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The first swim competition was held in London
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Nancy Edberg popularized women's swimming in Stockholm from 1847. She made swimming lessons accessible for both genders and later introduced swimming lessons for women in Denmark and Norway.[11] Her public swimming exhibitions from 1856 with her students were likely among the first public exhibitions of women swimming in Europe
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The Olympic Games were held in 1896 in Athens, a male-only competition. Six events were planned for the swimming competition, but only four events were actually contested: 100 m, 500 m, and 1200 m freestyle and 100 m for sailors. The first gold medal was won by Alfréd Hajós of Hungary in the 100 m freestyle. Hajós was also victorious in the 1200 m event, and was unable to compete in the 500 m, which was won by Austrian Paul Neumann.
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In 1908, the world swimming association Fédération Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA) was formed.
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Women first compete in the Olympics in swimming
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The filming of strokes led to stroke mechanics being refined and the addition of kicking and stroke pulling in butterfly
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Topless swimsuits for men were worn for the first time during an official competition.
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Mark Spitz wins 7 gold medals in the 1972 olympics
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Goggles Used in competitive swimming
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A swimmer from East Germany won six gold medals, the most ever won by a woman.
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Michael Phelps starts his Olympic career in Sydney and goes onto win 8 gold medals in 2008 in Beijing, set multiple American, Olympic and World records until 2016 when he announced retirement... for the second time