Mark Spitz was an American swimmer who won 7 gold medals at the 1972 Olympics. He held 17 national age records by age 10. Jenny Thompson is an American swimmer who won 16 total Olympic medals between 1992 and 2004. Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time with 28 medals, including 23 gold. Swimming provides significant physical and mental health benefits like cardiovascular fitness, muscle toning, and stress relief. Proper nutrition for swimmers focuses on carbohydrates, protein, water and avoiding sugars. The four competitive strokes - backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle - each have distinct techniques. Rules and regulations govern swim meets and disqualifications.

1. Competitive Swimming
By: Cynthia J Barnhill

2.  Mark Spitz
By age 10, Mark earned
Jenny
o
17 national age-group
records and one world
record. Thompson
o Won 7 gold medals at
1972 Olympic games in
Munich. o As a 14 yr. old, she won the
50m freestyle , placed 3rd in
o In 1999 Spitz was ranked 100m freestyle in 1987 Pan Am
33rd in ESPN’s Sports Games.
Century 50 Greatest
Athletes – he was the only o Won 1st world championship in
aquatic athlete to make 1991 as part of USA’s winning
the list. 4x100 m freestyle relay team.
o Most swimmers are clean o World record set in 50 and
shaven, Mark was 100m freestyle in 1192
rebellious and swam with Olympics in Barcelona Spain.
facial hair. He was well
known for his iconic o Member of the Stanford
mustache. University swim team, NCAA
swim champions 4 consecutive
years.

3. o An American swimmer who has won 16
Olympic medals – 6 Gold and Two Bronze in
Athens in 2004 & 8 Gold at Beijing in 2008.
o Phelps holds the record for most gold medals
won in a single Olympics.
o At age 15, he was the youngest American male
swimmer at an Olympics in 68 years.
o 2001 Phelps set a world record in the
200m butterfly. He has broken his own
record 4 times in his career.
o When learning to swim, Michael was
afraid to put his face in the water, so
the first stroke he mastered was
backstroke.

4. o Swimming is a healthy activity that can be
performed for a lifetime.
o Swimming works practically every muscle in the
body.
o Swimming is a great cross-training element to any
workout regimen. It develops great cardiovascular
fitness and endurance.
o Clearly swimming is an excellent weight loss
program, but you will lose weight only! You will
tone muscles!

5. o Swimming is easy on joints and ligaments, therefore
elderly and arthritic persons can participate.
o A very significant benefit of swimming is the disease
it can prevent your body from -- Obesity, Diabetes,
High blood sugar levels, High/Low blood pressure
and Chronic heart disease just to name a few.
o Swimming is an excellent source of exercise for
pregnant women. The breast stroke, in particular,
builds strong back muscles needed to support a
growing belly.
Swimming really does do a body good!

6.  Why is what you eat so important? Acceptable Foods
 At least 8 glasses
After heredity and training, nutrition plays the largest role of water a day
in the quality of a swimmer’s performance.  Bananas
 Orange juice
Pre-competition meals should be low in fat and high in carbohydrates.  Chicken
 Turkey
A swimmer gets energy as their body breaks down carbohydrates.
 Milk
Protein builds cells and make them stronger.
 Pasta
 Rice
Water and sports drinks keep the body hydrated.  Pancakes w/o
syrup
Avoid quick sugar highs, when they wear off swimmers are tired and  Cereal bars
weak.
 AVOID CANDY,
Fruits and vegetables provide many needed vitamins and minerals.
SODA AND FATTY
FOODS
EAT WELL SWIM WELL!!!

7. The Butterfly, Breast and
Freestyle stroke all start from
the starting block in a
forward motion.
Flip turns are required in
Freestyle and Backstroke.

8. Backstroke start is in the
water in a crouched position
holding onto the starting
block.
Butterfly & Breast stroke Turns
Swim into the wall and do a two handed
touch, and in one swift motion head to
the other end of the pool.

