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Crossing the English Channel
In 1875, Matthew Web ignited public interest in swimming when he swam across the English Channel swimming only Breastroke. This took him 21 hours, and was the first man to draw attention to the sport of swimming.
Http://swim.isport.com/swimming-history/ -
The Debut of Modern Olympic Swimming
This was the first Modern Olympic games for swimming. Only Men were allowed to compete, and they were only allowed to swim 4 events. This event started swimming in the Olympics.
USAswimming.org -
The Start of Modern Freestyle
Australian Richard Caville was the first to introduce Freestyle as an official stroke. This soon became the fastest stroke in the Olympics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimming_at_the_Summer_Olympics -
Women Enter Record Books
Women Make their Olympic swimming debut, racing the 100 meter freestyle! This event changes swimming for women forever.
http://www.fina.org/H2O/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4366&Itemid=1616 -
Butterfly Emerges
Butterfly is declared a separate stroke from Breastroke, this was a double arm recovery stroke with dolphin kick. In this year as well, flip turns were first used in Olympic Competition. This helped speed up Olympic Competition into what we know today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_stroke -
Goggles Enter the Swimming World
Swimmers are finally allowed to wear goggles in these Olympic games, which begins the whole process of tech goggles and suits, helping swimmers to compete at a new level.
http://www.triathlonomatic.com/10-best-swimming-goggles-review-2015/ -
Open Water Swimming Takes an Icy Turn
Lynne Cox swam across the Bering Strait without a wetsuit. She became the first person (Man or Woman) to swim over a mile in the icy waters of Antarctica. This changed open water swimming forever.
http://www.openwaterswimming.com -
Backstroke goes Underwater
After Olympians demonstrated they could move quicker by dolphin kicking underwater rather than swimming backstroke, Olympic Japanese swimmers David Suzuki and Berkoff went more than 33 meters underwater - resulting in FINA quickly amending swimming rules to state that swimmers must emerge to the surface before or at the 10 meter mark.
http://www.usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=1636 -
Open Water 10 Km Official
International Olympic Committee acknowledged the rising popularity of open water swimming and added for the first time a 10 km open water marathon to the list of events of the Summer Games. This would open many doors for distance swimmers.
http://usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=1422 -
Bodyskins Banned
Sophisticated Bodyskins were banned from FINA competitions after many national swimming federations demanded the action. This took away a very big advantage for Olympic swimmers.
http://www.symscape.com/blog/swimsuit-banned-as-technology-doping
