Olympic Swimming is one of the most followed part of the Summer Olympics Games. Olympic swimming is one of the most watched Summer Olympic sports. Olympic swimming is also one of the oldest Olympic events. While the number of events swam at the Olympic games is less than those raced at the world championships, the Olympic Swimming are still considered the most important swimming championships at the world level.
Olympic Swimmers will compete for the Olympic gold, silver, and bronze medals in a variety of Olympic swimming events. Olympic swimmers must use one of four different swimming styles or techniques to swim a certain distance. The fastest swims in the finals earn the gold, silver, and bronze medals.
Four different Swimming Styles are given below:
Freestyle Swimming
Freestyle is not really a specific stroke. Swimmers can use whatever stroke they choose, but the since the fastest stroke for most swimmers is the front crawl, that has become the default style used in freestyle events. Swimmers could use any style in a freestyle event, even one they make up themselves. In the medley events, when the freestyle leg comes, swimmers may not use a stroke that has been previously used, so they must do something other than butterfly, backstroke, or breaststroke. Freestylers can swim up to 15 meters underwater from the start and after each turn, but they usually surface earlier.
Backstroke Swimming
Backstroke is sort of an upside down freestyle stroke. Competitors must swim on their backs with their eyes up. They are allowed to rotate their body to some degree as they swim. This is the only race where competitors start in the water although they can still spend 15 meters underwater from the start and after each turn; backstrokers often do butterfly kicks during this underwater portion of the race.
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| Backstroke Swimming |
Breaststroke Swimming
Breaststroke is probably the oldest formalized stroke, and it often reminds people of a frog. Nowadays it looks more like a hyper-active frog! Swimmers must swim face down, moving their arms and legs together in a horizontal direction. Their head can be immersed completely, but it must break the surface of the water at least once during every stroke. While underwater at the start and the turns, swimmers are only allowed to make one arm stroke and one leg kick; there is no specific distance limit. A recent rule change allows breaststrokers to take one butterfly kick during the underwater pull during the start and turns.
Butterfly Swimming
The most physically demanding of all the strokes, butterfly evolved from the breaststroke, and was invented by a swimmer from Iowa. It differs from breaststroke in that the arms and legs, which must move together during a stroke, move vertically rather than horizontally. The arms recover above the water and the legs kick as if they were a fish tail, with the toes turned in-wards, sort of pigeon-toed. Butterflyers can swim up to 15 meters underwater from the start and after each turn using a butterfly kick.
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| Butterfly Swimming |
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