Start of the women's 400m freestyle at the 2008 Euros. The European LC Championships 2008 or the 2008 European Championships in Aquatics were held in Eindhoven, Netherlands, from 13 March to

Freestyle is a swimming style, swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. Swimming is the movement by humans or animals through Water, usually without artificial assistance It is used during a freestyle, as this style is generally the fastest.

Technique

Freestyle swimming competitions can be any of the unregulated strokes such as front crawl, dog paddle, or sidestroke. The front crawl, or forward crawl, is a Swimming style usually regarded as the fastest of all the styles developed The dog paddle or doggy paddle is a simple Swimming stroke It is characterized by the swimmer lying on his chest and moving his hands and legs alternately The sidestroke is a swimming stroke, so named because the swimmer lies on one side Individual freestyle competitions can also be swum in one of the officially regulated strokes (breaststroke, butterfly, and backstroke). Breaststroke is a Swimming style swum on the Breast. It is the most popular recreational style due to its stability and the ability to keep the head out of the The butterfly, ( fly for short is a swimming stroke swum on the breast with both arms moving simultaneously The backstroke, also sometimes called the back crawl, is one of the four For the freestyle part of medley competitions, however, one cannot use breaststroke, butterfly, or backstroke. Medley is a combination of four different Swimming styles into one race Most competitive swimmers choose the front crawl during freestyle competitions, as this style provides the greatest speed. Freestyle competitions have also been swum completely and partially in other styles, especially at lower ranking competitions. During the Olympic Games, front crawl is swum almost exclusively during freestyle. The Olympic Games is an international Multi-sport event established for both summer and winter games

New developments in the sport

Times have consistently dropped over the years due to better training techniques and to new developments in the sport.

In the first four Olympics competitions were not held in pools, but rather in open water (1896- the Mediterranean Sea, 1900- the Seine river, 1904- an artificial lake, 1906- the Mediterranean Sea). The Seine (sɛn in French) is a slow flowing major River and commercial waterway within the regions of Île-de-France and Haute-Normandie The 1904 Olympics freestyle race was the only one ever measured at 100 yards, instead of the usual 100 metres. The 1904 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the III Olympiad, were an International Multi-sport event which was celebrated in St A 100 metre pool was built for the 1908 Olympics and sat in the centre of the main stadium's track and field oval. The 1908 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the IV Olympiad, were an International Multi-sport event which was held in 1908 in London The 1912 Olympics, held in the Stockholm harbour, marked the beginning of electronic timing. The 1912 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad, were an International Multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1912 in ('stɔkhɔlm is Sweden 's Capital and its largest City. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the parliament, and the

Male swimmers wore full body suits up until the 1940s, which caused more drag in the water than their modern swimwear counterparts. Also, over the years, some design considerations have reduced swimming resistance making the pool faster - namely proper pool depth, elimination of currents, increased lane width, energy-absorbing racing lane lines and gutters, and the use of other innovative hydraulic, acoustic and illumination designs. In Fluid dynamics, drag (sometimes called fluid resistance) is the force that resists the movement of a Solid object through a Fluid (a

The 1924 Olympics were the first to use the standard 50 metre pool with marked lanes. The 1924 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VIII Olympiad, were an International Multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1924 in In the freestyle, swimmers originally dived from the pool walls, but diving blocks were eventually incorporated at the 1936 Olympics. The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, an International Multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin The tumble turn ("flip-turn") was developed by the 1950s. A tumble turn, or "flip turn" is a technique used by swimmers to reverse the direction in which they are Swimming. The Trudgeon, introduced in England in the 1880s, has been completely supplanted by the front crawl, also known as the Australian crawl. The trudgen is a Swimming stroke sometimes known as the racing stroke, or the East Indian stroke. The front crawl, or forward crawl, is a Swimming style usually regarded as the fastest of all the styles developed

Rules and regulation

Freestyle means any style for individual distances and any style but breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke for medley competitions. The wall has to be touched at every turn and upon completion. Some part of the swimmer has to be above water at any time except for the first 15 m after the start and every turn. This rule was introduced to avoid the dangers of swimmers passing out during underwater swimming. (see: History of swimming). Swimming has been known since prehistoric times the earliest recording of swimming dates back to Stone Age paintings from around 7000 years ago The exact FINA rules are:

• Freestyle means that in an event so designated the swimmer may swim any style, except that in individual medley or medley relay events, freestyle means any style other than backstroke, breaststroke or butterfly.
• Some part of the swimmer must touch the wall upon completion of each length and at the finish.
• Some part of the swimmer must break the surface of the water throughout the race, except it shall be permissible for the swimmer to be completely submerged during the turn and for a distance of not more than 15 metres after the start and each turn. By that point the head must have broken the surface.

