ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SWIMMING

Mystery and Myths about swimming

Do you have an unsolved mystery or myth about swimming? 

Then this is the page for you.

Below are some mystery and myths questions and answers about swimming:

1. Q= Do swimmers sweat? – Do Olympic swimmers sweat during and/or after their race?

A= The answer definitively is yes they do. When swimming, your whole body sweats. As soon as you get hot, the body’s mechanism starts to sweat. If you weighed yourself after a swim, you’d be lighter, thanks to the fluid loss that came from sweating. Also when you sweat, while you are swimming you lose salts so it is important you drink a juice with a pinch of salt in it or have an energy drink (such as powerade).

2. Q= How cold are Olympic swimming pools?

A= According to FINA rules, the water temperature must be 25 – 28 C (77 – 82 F).

3. Q= Who invented swimming goggles?

A= Persian divers are the first known users of swim goggles. They used polished tortoise shells to protect their eyes. In the 1930s, Guy Gilpatrick used swim goggles to protect his eyes from saltwater. But small swim goggles didn’t come into wide use until the 1960s. They were crude, sometimes painful instruments that were basic eye protection from the chemicals in the water. They were useless for competition because they fell off during dives and turns. By 1972, though, they had become a standard part of every swimmer’s equipment.

4. Q= When did they start to use swimming goggles, lane ropes, 50m pools, diving blocks and tumble turns in the Olympics?

A= The 1924 Summer Olympics were the first to use the standard 50 meter pool with marked lanes. In the freestyle, swimmers originally dived in from the pool walls, but diving blocks were incorporated at the 1936 Summer Olympics. The flip turn was developed by the 1950s and goggles were first used in the 1976 Olympics.

5. Q= Why do women float more easily in water than men?

A= Women float easier then men because the women have more fat tissue than men, and have a better distribution of it. Woman’s bones are less heavy and smaller, and their muscles are more flexible and lightweight.

Swimming, Diving and Synchronised Swimming  facts:

The crawl technique used in Freestyle Swimming was developed by a British swimming instructor named J Arthur Trudgeon, who based it on a Native American style of swimming that he had discovered during a trip to South America in the 1870s.

Johnny Weissmuller, the first man to swim 100 metres in under a minute, was just as famous out of the pool: he played the role of Tarzan in 12 times on the silver screen.

The first official tie for a gold medal in Olympic Swimming history came in Los Angeles 1984, when American teammates Nancy Hogshead and Carrie Steinseifer swam identical times in the 100m Freestyle event.

The swimming pool for the London 1908 Olympic Games was built on the infield of the Athletics track at White City Stadium, and the competition was held outdoors. 

Underwater Swimming featured at the Paris 1900 Games. Competitors earned points for the length of time and distance they were underwater.

Evidence of people swimming for sport dates all the way back to Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Greek times. Now hugely popular around the world as a leisure activity and a competitive sport, Swimming has featured at every modern Games and remains a real Olympic crowd-pleaser.

At Seoul 1988, America’s Greg Louganis fell unconscious into the pool after hitting his head on the 3m springboard at the start of a preliminary-round dive. Amazingly, he recovered to win the gold medal in the final.

 In the 19th century, gymnasts performed over water in an exercise called ‘fancy diving’. This led to the development of modern-day Diving.

Competitive diving developed from gymnastics in the 18th century, when gymnasts in Sweden and Germany began to perform tumbling routines into water. Along with Swimming, Synchronised Swimming and Water Polo, the elegant yet dramatic sport of Diving is one of four disciplines that make up the Olympic sport of Aquatics.

 Synchronised Swimming grew out of the ornamental water ballets of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which became popular in Europe and the US thanks to pioneers such as Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman. The first competitions

Synchronised Swimming began as a sport for men in the 1800s. It is now one of two sports on today’s Olympic programme to be contested only by women. The other is Rhythmic Gymnastics.were held in the 1930s, five decades before the sport made its Olympic debut in 1984.

Synchronised Swimming became an Olympic sport at the Los Angeles 1984 Games, with solo and duet events.

Swimming Glossary:

Long course: A 50m pool of the type used in Olympic competition, as opposed to a short course measuring 25m.

Medley: A combination event in which a swimmer or team swims separate legs of backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.

Negative split: When an athlete swims the second half of a race faster than the first half.

Open turn: A type of turn for which swimmers must touch the end of the pool with their hands.

Tumble turn: An underwater roll at the end of a lap, which allows swimmers to push off from the end of the pool with their feet.

Diving Glossary:

Armstand: A platform dive that begins from a handstand position.

Platform: A fixed diving board, at least 6m long and 3m wide.

Pike: A diving position for which the diver bends the body at the hips, keeping the legs straight.

Springboard: A flexible diving board, at least 4.8m long and 50cm wide.

Tuck: A diving position for which the diver curls up into a ball, holding the shins towards the body.

 Synchronised Swimming:

Back layout: A position in which the swimmer holds herself flat and face up on the water’s surface while sculling.

Deckwork: The initial movements performed by swimmers after the music starts but before they enter the water.

Eggbeater: A powerful way of treading water that allows the swimmer to perform arm movements while staying afloat.

Scull: Underwater hand movements designed to move and support the body in the pool.

Have you got a question, mystery or a myth about swimming that you want an answer too?.

Leave a comment below and we will add your question and answer to the above list.

Thanks

Holly xxx