9.  The Backstroke
1. Floating on the back in a horizontal position,
kick legs up and down. Keep legs straight, but
not rigid.
2. Pivot slightly at waist and rotate the shoulders,
windmill your arms. Keep one arm straight,
raise it out of the water from the waist to a
fully extended position. At the same time, the
other arm should be bent and pulling a cupped
hand along your side in the water, from the
extended position back down to your side.
Your hand should enter the water pinky-first.
3. Keep your head floating back in the water, eyes
looking up. Breathe normally. Blow air out of
your nose to prevent water getting in the nose.
4. Be careful not to hit your head on the pool
wall. Most pools have flags hanging about 10
feet from the wall. Count the number of
strokes it takes for you to get from the flags to
the wall.

10.  Freestyle
1. Also called the front crawl or
sidestroke.
2. While swimming on your belly, keep
legs straight, but not rigid. Kick up
and down continuously.
3. Move arms in the a windmill position
opposite each other. While one arm
is extended completely out, the other
should be all the way back almost
against the side of the body.
4. Keep hands flat, pull the extended
arm through the water beneath the
body. Bend arms at the elbow .
5. Lift the other arm out of the water
and move it all the way forward as
the first arm is pulling beneath you.
6. Breathe on one side by turning the
head to that side as the arm comes
out of the water.

11.  Breaststroke
1. Dive into water with arms fully
extended in front of you, legs directly
behind you.
2. Push your arms apart so they create a
diagonal with your body.
3. Pull elbows into the sides of the
body, then bring hands together in
front of the chest.
4. While completing the last step, lift
head, neck and upper chest out of
water to breathe.
5. Bending knees, bring feet towards
your bottom, toes pointed outward.
Make a circular motion with feet until
they meet with legs fully extended
once again. This is called a frog
kick.
Complete these motions as quickly as
possible.

12.  Butterfly
1. Hold legs together and extend
arms above head.
2. Kick legs up and down in a
whipping motion, dolphin kick.
3. Pull both arms simultaneously
and symmetrically through the
water beneath the body, along
with a big kick.
4. Lift head up and breathe while
quickly pulling both arms out of
the water and swing them
forward. Head and arms reenter
the water together as in a diving
motion.

13. Goggles
Kick Board
Body Buoy
Jammers or
Swimsuit
Swim Cap
Flippers

14.  Other swimmers from other teams –
individuals and relay teams
 The clock – you always want to beat your
best personal time!

15. Swimmers earn points as they swim
their individual events.
Team scores are accumulated as
individuals and relay teams swim
and earn points.
Individual and teams awards are
presented.

16.  Starts must be at the  Open turns must be used
starter’s horn. on Butterfly and
Breaststroke.
 Forward starts must be  Relay Medley must be swam
used on all strokes in the order of back, breast,
except backstroke. fly and free.
When finishing a stroke,
Flip turns must be


both hands must touch the
used on freestyle and wall simultaneously at,
backstroke. above or below water level.

17.  Two false starts by the  If a swimmer is
same swimmer results in submerged longer than 15
disqualification. meters out from the wall
after any start.
 A swimmer who swims
more than one leg in any  Stroke cycle for Breast
relay event. stroke is one arm stroke
and one leg kick in that
 Alternating kicks used order.
when swimming the
Butterfly – simultaneous  Swimmers who are not on
kicks only. (Dolphin kick) the back when finishing
the backstroke.

18. Start young!
T
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DREAM BIG!!!!

19. Slide 2 markspitzusa.com/biography.html and e.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Thompson
Slide 3 biography.com/people/michael-phelps-345192
Slide 4 & 5 buzzhealthy.com/the-various-physical-benefits-of-swimming and
ezinearticles.com/?Mental-and-physical-benefits-of-swimming&id=2085968
Slide 6 Holt, Betty (Jun 19, 2001) livestrong.com/article/473998-foods-that-
competitive-swimmers-should-eat
Slide 9 ehow.com/how_5055_swim-backstroke.html
Slide 10 ehow.com/how_5048_swim-freestyle-stroke.html
Slide 11 wikihow.com/Swim-the-breaststroke
Slide 12 ehow.com/how_5301_swim-butterfly-stroke.html
Slide 16 & 17 USA Swimming 2011 Mini Rulebook, Copyright 2011