Swimming (sport)

This article is about competitive swimming. For the general article on human movement in the water, see Swimming.
"Swimmer" redirects here. For other uses, see Swimmer (disambiguation).

Swimming
Start of the 4 × 100 meters men's relay during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing
Highest governing bodyWorld Aquatics
First competitions1930s
Characteristics
ContactNo
Team membersTeam or individuals
Venue
Presence
Country or regionWorldwide
Olympic1896
World Championships1973
Paralympic1960

Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports,[1] with varied distance events in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley. In addition to these individual events, four swimmers can take part in either a freestyle or medley relay. A medley relay consists of four swimmers who will each swim a different stroke, ordered as backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.[2]

Swimming each stroke requires a set of specific techniques; in competition, there are distinct regulations concerning the acceptable form for each individual stroke.[3] There are also regulations on what types of swimsuits, caps, jewelry and injury tape that are allowed at competitions.[4] Although it is possible for competitive swimmers to incur several injuries from the sport, such as tendinitis in the shoulders or knees, there are also multiple health benefits associated with the sport.

  1. ^ "Most Mentioned Olympic Sport in 2004". www.topendsports.com. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  2. ^ "Why are the individual and relay medleys swum so differently at the Olympics?". SBNation. 10 August 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  3. ^ "USA Swimming - Rules & Regulations". www.usaswimming.org. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  4. ^ Lockard, Greg (2019). Hallam, Barb (ed.). NCAA Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Rules 2019-20 and 2020-21 (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 October 2017.