Competitions

Men's 100m freestyle at the 2006 Euros

There are eight common competitions swum in freestyle swimming, both over either a long course (50 m pool) or a short course (25 m pool). European LC Championships The European Championships in Aquatics (Long Course is an international Swimming competition run by the Ligue Européenne de Natation An Olympic-size swimming pool is the type of Swimming pool used in the Olympic Games and other "long course" events In swimming Short Course (abbreviated SC stands for a competition organized in a pool of 25 Metres in length instead of a regular Olympic size swimming pool of The United States also employs short course yards (25 yard pool). Of course, other distances are also swum on occasion.

• 50 m Freestyle
• 100 m Freestyle
• 200 m Freestyle
• 400 m Freestyle (500 yards for short course yards)
• 800 m Freestyle (1000 yards for short course yards)
• 1500 m Freestyle (1650 yards for short course yards)
• 4×100 m Freestyle Relay
• 4×200 m Freestyle Relay

Young swimmers (typically 8 years old and younger) may swim a 25 yard or 25 metre freestyle event. These shorter events are usually for swimmers who are slower than similarly aged swimmers or may have difficulty swimming longer distances.

Freestyle is also part of the medley over the following distances:

• 100 m Individual Medley (short 25 m pool only)
• 200 m Individual Medley
• 400 m Individual Medley
• 4×100 m Medley Relay

In the long distance races of 800 m and 1500 m, meets hosted by FINA (including the Olympics) only have the 800 m distance for women and the 1500 m distance for men. However, FINA does keep records in the 1500 metre distance for women and the 800 metre distance for men, and many meets in the United States have both distances for both genders. ^[1]

Well known freestyle swimmers

• Eamon Sullivan  Australia
• Ian Thorpe  Australia
• Grant Hackett  Australia
• Aleksandr Popov  Russia
• Pieter van den Hoogenband  Netherlands
• Alain Bernard  France
• Kieren Perkins  Australia
• Johnny Weissmuller  United States
• Jon Henricks  Australia
• Mark Spitz  United States
• Michael Phelps  United States
• Gary Hall Jr  United States
• Fernando Scherer  Brazil
• Murray Rose  Australia
• Dawn Fraser  Australia
• Laure Manaudou  France
• Janet Evans  United States
• Inge de Bruijn  Netherlands
• Libby Lenton  Australia
• Shane Gould  Australia
• Brooke Bennett  United States
• Tae Hwan Park  South Korea
• Stefan Nystrand  Sweden
• Britta Steffen  Germany
• Matt Biondi  United States
• Gustavo Borges  Brazil

Endnotes

Bibliography

• Hines, Emmett W. (1998). Fitness Swimming. Human Kinetics Publishers. ISBN 0-88011-656-0.  

• Laughlin, Terry (2001). Total Immersion is an approach to the coaching of Swimming which concentrates on the hydrodynamics of the Human body. Swimming Made Easy: The Total Immersion Way for Any Swimmer to Achieve Fluency, Ease, and Speed in Any Stroke. Total Immersion Inc. ISBN 1-931009-01-5.  

• Colwin, Cecil (2002). Breakthrough Swimming. Human Kinetics Publishers. ISBN 0-7360-3777-2.  

• (2007) The Macquarie Dictionary Online. Macquarie Dictionary Publishers Pty Ltd.  

External links

• Swim.ee: Detailed discussion of swimming techniques and speeds
• How to learn efficient freestyle swimming
• FINA World records list
• USA Swimming Long Course Metres record list (updated faster than FINA lists)
• USA Swimming Short Course Metres record list (updated faster than FINA lists)