The human race has always used swimming as a motor ability, just as a dog or mouse can swim naturally and instinctively. Most children can swim until they learn to fear the water or lose confidence. Egyptian seals and cave paintings dating as far back as 9000 BCE depict swimmers who appear to use a stroke similar to the front crawl. These pictures are not rare, as similar images can be found in Babylonian, Assyrian, and Babylonian artwork.
Swimming is an organized sport that can be played as a hobby or competitively. Swimming pools are the first sign that swimming is being adopted as a pastime rather than a means of locomotion. In ruins from an Indian palace that dates back to 2800 BCE was a pool measuring 30m x 60m. A Cretan Palace dating back to Bronze Age also had an indoor pool. Even the richest and most revered of its people would have invested the time and money to create indoor pools, indicating that swimming was more than a way to get from A to B or an additional string on the hunting bow. Swimming is a pastime and a joy, so an indoor pool shows its importance.
In the Middle Ages, swimming was regarded as a knightly activity. It was one of seven “agilities” that a Knight must be able to practice. In the Middle Ages, swimming was seen as a knightly pursuit. It was one of seven “agilities” that a Knight should be able to practice.
Swimming was no longer viewed as a simple skill but rather as a sport that required a high level of athletic prowess. The printing press allowed for the first books to be published on swimming. These books tended to focus on the standardization of good strokes. German Nikolaus Wynmann believed to have written the first instruction book on swimming in 1539, outlined the breaststroke technique. In England, Everard Digby, a Cambridge Fellow, published his work in 1587, which included the backstroke, crawl, and breaststroke.
Victorians are the only group that can claim the invention of swimming as a sport. Victorians were a time of creativity, economic growth, and cultural development. This included a new explosion of public projects that helped encourage swimming as a sport. The first publically funded swimming pools in the United Kingdom were St George’s Baths, which opened in Liverpool in 1828. However, Liverpool had enjoyed public swimming for over a century before that when it was first built privately.
The sport of competitive swimming was already popular in the 1830s. This trend continued for the next 50 years, with regular competitions around London, where Victorian Londoners enthusiastically embraced this new style.
This era saw distance swimming become popular, as well as speed contests. In 1875, Captain Matthew Webb swam the English Channel more than 20 miles. Swimming’s popularity increased during this time, partly because it perfectly fit Victorian tastes characterized by vigor, health, and “manliness.” Victorians believed that a healthy mind is a healthy body, and swimming was a perfect example of this ideal. It is not surprising that in the 1880s, the Amateur Swimming Association was formed to supervise the three hundred and more regional clubs. In Europe, other national bodies were created during this time. France, Germany, and Hungary each had their own from 1882 to 1890.
Swimming as a sport of competition was not only gaining popularity in England during this period. In 1877 the first American national swimming championships took place, while in Australia, they began to be held regularly in 1889. In 1892, Scotland hosted the first women’s swim contest in history. With the growing popularity of swimming worldwide, it was inevitable that an international championship would be held after the national championships. In 1896, the first Olympics featuring swimming as an official event occurred in Athens. The 100m, 500m, and 1200m races are familiar, but 100m for sailors might seem odd. The next Olympic Games, in Paris, in 1900, included:
A backstroke.
A team race.
An obstacle race that took place on the Seine River.
An underwater race.
At the St. Louis Olympics in 1904, the range of swimming competitions included the 50 yds freestyle, the 100 yds freestyle, the 220 yds freestyle, the 440-yard breaststroke, and even the mile-long freestyle. The strokes were becoming more distinct with races for freestyle, breaststroke, and backstroke. The only strokes for men were backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle until 1952 when the butterfly was introduced. The Olympics were the only international competitions that featured swimming races until 1973, when FINA developed the World Aquatic Championships.
Women’s swimming has had to overcome more obstacles to gain public acceptance than men’s. In Victorian England, men’s swimming was a very “manly” activity. Even in less orthodox parts of Europe, women were becoming accepted. Nancy Edburg led the way in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway during the 1840s and ’50s.
Women were allowed to compete in swimming in the 1912 Stockholm Games when they could only swim freestyle. Women were not allowed to swim breaststroke or backstroke until 1924. The number of Olympic events for men and women has been equal since 2010. Men’s swimming, driven by Victorians’ obsession with health, has been a driving force for men. Women’s swimming, however, is largely motivated by the struggle for equality and independence.
