All you need to know about swimming!

I've been swimming for my whole life. I started when I was just 4 because my parents wanted me to know how to swim. When I was 10 I started competitive swimming.

The first thing you need to know about swimming is the different strokes and events there is. There are 4 different strokes: Butterfly (aka Michel Phelps stroke), Backstroke, Breaststroke and Freestyle.

Competitive swimming, from the club through to international level, tends to have an Autumn and Winter season competing in short course (25 meters or yards) pools and a Spring and Summer season competing in long course (50-meters) pools and in open water. In international competition and in club swimming in Europe, the short course (25m) season lasts from September to December, and the long course (50m) season from January to August.

There are individuals events but also relays where 4 people swim together. For the 2021 Olympics Games in Tokyo there was a total of 35 swimming events in the 50m pool, 17 events for both men and women as I show below, and a 4 x 100m medley relay mixed. For college swimming the only difference is the pool, which is only 25 yards and some freestyle events vary because of that.

A 50 is two lengths of the pool if it's 25 but only one if it's in a 50m pool. The 100 is four lengths of the pool if it's 25 but only two if it's in a 50m pool and so on.

All Swimming Events:

• Butterfly: 50, 100 and 200 (meters/yards)

• Backstroke: 50, 100 and 200 (meters/yards)

• Breaststroke: 50, 100 and 200 (meters/yards)

• Freestyle:

  • Meters: 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1500

  • Yards: 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 and 1650

• Medley (combine all 4 strokes):

  • 200: 50 Butterfly/50 Backstroke/50 Breaststroke/50 Freestyle

  • 400: 100 Butterfly/100 Backstroke/100 Breaststroke/100 Freestyle

• Relays (meters/yards):

  • Freestyle relay (where each person swims 50, 100 or 200 depending on the relay)

    • 4 x 50 -also called 200 freestyle relay in college swimming

    • 4 x 100 -also called 400 freestyle relay in college swimming

    • 4 x 200 -also called 800 freestyle relay in college swimming

  • Medley relay (Each person swims one stroke, being the order: Backstroke/Breaststroke/Butterfly/Freestyle

    • 4 x 50- also called 200 medley relay in college swimming

    • 4 x 100- also called 400 medley relay in college swimming

Here is the list of all current World Records (Short and long course) if you want to check it out: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_records_in_swimming#:~:text=%20%20%20%20Event%20%20%20,%20World%20Championships%20%2015%20more%20rows%20 

As you can see there is a lot of variety and a swimmer usually tends to specialize in a stroke or distance. Being a sprinter means you swim shorter events in that stroke and being a distance swimmer means you are better in longer events, usually freestyle since it has the longest events.

Breaststroke (50, 100 and 200) is my specialty but I can also swim the 200 medley and some

mid-distance freestyle such as 200 and 500.

But the best way to explain swimming is by watching it and enjoying it. I encourage you to watch some of the events in this past Olympics in Tokyo. But also wanted to share a video of me swimming!

This is me at my Nationals in Spain, where I swam the 50m Breaststroke Final and got 3rd.

I am in lane 6 (Paula Garcia Estrella which is the third starting from the top.

I know every sport have its rules and difficulties so if you have any other questions about swimming or anything related please contact me and I'll be happy to answer them :)

pg60@uakron.edu