History of Swimming

Pre-Olympic Era

May 17, 1844

Pre-Olympic
There was a swimming competition in London on 1844 the British raced using breaststroke, while the Native Americans used front crawl.

Unisex Sport

Apr 20, 1847

Nancy Edberg
Nancy Edberg was active as the first woman instructor in swimming in Stockholm, making swimming lessons accessible for both genders, she later introduced swimming lessons for women in Denmark and Norway.

imprivised swimming stroke

Mar 16, 1873

trugen
John Arthur Trudgen introduced the trudgen to England, having learned the stroke from Native Americans during a trip to South America. Later becoming popular worldwide.

The English Channel

Jun 19, 1875

Matthew Webb
Captain Matthew Webb was the first man to swim the English Channel (between England and France), Using breaststroke, he swam 21. 26 miles in 21 hours and 45 minutes. No other man or woman swam the channel for the next 31 years.

Swimming in the Olympics

Jan 1, 1896

Alfred Hajos
Alfred Hajos of Hungary won the first gold medal in Swimming, in the 100 m freestyle. A male only Olympics hosted in Athens.

2nd Olympic games

Jun 18, 1900

John Arthur Jarvis
The 2nd olympic games were hosted in Paris, The 4000 m freestyle was won by John Arthur Jarvis in under one hour, the longest Olympic swimming race until the 10k marathon swim was introduced in 2008.

3rd Olympics

Jun 21, 1904

1904 Swimming Olympics
The 3rd Olympics hosted in St. Louis, it included races up to a mile long. These games featured a competition to plunge for distance, where the distance without swimming, after jumping in a pool, was measured.

5th Olympic games

Jun 29, 1912

1912 Olypmpics
Women were first allowed to swim in the Olympic Games in 1912 in Stockholm.

5 Time Olympic winner

Apr 21, 1922

Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller became the first person to swim the 100 m in less than a minute, He won 5 Olympic medals and 36 national championships and never lost a race in his ten-year career.

Breaking Men's Record?

Apr 21, 1922

Sybil Bauer
Sybil Bauer was the first woman to break a men’s world record over the 440 m backstroke in 6:24.8.

Swimsuit Upgrade

Apr 22, 1935

Topless swimsuits for men were worn for the first time during an official competition.

Jack Sieg

May 2, 1936

Jack Sieg, a swimmer also from the University of Iowa developed a technique called the butterfly, this later became popular in the Olympic games.

2 Piece Swimisuits

Jan 21, 1943

US ordered the reduction of fabric in swimsuits by 10% due to wartime shortages, resulting in the first two piece swimsuits. Shortly afterwards the Bikini was invented in Paris by Louis Reard (officially) or Jacques Heim (earlier, but slightly larger).

Masaru Furukawa

Apr 24, 1956

Masaru Furukawa
Japanese swimmer swam all but 5 m under water for the first three 50 m laps, and also swam half under water for the last lap, winning the gold medal. Some swimmers suffered from oxigen starvation and some even passed out suring the race trying to adapt to this new swimming method.

Mark Spitz

May 1, 1972

Mark Spitz A famous swimmer at the height of his career. During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, he won seven gold medals. Shortly thereafter in 1973, the first swimming world championship was held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia by the FINA.

Kristin Otto

Apr 21, 1982

Kristin Otto
A swimmer from East Germany won six gold medals, the most ever won by a woman.

Tom Jager

May 21, 1989

Tom Jager
An American swimmer, five-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder. He set the 50-meter freestyle world record on six occasions during his career. He held this record for over ten years from August 1989 to June 2000.

1992 Summer Olympics

Jan 21, 1992

Alexander Popov
A Russian former Olympic gold-winning swimmer regarded as one of the greatest sprint freestyle swimmers of all time, and the only male swimmer in history to win four individual Olympic gold medals in freestyle events.

Benoît Lecomte

Mar 24, 1998

BBenoît Lecomte
He swam across the Atlantic Ocean, a total of 5,600 kilometres in 72 days, swimming 6 to 8 hours daily. He was accompanied by three sailors on a boat.

Anthony Ervin

Apr 28, 2000

Anthony Ervin
An American international swimmer who won 2 Olympic medals and 2 World Championship golds. At the 2000 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal in the men's 50-meter freestyle, and earned a silver medal as a member of the second-place U.S. relay team in the 4×100-meter freestyle event.

Michael Phelps' first gold

May 24, 2001

In the 2001 world championships in swimming. MIchael won his first gold medal in the 200 meter butterfly.

Gary Hall Jr.

Apr 21, 2004

Gary Hall Jr.
an American swimmer who competed in the 1996, 2000, and 2004 Olympics and won ten Olympic medals. He's is well known for his "pro-wrestling like" antics before a competition; frequently strutting onto the pool deck in boxing shorts and robe, shadow boxing and flexing for the audience.

Michael Phelps 2005

Mar 21, 2005

2005 World championships
in the 2005 world championships for mens swimming Michael Phelps won 5 gold medals.

Michel Phelps 2008

Apr 23, 2008

Beijing 2008 Olympics
In the 2008 Beijing Olympics Michael phelps wins 8 gold medals for his country USA.

22 Medals

May 21, 2012

Michael Phelps
A now retired American swimmer and the most decorated Olympian of all time, with a total of 22 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (18, double the second highest record holders), Olympic gold medals in individual events (11), and Olympic medals in individual events for a male.