Leisure Kicks - The essencial sport and leisure guide

There are cave paintings of people swimming that date back to 850BC – so it’s safe to assume that for as long as there has been water suitable, there have been humans swimming in it. Books on swimming instruction date back to the 1500s and in the centuries that followed it became considered a necessary skill that everyone should learn from when they are children. 

As a sport, swimming has its heritage in England! In 1828 the country’s first indoor pool was opened in Liverpool. Within ten years, there were ten pools around London with regular competitions being held by the National Swimming Association. The sport grew at an incredible pace and by the end of the century there were hundreds of clubs across the country. Swimming has been a part of the modern Olympic Games since they first started in 1896. The first four competitive Olympic swims took place in open water, whereas they now the majority take place in an enclosed 50 metre pool with an additional, separate open water event. The first stroke to be used competitively was breaststroke, with front crawl being introduced in 1902. In the 1930s, the butterfly stroke was classed as a variant of breaststroke, until it was accepted as a separate style in 1952.

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Swimmers competing at the 1900 Olympics dive into the river Seine
Wikimedia Commons