Ancient times
Cave paintings from the Stone Age were found in the "Cave of Swimmers" near Wadi Sora on the Gilf Kebir plateau in southwestern Egypt, near the Libyan border. These pictures seem to show breaststroke or dog paddle, although it may also be possible that the movements have a ritual meaning unrelated to swimming. This cave is also featured in the movie The English Patient. An Egyptian clay seal dated between 4000 BC and 9000 BC shows four swimmers who are believed to be swimming a variant of the front crawl. More references to swimming are found in Babylonian bas-reliefs and Assyrian wall drawings, depicting a variant of the breaststroke.
Middle Ages to 1800
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 ( meaning everything exposed) 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.In 1603, the first national swimming organization was established in Japan. Emperor Go-Yozei of Japan declared that school children should swim.[citation needed]
In 1696, the French author Melchisédech Thévenot (1620 or 1621 to 1692) wrote The Art of Swimming, describing a breaststroke very similar to the modern breaststroke. This book was translated into English and became the standard reference of swimming for many years to come, and was read by Benjamin Franklin. In 1708, the first known lifesaving group, "Chinkiang Association for the Saving of Life," was established in China. Benjamin Franklin is credited with the invention of the swimming fins at the age of ten, in 1716. In 1739, Guts Muts (also spelled as Guts Muth) from Schnepfenthal, Germany, wrote Gymnastik für die Jugend (Exercise for the youth), including a significant portion about swimming. In 1794, Kanonikus Oronzio de Bernardi of Italy wrote a two volume book about swimming, including floating practice as a prerequisite for swimming studies. In 1798, Guts Muts wrote another book Kleines Lehrbuch der Schwimmkunst zum Selbstunterricht (Small study book of the art of swimming for self study), recommending the use of a "fishing rod" device to aid in the learning of swimming. His books describe a three step approach to learn swimming that is still used today. First, get the student used to the water, second, practice the swimming movements out of the water, third, practice the swimming movements in the water. He believed that swimming is an essential part of every education.
Pre-Olympic era to 1897
In 1804, the lifebelt was invented by W. H. Mallison, the device being known at that time as the "Seaman’s Friend". However, the lifebelts took up valuable space on ships, and the United States Navy was worried about the devices being used by sailors to desert.
The first German swimming club was founded in 1837 in Berlin. A journal mentions "swimming skates" in France, which may be an early version of a surfboard.
One watershed event was a swimming competition in 1844 in London. Some Native Americans participated in this competition.While the British raced using breaststroke, the Native Americans swam a variant of the front crawl, which had been used by people in the Americas, West Africa and some Pacific islands for generations, but was not known to the British. As the front crawl is much faster than the breaststroke, the Americans easily beat the British: Flying Gull won the medal, swimming the 150 feet (46 m) in 30 seconds, and second place went to another American named Tobacco. Their stroke was described as making a motion with the arms "like a windmill" and kicking the legs up and down. As this produced considerable splashing, it was considered barbaric and "un-European" to the British gentlemen, who preferred to keep their heads above water. Subsequently, the British continued to swim only breaststroke until 1873.
The first indoor swimming pool was built in England in 1862. An Amateur Swimming Association of Great Britain was organized in 1880 with more than 300 members. The main swimming styles were the breaststroke and the recently developed side stroke. In the sidestroke, the swimmer lies on one side. Initially, the arms were brought forward under water, but this was soon modified to bring the arm forward over water to reduce resistance and to improve the speed, resulting in an overarm sidestroke. The legs were squeezed together in a scissor style. In 1895, J. H. Thayers of England swam 100 yards (91 m) in a record-breaking 1:02.50 using a sidestroke.
Sometime between 1870 and 1890 (the date is most often given as 1873), John Arthur Trudgen reintroduced the front crawl to England, having learned the stroke from Native Americans during a trip to South America. His stroke, a variant of the front crawl, came to be called the Trudgen or Trudgeon. The arms were brought forward, alternating, while the body rolled from side to side. The kick was a scissors kick such as that familiarly used in breaststroke, with one kick for two arm strokes, although it is believed that the Native Americans had indeed used a flutter kick. Front crawl variants used different ratios of scissor kicks to arm strokes, or alternated with a flutter (up-and-down) kick. The speed of the new stroke was demonstrated by F.V.C. Lane in 1901, swimming 100 yards (91 m) in 1:00.0, an improvement of about ten seconds compared to the breaststroke record. This style is the first European version of the front crawl, the fastest swimming style known today. Due to its speed the Trudgen became very quickly popular around the world, despite all the ungentlemanlike splashing.
Captain Matthew Webb was the first man to swim the English channel (between England and France), in 1875. He used breaststroke, swimming 21.26 miles (34.21 km) in 21 hours and 45 minutes. No other man or woman swam the channel for the next 31 years. He died in 1882 while attempting to swim the Niagara Falls. The first European amateur swimming competitions were in 1889 in Vienna.
In 1879, King Ludwig II of Bavaria built a swimming pool in castle Linderhof. This is believed to be the first artificial wave pool and also featured electrically heated water and light.[citation needed]
Modern Olympic era after 1896
The Olympic Games were held in 1896 in Athens, a male-only competition. Six events were planned for the swimming competition, but only four events were actually contested: 100 m, 500 m, and 1200 m freestyle and 100 m for sailors. The first gold medal was won by Alfred Hajos of Hungary in 1:22.20 for the 100 m freestyle. Hajos was also victorious in the 1200 m event, and was unable to compete in the 500 m, which was won by Austrian Paul Neumann. Another swimming competition of 100 m for sailors included three Greek sailors in Bay of Zea near Piraeus, starting from a rowing boat. The winner was Ioannis Malokinis in two minutes and 20 seconds. A 1500 m race was also performed.
In 1897, Capt. Henry Sheffield designed a rescue can or rescue cylinder, now well known as the lifesaving device. The pointed ends made it slide faster through the water, although it can cause injuries.
The second Olympic games in Paris in 1900 featured 200 m, 1000 m, and 4000 m freestyle, 200 m backstroke, and a 200 m team race (see also Swimming at the 1900 Summer Olympics). There were two additional unusual swimming events (although common at the time) : an obstacle swimming course in the Seine river (swimming with the current), and an underwater swimming race. The 4000 m freestyle was won by John Arthur Jarvis in under one hour, the longest Olympic swimming race ever. The backstroke was also introduced to the Olympic games in Paris, as was water polo. The Osborne Swimming Club from Manchester beat club teams from Belgium, France and Germany quite easily.
The Olympics in 1904 in St. Louis included races over 50 yards (46 m), 100 yards, 220 yards (200 m), 440 yards, 880 yards (800 m) and one mile (1.6 km) freestyle, 100 yards (91 m) backstroke and 440 yards (400 m) breaststroke, and the 4x50 yards freestyle relay (see also Swimming at the 1904 Summer Olympics). These games differentiated between breaststroke and freestyle, so that there were now two defined styles (breaststroke and backstroke) and freestyle, where most people swam Trudgen. These games also featured a competition to plunge for distance, where the distance without swimming, after jumping in a pool, was measured.
In 1907 the swimmer Annette Kellerman from Australia visited the United States as an "Underwater Ballerina", a version of Synchronized swimming, diving into glass tanks. She was arrested for indecent exposure, as her swimsuit showed arms, legs and the neck. Kellerman changed the suit to have long arms and legs, and a collar, still keeping the close fit revealing the shapes underneath. She later starred in several movies, including one about her life.
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