Olympic Swimming

Swimming has long been a favorite of the summer Olympic games. There are great stories about the swimmers and their hard bodies gliding through the water is tough not to watch. The Olympic swimmers train for years to get to the Olympic games and there is no doubt that they are all very tough competitors and tremendous athletes. People who strive to be Olympic swimmers dedicate their entire lives to swimming and put hours and hours of work into the sport every day.

In Olympic Swimming there are four main competitive strokes that are used: Freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke. Each swimmer in the Olympic games must either choose a single stroke to qualify and compete with or they can also choose to qualify and compete in the medley, which is a combination of all four.

The races are determined by who swims the set length the fastest. Each stroke has different length races that the competitors can compete in. usually the swimmers excel in one length or another. For instance a freestyle swimmer can be exceptional at the 200 meter freestyle race, but not as good at a 800 meter freestyle race. It all depends on the individual athlete.

In addition to freestyle competition in Olympic Swimming, there is also team, or relay Olympic swimming events. The way that relay races work is much like a relay race on a track. One swimmer starts the race and then another takes the second leg and another takes the third leg and so on. The medleys are great to watch during Olympic swimming because many times you get to watch athletes who swim against each other work as a team, all swimming to win a medal for their country.

If you are in to water sports and good competition, tune into Olympic swimming during the next summer Olympics. You’ll be blown away by these athlete’s strength and endurance, competing in a sport that they have been practicing for most of their lives.