Swimming has a long history dating back to prehistoric times, where it was depicted in ancient Egyptian cave drawings and was used by early civilizations like the Egyptians and Greeks for recreation, relaxation, and cleansing. Formal competitive swimming did not emerge until the 1800s in Europe. The first modern Olympics in 1896 featured swimming as an event. Throughout history, swimming techniques evolved from basic strokes like breaststroke to more advanced styles like freestyle. Swimming became popularized in schools and saw greater structure through clubs and competitions in the late 1800s. The 20th century brought major developments in swimming science, technology, and the rise of champions that propelled the sport to become a globally competitive Olympic sport enjoyed by all ages and skill

1. HISTORY OF SWIMMING

2. Objectives :
• Become aware of the importance of
swimming activities such as water safety
and sports
• Develop physical fitness and skills,
discipline and self-confidence in
swimming
• Overcome the fear of water; and
• Use swimming skills to save lives if
needed.

3. What is swimming ?
1. Swimming is an activity of propelling oneself
through water using the limbs.
2. Swimming can be a fun leisure activity and is
a really good low-impact way of staying in
shape.
3. Could potentially save your life and others.

4. • Swimming can be used for:
• Fun and recreation
• Relaxation
• Sports
• Saving lives (Rescue)
• Almost for all ages
• Almost for all bodies of water
• Almost everyone

5. The history of swimming goes way back to that of
prehistoric times. Books written from 2000 to 1500
BC including the Bible have references to swimming.
It was mostly used in these times as a means of
cleansing. Any form of competitive swimming wasn’t
formed until the 1800’s in Europe. It was included
in the first Olympics in 1896 in Athens, Greece.
It was noted that Ancient Egypt had cave
drawings of humans swimming in the nearby sea. They
often depicted a form of the breaststroke as the
first type of swimming or something they used to
call the front crawl. Ancient Egyptian, Grecian and
Roman palaces were often equipped with swimming
pools or baths. Often reserved for the elite that
used them as relaxation pools and cleaning tubs.

6. It is noted by historians that swimming was also
often used in battle. The Greeks were often
regarded as solid swimmers and at the Battle of
Salamis after a number of both Greek and Persian
boats were destroyed it was said that all of the
Persians drowned due to their inability to swim
while the Greek prevailed. The history of swimming
is much easier to understand than other sports.
Without any equipment to speak of an individual can
take to the waters. Obviously those countries that
had the most access to water were the first to
adapt to swimming. History did not have the
spreading of the sport as many other sports had
encountered because it was basically already
available.

7. You either adopted swimming as a means of life
or you just chose not to swim. The evolution of
swimming history expanded during the middle ages. A
number of individuals took it upon themselves to
write books about swimming. They were often focused
on the ability to not drown rather than a perfect
backstroke as you would imagine. Life saving
concepts and techniques began to form throughout
the next few hundred years and around the 18th and
19th century the sport began to evolve into more of
a competition than just life safety. Swimming
Associations and Clubs popped up all over the
world. Some of the first in swimming history were
in China, Sweden and Germany.

8. Schools began to believe that swimming was a
natural part of any life education. Therefore,
they began to teach swimming in schools not just
as a life safety course but as an extracurricular
activity. Schools and Universities began to adopt
these practices and set up clubs and swim teams.
Competitions began to arise around the mid 1800’s.
England was the first to modernize the sport and
incorporate an indoor swimming pool with a swim
team. They began to formulate new swimming styles
including the sidestroke. Shortly after this,
variations of the freestyle began to form and
credit can’t really be given to one person as so
many were responsible for developing this
technique.

9. The Olympic Games of 1896 in Athens was the first real
platform for the sport. There only men competed in a
number of events. Throughout the 1900’s the sport evolved
and saw a number of stars arise. Johnny Weissmuller, the
original Tarzan completed his ten year career by never
losing a race and winning five Olympic medals.
Science and technology began to play a part in the
sport throughout the 1900’s as well. When scientist and
coaches began studying swimmers and there underwater
techniques to improve times. The swimsuits began to
change as well as any form of resistance was under
scrutiny from all competitors. Goggles, swim caps and
different variations of training have all evolved as
well. The US has seen its share of great Olympians going
back to Mark Spitz who won seven gold medals in the 1972
Olympics.

10. The sport has evolved to a very competitive
and fun sport for anyone. That has always been
the great appeal that anyone can swim and we
have been for the past 3000 years… So goes the
history of swimming.

11. THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING!