water-based activities, including competitive diving, fishing, jet-skiing, rowing, sailing, and waterskiing.

Swimming is a valuable activity for physical therapy and exercise. Because it works the majority of the muscles in the body and provides both aerobic benefits and resistance benefits (as the swimmer pulls and pushes through the water), the sport is generally considered one of the most complete forms of exercise. Swimming does not strain joints and connective tissue as much as many other forms of exercise, and swimmers injure themselves at a lower rate than most other athletes. Athletes in other sports who are recovering from injuries often swim to stay in shape.

Several exercise programs are water based. In water aerobics, the water provides extra resistance for cardiovascular workouts. Many older adults exercise by becoming involved in programs with organized coaching, workouts, and competition. Swimming laps in pools is an extremely popular exercise among people of all ages.

Not all competitions take place in pools. In long-distance swimming, racers compete over lengthy courses, usually in lakes, rivers, or the ocean. Most competitions are held at distances of 5 and 25 km (3.1 and 15.5 mi), but some races are longer than 38 km (24 mi). The longest races can take seven or eight hours to complete.

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Several occupations require that individuals be proficient swimmers. For lifeguards, swimming skills are perhaps most important because lifeguards are responsible for the safety of other people in swimming areas. Scuba diving and snorkeling instructors also must be prepared to assist others if an emergency occurs. Physical education teachers must swim well enough to teach others. Underwater archaeologists do research while scuba diving, so strong swimming skills help them with their work. Pearl divers must be able to swim deep and hold their breath for a long time as they descend to the bottom to search for their treasures. Sailors and offshore oil workers do not swim as part of their jobs, but because they work on the water, they should be able to swim fairly well in case they accidentally fall overboard.

VI

History

Human beings have been swimming for thousands of years. One of the earliest representations of swimming is an ancient Egyptian wall relief that shows soldiers of Pharaoh Ramses II (reigned 1290-1224 bc) pursuing their enemies by swimming across the Orontes River between ancient Egypt and Asia Minor.

Swimming was highly esteemed in ancient Greece and Rome, especially as a form of training for warriors. In Japan, competitions were held as early as the 1st century bc. In Europe, swimming was less popular during the Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century), when immersion in water was sometimes associated with the recurrent epidemic diseases of the time.

The crawl stroke was probably invented independently in various areas of the world several hundred years ago. Swimmers in South America and the South Pacific used crawl-like strokes long before they were used in Europe. Native Americans also used an overarm crawl stroke. In 1844 two members of the Native American Ojibwa tribe named The Flying Gull and Tobacco traveled to England, where they defeated local champions and became national celebrities.

By the 19th century European misconceptions about the dangers of swimming had been dispelled. In the late 19th century amateur swimming clubs began conducting competitions in the United States and Britain. In the United States, colleges and universities such as Yale University, Indiana University, and the University of Southern California played an important role in spreading interest in swimming as a competitive sport. In 1875 Matthew Webb of Great Britain became the first person to swim across the English Channel (see Channel Swimming). Webb swam between Dover, England, and the coast of France near Calais, where the channel is more than 32 km (20 mi) in width. By 1896 swimming had become well established. It was one of the sports at the first modern Olympic Games, held that year in Athens, Greece.

A

Early Champions

At the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri, American swimmer Charles Daniels won gold medals in the 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle, signaling the beginning of an era of American dominance that lasted until the 1930s.

Women’s swimming became an Olympic sport at the 1912 Games in Stockholm, Sweden, and Australian swimmer Fanny Durack won the first gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle. That same year American swimmer Duke Kahanamoku won the men’s 100-meter freestyle. Kahanamoku repeated his 100-meter victory at the 1920 Games in Antwerp, Belgium, and was also a member of the winning 4 × 200-meter freestyle relay team. Later, Kahanamoku traveled worldwide as a Red Cross water safety instructor, promoting swimming and the sport of surfing.

At the 1924 Olympics in Paris, France, Kahanamoku finished second in the 100-meter freestyle to fellow American Johnny Weissmuller. Weissmuller also won gold medals in the 400-meter freestyle and the 4 × 200-meter freestyle relay. That same year American swimmers Ethel Lackie and Martha Norelius won gold medals in the 100-meter and 400-meter freestyle races, respectively. In the 400-meter freestyle relay, Lackie and teammates Euphrasia Donnelly, Gertrude Ederle, and Mariechen Wehselau captured the gold medal. Two years later, in 1926, Ederle swam across the English Channel, becoming the first woman to do so. Her time for the 56-km (35-mi) crossing from Cap Gris-Nez, France, to Dover, England, was 14 hours 31 minutes, breaking the previous record of 16 hours 23 minutes. In 1928 Weissmuller repeated his 100-meter and 4 × 200-meter victories at the Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Japanese swimmers ended American dominance by winning five of the six men’s events at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California. Buster Crabbe, one of the most famous male swimmers of the period, won the only gold medal for the American men, in the 400-meter freestyle. American women continued to be successful. Leading female swimmers included Eleanor Holm and Helene Madison of the United States and Hendrika Mastenbroek of The Netherlands.

