A Succint Overview Of Swimming As A Competitive Sport

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The Federation Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA) oversees international swimming and other aquatic sports at the amateur category. The FINA is comprised of national organizations from about 100 countries. These associations consist of U.S. Swimming, the Canadian Federation of Amateur Aquatics, the Amateur Swimming Union of Australia, and the Amateur Swimming Association of Great Britain. Swim meets are held in both long-course pools, which measure 50 meters in length, and short-course swimming pools, which measure 22.885 meters in length. Long-course swimming pools are partitioned into 6, 8, or 10 lanes, each of which is 8 feet wide. Short-course swimming pools have 6 or eight lanes. Each lane measures 2.1 or 2.4 meters wide. In U.S. championship events, 8 lanes is required to be used in both long- and short-course swimming pools. The FINA acknowledges international records set only in long-course pools.

Water in a regulation swimming pool must be at least 1.2 meters in depth and have a temperature of about 78°F. Floats called lane lines run the length of the swimming pool. They denote lane limits and help maintain the surface of the water calm. Swimmers partake in five sorts of competitions – freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and individual medley. In a freestyle competition, a swimmer may choose any stroke; but swimmers always select the front crawl since it is the quickest stroke. In the individual medley, competitors swim an identical expanse of each of the four strokes. In countrywide and international events, individual freestyle events are conducted at lengths of 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1,500 meters. Breaststroke, backstroke, and butterfly events are 100 and 200 meters in length. The individual medley covers 200 and 400 meters. Team relays are among the most thrilling swimming events. A team consists of four competitors, each of whom swims an equivalent distance. Men’s and women’s teams participate in a 400-meter freestyle relay, a 400-meter medley relay, each member of the team swims an unlike stroke for 100 meters.

Swimming competitions are held at different levels of competition, from local to international. So many swimmers participate in competitive swimming that qualifying times are determined for large events. Swimmers are required to at least equal the qualifying times for the competitions that they hope to enter in order to be eligible for those events. Huge events have some officials. The head official is the referee. The referee oversees the other officials and ensure that the swimmers abide by rules. Each participant in a race is allocated a lane. The competitors with the quickest qualifying times get the center lanes, and the slowest swimmers receive the outer lanes. The race sets off at the sound of the starter’s gun or horn. During the race, lane judges observe each swimmer’s strokes and the spins at the end of the pool. An illegal stroke or twirl disqualifies a swimmer. In many meets, an electronic timing and judging system ascertains the succession of finish and each competitor’s time to 1/1000 of a second. The system starts robotically at the starter’s signal. It records the time for each swimmer as the swimmer’s hand touches a plate fastened to the end of the pool.