PE

103A
INTRODUCTION TO THE
BASICS OF SWIMMING
LESSON 1

WHAT IS
SWIMMING?
SWIMMING

• Can be both recreation and sports,

the propulsion of the body through
water by combined arm and leg
motions and the natural flotation of
the body.

• Swimming as an exercise is
popular as an all-around body
developer and is particularly useful
in therapy and as exercise for
physically handicapped persons.
HISTORY OF SWIMMING
Around 10,000 years
ago

Swimming can be dated back to

the Stone Age, but did not truly
become an organised sport until
the early 19th century.
In 1538

Nikolaus Wynmann, a
Swiss–German professor of
languages, wrote the earliest
known complete book about
swimming, Colymbetes, sive
de arte natandi dialogus et
festivus et iucundus lectu (The
Swimmer, or A Dialogue on
the Art of Swimming and
Joyful and Pleasant to Read)
Dawn of a sport

Swimming was not widely

practiced until the early 19th
century, when the National
Swimming Society of Great
Britain began to hold
competitions. Most early
swimmers used the breaststroke,
or a form of it.
In 1904  First recorded Olympic Games held in St Louis, Missouri

In the history of swimming, this was the first time that the
Olympics specified if an event was freestyle or breaststroke.
In 1908 Fédération Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA), which
is the world’s first swimming association, was formed.

In 1912 Women swam competitively for the first time

In 1922 Johnny Weissmuller became the first person to swim 100 m in
under a minute.
1972  Mark Spitz broke all records in the history of swimming at the
1972 Summer Olympics and won seven gold medals
Early 20th Century Competitive swimming has not seen the likes of Spitz until
Michael Phelps arrived.

As of this date, Phelps has won 16 Olympic medals. Phelps

won six gold and two bronze medals in 2004 in Athens. In
2008 at the Beijing Olympics he won eight gold medals.
DISCOVERING THE CRAWL

Based on a stroke used by native

South Americans, the first version of
the crawl featured a scissor kick. In
the late 1880s, an Englishman
named Frederick Cavill travelled to
the South Seas, where he saw the
natives performing a crawl with a
flutter kick. Cavill settled in Australia,
where he taught the stroke that was
to become the famous Australian
crawl.
SWIMMING EQUIPMENT
AND GEARS FOR
BEGINNERS
FLOATING DEVICES
1 SWIMMING RING 3 SWIMMING
VEST

5 PULL BUOY

2 NOODLES 4 KICK BOARD

KEEP SAFE
EVERYONE!