SWIMMING, REGULATION ORIGINS

From the history of swimming to the first medals, from the champions to the regulation: In anticipation of the most important swimming event of the summer, Eurosport offers you a zoom directly from the poolside, on this discipline with Lifeguard Classes

SWIMMING

 -Swimming is the method by which human beings move in the water and develops as a sporting discipline in the nineteenth century. There are two types of competitive competitions: the competitions held in the swimming pool, which are shorter (maximum 1500m), and the cross-country competitions, held at sea, much longer (it can be up to 25Km).

The pool races (25 meters, "short course"; 50 meters, "long course") are the best known and are held in one of four styles, depending on the race, plus mixed races in which each quarter of the race is swam in a different style (in the order dolphin, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle). In addition to individual races, there are also relay races in which a team of four swimmers compete one after the other: when one of the swimmers touches the edge, the other can detach from the springboard and dive into the water with American Lifeguard Florida.

ORIGINS 

-Swimming has been known since prehistoric times. Drawings dating back to the Stone Age have been found in the "Swimmers' Cave" in southwestern Egypt. Written records date back to the second millennium BC, and include the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Bible, Beowulf, and other sagas. Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800, mainly with the backstroke. The crawl was introduced in 1873 by John Arthur Trudgen. Swimming was already in the program of the first modern Olympics, those of Athens 1896. 

In Italy, the first certification of a swimming activity dates back to 1889 when, after the initial attempts of the gymnastics companies that also had sections of other sports such as running , shooting, fencing, Romano Guerra founded the Roman Swimming Association: the first exclusively for swimming. In 1908, the Fédération International de Natation Amateur (FINA) was founded. The first Italian to go under the 1 'barrier in the 100m freestyle was Carlo Pedersoli, better known as Bud Spencer, back in 1950, in Salsomaggiore in a 25m pool. Filippo Manini is currently (2008) the 100m freestyle world champion.

FIRST CHAMPIONSHIPS 

-The Italian championships of the early twentieth century take place over the distances of the stadium (185 meters) and of the mile with editions in the sea, in the lake and in the river. Then the program will expand to the 3x200 relay to arrive at the 1908 London Olympics when the first blue team in the history of swimming competes in the 100, 400, 1500 chest, 100 backstroke, 200 breaststroke ("arm" as they say) and in the 4x200 relay. In 1909 there was talk of championships to be played in swimming pools. But we will have to wait just one year for a 50x20 swimming pool with water deep enough to host diving tests to be erected in Italy, in Millesimal in the Alta Val Bromide, albeit housed in a sports field. But the first real Italian swimming pool, it will be that of the Ferne sine Physical Education Center in Rome where the Italian championships are held in 1923.

 After the Olympics, the blue team made its debut at the European Championships which took place in Budapest in 1926. But the news did not stop there because the Italian championships were opened to women and for this purpose it was set up on the 100-meter competition field in Swampier arena an arrival pontoon at 50 meters. In 1927 the first European medal arrives with the second place of Nino Parenting in the 1500 meters. On 13 May 1930 the FIRN gives way to the more modern and still current denomination of the Italian Swimming Federation with Leandro Arpitania president But the news does not stop there because the Italian championships are open to women and for this purpose a 50-meter arrival pontoon is set up on the 100-meter competition field in Swampier arena. In 1927 the first European medal arrives with the second place of Nino Parenting in the 1500 meters.