Where is swimming originated

This depicts four swimmers who are performing their interpretation of the modern day crawl. Let's face it, when historians look back at the great ancient empires, they are not particularly looking at how well these people could swim, but if you search hard enough, you will find lots of evidence.

If civilisation started in Africa, then it is possible that the popularity of swimming came out of the Middle East and Africa. There are many references to people swimming, in Babylon and Assyria, with the majority of people preferring the breaststroke as the best means of travelling through the water. There are no known pictures at this stage of the butterfly or backstroke.

These would be seen much later. Some of the most famous drawings of swimming can be found in the Kebir desert, which on the surface, seems to an unlikely place.

These date from about B. An Egyptian burial chamber has a picture of a swimmer doing the front crawl, and the depiction of swimmers can be seen in civilisations such as the Minoans, Hittites and other cultures throughout in the Middle East. However, it doesn't stop there, and we can find evidence of swimming in the Inca cultures in Central America, and ancient India.

During this period, it is highly likely that swimming was practised wherever man had access to water, though, it was not recorded anywhere for prosperity. The Greeks and Romans practised swimming and a little-known fact about Julius Caesar, was that he was rather good at it.

The origins of the swimming races came much later in the Western World, but in Japan, swimming was a skill that was essential for the Samurai Warrior. Historical records of the period 36 B. C have graphic descriptions of the first ever, swimming competitions.

The Origins of Swimming in the Middle Ages One of the seven skills that knights had to have in the Middle Ages was the ability to swim wearing armour. Swimming in the main was performed naked, and during this period was opposed by the Church as 'ungodly. He wrote the book "Colymbetes," not to show people how to exercise, but to stop them from drowning.

The book showed the technique involved with doing the breaststroke and depicted the first ever swimming aids, which included, cork belts, reed bundles and blown up cow bladders. The English equivalent of this swimming guide appeared around the same time and was written by E. Mr Digby claimed that it was possible for humans to swim better than fish. The options are freestyle, breastroke, butterfly, and backstroke. Competitors can only break out of the given stroke type when they are turning around at the end of the pool.

The referee has the final say it what happens. He or she is the only one who can disqualify a swimmer, and has many other responsibilities. The starter also has a very important job: he is the one who you hear saying "Take your marks" before starting the race.

Swimming originates from the first humans, who had to swim in order to find food and avoid starvation. However, swimming as a sport didn't begin until the 's. Athletic swimming is believed to have started in Britain. The National Swimming Society was formed around then, and they held races in indoor swimming pools around Britain. Australia also deserves some mention, as they held some of the first swimming championships in the 's.

In , the first ever modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece. Swimming was featured as one of the sports at these Olympics, and has stayed an Olympic sport ever since. At the time, there were just four swimming events: two meter events, a meter event, and a meter event. One of the meter events was only for sailors, and was first won by Greek sailor Ioannis Malokinis.

A stroke in which the swimmer is on his or her back performing a flutter-kick and rotating the arms alternately backward. A stroke made in the prone position in which both hands move simultaneously forward, outward and rearward from in front of the chest, and the legs move in a frog-like manner.

FINA has recognised World Records since , but the "modern era" of global standards starts in , when criteria very similar those existing today have been established. Find out all the current World Records. The name would later be changed to the Swimming Association of Great Britain in During the 19th century, Australia—hungry for competition—began to hold regular championship races.

In , Australia held the first swimming championships. This was the first chance for different national teams to compete against each other and would dictate the future of competitive swimming. In the following years, various nations would host their own championship meets; the United States got their chance in The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens in According to the olympicchannel.

For example, the m free for sailors was strictly for members of the Greek Navy, and all of the races were held in open water.