 Swimming is governed by FINA (Federation Internationale de Natation)  Olympic swimming uses four basic swimming styles or strokes. Freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly (or all four within one race - that is called the IM or individual medley).  There are 16 swimming pool events for men and women swimmers in the modern Olympic Games.

Alfréd Hajós, Hungary - the First Olympic Champion in swimming In 1896 the Olympics had four swimming events for men only:  100 meter  500 meter  1200 meter freestyle  The sailors 100 meter freestyle. Alfréd Hajós of Hungary won the 100 meter and 1200 meter events.

 Olympic size pool is 50m  100 meters (328.1ft) = 2 laps in an Olympic size pool or 4 in a regular size pool  Lap - from one side to the other.

Olympic Size Pool Layout

 In the Olympics, the freestyle events can be swam with whichever stroke the participant prefers, but all use the crawl stroke, which is what we regard as the freestyle stroke, because it is the fastest stroke.

 Kicking  Arm stroke ◦ Push – Drag ◦ ‘S’ shape  Breathing

 World Record is seconds set by Eamon Sullivan of Australia in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on August 13, 2008 during the first leg of the 4x100 relay race. He only received Silver during the 100m Freestyle sprint.  Alain Bernard of France received Gold with a time of 47.21

 Sprint training adds the anaerobic fitness base to the aerobic base you have developed with your endurance training. It works on the two anaerobic energy systems: the creatine phosphate energy system and the lactate energy system.  Training involves short, fast repeats with good rest intervals to ensure you can overload both these energy systems. The additional benefit of sprint training is muscle adaptation to the speed type exercise, as well as the aerobic benefits trained earlier. Working the fast twitch muscle fibers will increase their number and size in a given muscle as well as the speed of excitation.

 To optimize strength and power, competitive swimmers need to supplement their pool training with land based training in the gym. For best effect, the program of strength training exercises should replicate the actions in the water as closely as possible.

 Cable rotational front, back & rear arm pulls  Medicine ball single arm overhead throw  Swiss ball body pulls

Barbell Squat Jumps Hip Extension Hip Flexion

 Set a Goal.  The number of hours spent in the pool is an ingredient of swimming success, but also a shorter, race-pace-specific program of exercises performed away from the pool will improve swimming performance.  Have Fun!

 Athletic Scholarships swimming.htmhttp:// swimming.htm  Mat Luebbers. “Illustrated History of Olympic Swimming”. About.com Guide,  Mat Luebbers. “Olympic Swimming Rules - Freestyle and Backstroke in Olympic.” About.com Guide, Swimminghttp://swimming.about.com/od/swimmingolympics/a/olympicswimbasi.htmhttp://swimming.about.com/od/swimmingolympics/a/olympicswimbasi.htm  Telegraph. “Michael Phelps is great, but not the greatest Olympian.” 14 Aug Phelps-is-great-but-not-the-greatest-Olympian-Olympics.html Phelps-is-great-but-not-the-greatest-Olympian-Olympics.html   ESPN. “2008 Summer Olympics Results – Swimming”  Vision Forum – Afghanistan. 26 Aug pool.html pool.html  Sports Coach. “Strength Training.” 1 January Sept  BioForce.