Swimming olympians and what they have done....

Mark with his seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympics.

Some of the greatest Olympians in swimming have a lot of medals but others maybe just have the one....


Mark Spitz..

Mark Spitz is the greatest swimmer in the history of swimming. With his 11 Olympic medals, he became the fourth highest medalist in the Olympic history and jointly the highest in Men’s Swimming.

Matthew Nicholas Biondi..

Biondi is another great swimmer in the swimming history winning 11 Olympic medals including 8 gold. Appearing in three Olympics Games, he could prove his skill and potential in swimming.

Johnny Weissmuller..

Johnny_Weissmuller is another talented swimmer in the swimming history. This multi skilled legend is also very famous for playing the role of Tarzan in the movie titled ‘Tarzan’, one of the successful movies ever released in Hollywood.

Ian James Thorpe..

Nicknamed ‘Thorpedo’ he is one of the most popular swimmers in the present world. Having participated in two Olympic Games, Thorpe bagged nine medals including five gold.

Ian Thorpe.

Michael Phelps..

Phelps is another passionate American swimmer in the present world. He has showed his talent and skill to be accepted as a legend in the swimming history.

Jennifer Elizabeth Thompson..

Jenny Thompson is a great swimmer in the world swimming. Jenny could win 12 medals participating in four Olympics games. Her number of Olympic gold medal is 8 which deserve her to be included in the list of one of the great Olympians. 

Krisztina Egerszegi..

This Hungarian great Olympian was a famous swimmer from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s. Participating in three Olympics Games, she bagged 7 medals in which 5 were gold.

Dawn Fraser..

This Australian great swimmer is mostly famous for her successes in the Freestyle event. She is the first women to finish swimming within one minute in the 100m events.

Michael Phelps.

Shane Gould..

Shane is another great Australian swimmer in the world swimming. It is still a mystery that in spite of having a great skill and potential, she retired at the age of 16.

Johnny Weissmuller.

Kristin Otto..

Shane Gould.

Kristin is the famous swimmer in the swimming world. This German swimmer appeared in one Olympic Games in 1988 and she could prove the tale that great people does not need two chances to show their greatness. In that tournament she won 6 gold medals.

Kristin Otto

facts about swimming....

History:



(Picture from fina.org)
Ancient drawings.



1) Ancient drawings and paintings were found in Egypt detecting people swimming which date back to 2500 AD.

2) Swimming became an amateur sport in the late part of the nineteenth century.

The Olympic Rings
(picture from en.wikipedia.org)

3) Swimming became a part of the olympic games in 1896.

4) Swimming in the olympics started men's event only but women were able to participate in 1912.

5) The first man to cross the English Channel was Captain Matthew Webb who was an Englishman he did it in 1875.

6) The first woman to swim the English Channel is Gertrude Ederle, who was actually just a teenager at that time in 1926.

7)Mark Spitz was the first Olympic swimmer to win seven gold medals in a single Olympiad in the 1972 games.

Strokes:

Breastroke
(picture from china.org.cn)

1) The oldest form of stroke used is breaststroke.

2) In butterfly and breaststroke, swimmers need to touch the pool with both handsat the same time when they finish. Swimmers touch the pool with only one hand when they finish in freestyle and backstroke.

3) The most popular freestyle stroke is front-crawl, which is considered the fastest stroke.

Health and Excercise:

1) An hour of fast swimming could burn up to 650 calories. It burns off more calories than walking or biking.

Your heart and lungs
(picture from hsc.uwe.ac.uk)

2) Swimming strengthen your heart and lungs.

3) Swimming works out all of the body’s major muscles.

Other interesting swimming facts:

1) The first ocean liner with a swimming pool is the Titanic.

2) The two-piece bathing suit known as bikini got its name from Bikini Atoll, a US nuclear test site in the South Pacific.

3) Over 50% of world-class swimmers suffer from shoulder pain.