Swimming became more popular in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s, partly due to American swimmer and actor Esther Williams. Because the Olympics were cancelled during World War II (1939-1945), Williams never competed in the Olympics competition, but she starred in a number of popular motion pictures that featured her in water ballets, swimming, diving, and waterskiing. She went on to develop her own line of swimming pools.

In the 1950s and 1960s Australian swimmers enjoyed great Olympic success, including Murray Rose, Jon Konrads, David Thiele, and Dawn Fraser. Fraser became the first Olympic champion to win the same event at three different Olympics when she captured the gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle at the 1956 Games in Melbourne, Australia, the 1960 Games in Rome, Italy, and the 1964 Games in Tokyo, Japan.

B

Champions Since the 1970s

At the 1972 Olympics in Munich, West Germany, American swimmer Mark Spitz produced one of the greatest athletic feats in Olympic history. Spitz won seven gold medals, all in world-record times. He remains the only swimmer ever to win seven gold medals at one Olympics. American swimmers John Naber and Bruce Furniss were two of the men’s stars at the 1976 Olympics in Montréal, Québec, Canada, while swimmers from East Germany won almost all the gold medals in the women's competition. In 1972 and 1976, American Shirley Babashoff won a total of eight Olympic medals (two gold and six silver). The 1980 and 1984 Olympics, held in Moscow and Los Angeles respectively, were both affected by large boycotts involving numerous countries, and many athletes did not compete. Outstanding performers from these Games included Vladimir Salnikov of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Barbara Krause of East Germany, Michael Gross of West Germany, and Rowdy Gaines and Mary T. Meagher of the United States.

At the 1988 Games in Seoul, South Korea, Kristin Otto of East Germany won six gold medals and Janet Evans of the United States won three. American Matt Biondi won five gold medals in the men’s events. Also at Seoul, Anthony Nesty of Suriname became the first black Olympic swimming champion when he won the 100-meter butterfly.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s Aleksandr Popov of Russia and Krisztina Egerszegi of Hungary emerged as dominant swimmers. At the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Spain, Popov won gold medals in the men’s 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle races. He repeated the victories at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Georgia. Egerszegi won the 200-meter backstroke at three different Olympics: 1988, 1992, and 1996. She also won the 100-meter backstroke and the 400-meter individual medley in 1992. Outstanding American swimmers of the 1980s and 1990s include Mike Barrowman, Pablo Morales, Summer Sanders, and Jenny Thompson.

Other swimmers also produced outstanding performances at the 1996 Games, including Amy Van Dyken of the United States and Michelle Smith of Ireland. Van Dyken won gold medals in the 50-meter freestyle, the 100-meter butterfly, the 4 × 100-meter freestyle relay, and the 4 × 100 medley relay. Smith won gold medals in the 400-meter freestyle, 200-meter individual medley, and the 400-meter individual medley. Australian swimmers asserted their dominance of men’s long distance events during the 1990s. Kieren Perkins won gold medals in the 1,500-meter freestyle at the 1994 world championships and the 1992 and 1996 Olympics. During the 1998 world championships, Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett took gold and silver medals in the 400-meter freestyle, and Hackett won a gold medal in the 1,500-meter freestyle.

Thorpe was one of the top stars at the 2000 Olympics, held in Sydney, Australia. He won five medals, including gold in the 400-meter freestyle and in the 4 × 100-meter and 4 × 200-meter freestyle relays. Other swimming stars at the 2000 Games included Pieter van den Hoogenband of The Netherlands, who won gold medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle events; Lenny Krayzelburg of the United States, who captured gold medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke races and the 4 × 100-meter medley relay; and Inge de Bruijn of The Netherlands, who won four medals, including golds in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle events and in the 100-meter butterfly. Veteran American swimmers Dara Torres (two gold and three bronze medals) and Thompson (three gold, one bronze) also starred in the Games in Sydney.

C

Performance-Enhancing Drugs

Despite the popularity of swimming as a whole, the use of performance-enhancing drugs has cast a shadow over some of the individual accomplishments in the sport. Beginning in 1994, various reports of use of performance-enhancing drugs by the East German and Chinese women’s teams surfaced. In the 1970s and 1980s members of the East German team, including Kristin Otto, were systematically given drugs—sometimes without their knowledge—by their coaches. Many of these athletes later suffered major health problems.

In the mid-1990s evidence of drug use was also found among Chinese female swimmers. At the 1994 world championships, Chinese women won almost every event. Three weeks later, seven Chinese swimmers tested positive for banned steroids during a surprise drug test. During the late 1990s more Chinese women tested positive for drug use and one Chinese swimmer was arrested for carrying a large quantity of bioengineered human growth hormone into Australia on the way to the 1998 world championships. Also in 1998, Ireland’s Michelle Smith was found guilty of tampering with her urine sample during a surprise drug test. She was suspended from competitive swimming for four years. Rumors about the use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs by swimmers continued at the 2000 Olympics, prompting calls for more research on detection.