Swimming as an Olympic sport
In ancient times swimming had been used as a mode of cleansing. They used it more like a skill than pleasure and associated it with military operations. Today swimming is a proper recreational activity and competitive sport. Recently the research has shown that it is one of the most relaxing and a healthy technique which strengthens your heart, builds your muscles and tones the body. It is a source of oxygen for different organs. According to USWFA, swimming not only provides physical benefits, but at the same time it provides positive impact on mental and social acspects.
The history of swimming goes back to the prehistoric times, it has been shown in the Stone Age paintings of about 7000 years ago. Men’s swimming became a part of first modern Olympic Games in 1896 at Athens. Six events were planned but out of which only four were contested. Three competitions were conducted in freestyle and one in sailor freestyle on the Bay of Zea. A total of thirteen participants from four countries competed and Alfred Hajos from Hungary won the first gold medal for 100 meter freestyle. Women were allowed to participate in the Olympics of 1912 held in Stockholm. Twenty seven swimmers from eight nations competed in freestyle relay.
All parts of body are involved in swimming from head to toes. Human body repeats a specific body motion during swimming, called swimming stroke. Each kind of stroke presents a different swimming crawl or style. These swimming crawls are coordinated with rhythmic movements of arms, torso, legs, head and feet. However during training exercises people swim with the help of just arms or legs. The swimming strokes differ from one another on the basis of popularity and difficulty. A stroke should ensure smooth forward motion with less resistance from the water. In 1896 only freestyle swimming was introduced and it enables a swimmer to move fast than other strokes. Later on competitions of different swimming strokes took place. Now there are sixteen Olympic swimming competitions that take place in swimming pools. Both men and women have their separate competitions. Four popular strokes of Olympic swimming are freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. Butterfly was initially considered a part of breaststroke, later on it was accepted as a separate style in 1952. It is considered as the most powerful, graceful and exhausting stroke. Competitive swimming takes place in Olympics and each swimmer’s goal is to maximize their performance or speed of swimming. Every swimmer has their specialized stroke.
Swimming, nowadays is one of the most watched Olympic sport and it has a great fan following. By far Michael Phelps is considered as the best Olympic swimmer. His Olympic medals and Olympics gold are more than anyone else. People have always given great love to swimmers, but they get disappointed with swimming controversies and scandals. It is often said that games and politics are two sides of a coin. Well Olympic swimming can flourish much more if politics are placed apart and true sportsmen spirit is observed. Everyone cannot become a swimmer, but with right techniques and proper guidelines personal and professional greatness can be achieved.
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