Swimming
Coaches: L. Gazzelone, J. Turi
History of Competitive Swimming
Swimming was initially one of the seven agilities of knights during the Middle Ages, including swimming with armour. However, as swimming was done in a state of undress, it became less popular as society became more conservative in the early Modern period. For example, in the 16th century, a German court document in the Vechta prohibited the naked public swimming of children. Leonardo da Vinci made early sketches of lifebelts. In 1539, Nicolas Wynman, German professor of languages, wrote the first swimming book Colymbetes. His goal wasn't exercise, but instead it was to reduce the dangers of drowning. Nevertheless, the book contained a very good and methodical approach to learning breaststroke, and includes swimming aids such as air filled cow bladders, reed bundles, or cork belts. In 1587, Everard Digby also wrote a swimming book, claiming that humans can swim better than fish. Digby was a Senior Fellow at St. John's College, Cambridge, interested in the scientific method. His short treatise, De arte natandi, was written in Latin and contained over 40 woodcut illustrations depicting various methods of swimming, including the breaststroke, backstroke and the crawl. Digby regarded the breaststroke as the most useful form of swimming.[1]
Keep swimming with more history.
Rules of the Sport
The Olympics require a special pool to help swimmers go as fast as they can, specific swimsuits, and trained officials, all to make the competition as fair and as fast as possible.
Equipment
Swimming Pool The Olympic pool is fast by design, trying to give swimmers the best opportunity for a record-breaking performance.
To continue reading about the rules, click here.