By Tim Lambert
Early Swimming
Swimming was a common skill in the Ancient World. People in Egypt and other parts of the Ancient World went swimming. It was popular with the Greeks and Romans. Roman soldiers were trained to swim well.
In the Middle Ages knights were expected to be able to swim well.
In the 16th century, people learned to swim using bundles of reeds as floats.
In 1531 Thomas Elyot wrote The Book of the Governor. It recommended swimming as a sport for upper-class young men. However, the first man to write a book of instructions for swimming was a German named Nikolaus Synmann in 1539. In 1587 an Englishman named Everard Digby wrote a book of instructions for swimming, with illustrations. The first recorded swimming competitions in England were in the 17th century. A Frenchman named Melchisédec Thevenot wrote a book called The Art of Swimming. It was translated into English in 1699.
Modern Swimming
In the 19th century, swimming became an organised sport. The first municipal swimming baths opened in Liverpool in 1828. Many other cities followed suit in the 19th century.
The National Swimming Society was formed in Britain in 1837. The Amateur Swimming Association was formed in 1880. In the USA swimming became nationally organised in 1888 when the American Athletic Union.
The International Swimming Federation was formed in 1908. (It was renamed World Aquatics in 2023). The first Swimming World Championships were held in 1973.
A Swedish woman Nancy Edberg (1832-1892) did a great deal to popularise women’s swimming. In 1847 she opened the first swimming baths for women in Sweden. In 1856 she held the first swimming exhibition by women. She also organised swimming lessons for women in Norway and Denmark.
The first recorded women-only swimming contest was held in Scotland in 1892.
It’s an English tradition that people swim in the Serpentine, a lake in London on Christmas Day. The tradition began on 25 December 1864.
The Lifesaving Society was formed in Britain in 1891. It provided courses in lifesaving swimming. It became the Royal Life Saving Society in 1904.
Swimming was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. At first, only men swam, but in 1912, women’s swimming was included. Diving was first included as an Olympic sport in 1904, and women’s diving was first included in 1912. In 1924, 50-metre pools with lane markers were introduced at the Olympics.
The butterfly stroke was developed in the 1930s.
Synchronised swimming began at the end of the 19th century. At first, it was called water ballet. In 1984, it became an Olympic sport.
Water polo was first played in the mid-19th century. It was first played at the Olympics in 1900.
Matthew Webb became the first man to swim across the English Channel in 1875, and Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to do so in 1926.
In 1922, Johnny Weissmuller became the first man to swim 100 metres in less than one minute.
The first Marathon swimming event at the Olympic Games was held in 2008.
