Swimming has always been considered a complete and healthy sport as well as a low risk of injury. Indispensable for survival, swimming was one of the first sports (along with running, horseback riding and wrestling) to be practiced by primitive tribes. In this article we will briefly retrace the history of swimming from its origins to the advent of Michael Phelps with Lifeguard Training Near Me .
In the second part of the page, the various swimming styles will also be briefly introduced, in each of these micro sections there is the possibility to deepen the history of a style and / or its technique through links to the dedicated pages with American Lifeguard Florida.
THE FIRST TESTIMONIALS
The first testimonies, which date back to 7,000 years ago, were found in the " cave of the Swimmers " (located in a Libyan plateau); here you can see some rock paintings depicting some men who perform a physical exercise whose movements are particularly similar to those of a person who is doing a swimming activity.
From the Sumerians to the Egyptians, from the Iliad to the Bible, written records of swimming date back to 2000 BC; not present in the Ancient Olympic Games, swimming became an Olympic discipline starting from the first edition of the Modern Olympics, held in Athens in 1896 . In ancient times, swimming was of great importance both to the Greeks and to the Romans (with the aim of military training, but not only: Plato maintained that swimming was an essential part of education : every child, therefore, had to learn to swim.
Although the practice was partially abandoned during the Middle Ages, between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries there was a new diffusion and starting from 1820 competitive swimming in the modern sense is affirming itself.
BIRTH OF FINA
In 1908 the International Swimming Federation (FINA) was founded, which, in addition to promoting the activity of swimming, coordinates international competitive swimming, synchronized swimming, diving and water polo competitions. Starting from the first post-war period, with the spread of swimming pools ( READ THE HISTORY OF POOLS ), swimming began to establish itself as a sport, to the point of becoming one of the most practiced in the world today.
In the early 1970s, FINA gave birth to the World Swimming Championships. The first edition of the Championships was held in 1973 in Belgrade. Since 2001, the event has a biennial frequency (initially the races had an undefined frequency and were held every 2/3/4/5 years).
FINA - FURTHER DETAILS:
There are four official swimming styles and each of them has a particular history. In this article you can read a brief historical introduction of all the styles, which are told in more detail in a dedicated section.
THE ORIGINS OF THE FROG
Style of oriental origins, it arrived in Europe carried by 2 Indian swimmers, Gull and Tobacconel . In 1844, in London, they played a competition using a style similar to that of the current frog. Ignored by the British, he was taken over by American swimmers; in the USA, between the 70s and the 80s of the 1800s, the first breaststroke races were held. In 1908, during the London Olympic Games, it officially became an Olympic discipline (the first distance in which it competed was 200 meters).
BREASTSTROKE SWIMMING TECHNIQUE
Backstroke officially became an Olympic discipline at the Games of the II Olympiad , held in Paris in 1900. (the first distance in which it competed was 200 meters and the first Olympic champion was the German Ernst Hoppenberg). The back is the first style - after freestyle - to be introduced at the Olympic Games.
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