Swimming 游泳

　　The English are considered the first modern society to develop swimming as a sport. By 1837 swimming competitions had been held in London’s six artificial pools and these competitions were organized by the National Swimming Society in England. As the sport grew in popularity many more swimming pools were built, and when a new governing body, the Amateur Swimming Association of Great Britain, was organized in 1880, it numbered more than 300 member clubs. 

　　In 1896, swimming became an Olympic sport for men with the 100 meters and 1500 meters freestyle competitions held in open water. Soon after, as swimming gained popularity, more freestyle events were included, followed by the backstroke (仰泳), butterfly (蝶泳), breaststroke　(蛙泳), and lastly, the individual medley (个人混合泳).

　　For a variety of reasons, women were excluded from swimming in the first several Olympic Games. In 1896 and again in 1906, women could not participate because the developer of the modern games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, held firmly to the assumption, common in the Victorian era, that women were too frail to engage in competitive sports. It was only at the 1912 Games when women’s swimming made its debut at the prompting of the group that later became known as the International Olympic Committee.

       The first modern Olympic Games had only four swimming events, three of them freestyle. The second Olympics in Paris in 1900 included three unusual swimming events. One used an obstacle course; another was a test of underwater swimming endurance; the third was a 4,000-metre event, the longest competitive swimming event ever. None of the three was ever used in the Olympics again.

　　From this humble beginning with four swimming events, the Olympics have now developed to 32 swimming races, 16 for men and 16 for women. The Special Olympics includes competitive swimming for people with disabilities and has 22 events for men and 22 for women.

COMPETITION

    The programme involves four different strokes across a range of distances.

　　Freestyle races cover 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1500, 10,000 metres. The 800m is for women only, the 1500m for men only. The butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke races each cover 100 and 200 metres. All four strokes are used in the 200m and 400m individual medley events.

　　The 4×100m freestyle, 4 ×200m freestyle and 4× 100m medley relays complete the programme.

　　Each race has a maximum of eight swimmers. Preliminary heats in the 50m, 100m and 200m lead to semi-finals and finals based on the fastest times. In relays and individual events of 400 metres or more, the eight fastest finishers in the preliminaries advance directly to the finals.

Synchronized Swimming 花样游泳

　　It looks like perhaps the most effortless event in the Olympic Games, but there is more to synchronized swimming than what appears on the surface. Besides demanding strength, endurance, flexibility, grace and artistry, it requires exceptional breath control.

　　Unusual, but vital, equipment helps the women maintain the illusion of effortlessness, no simple task considering they perform strenuous movements upside down and underwater while holding their breath. A nose clip prevents water from entering the nose, allowing the swimmers to remain underwater for long periods. Gelatine keeps the hair in place. Make-up brings out the features.

　　Most importantly, an underwater speaker lets the swimmers hear the music clearly while underwater, helping them achieve the split-second timing critical to synchronized swimming.

　　Originally known as water ballet, synchronized swimming began in Canada in the 1920s. It spread to the United States in the early ’30s, where a display at the 1934 Chicago World’s Fair drew rave reviews. Its popularity soared further when Esther Williams performed in a string of MGM “aqua musicals” in the 1940s and ’50s.

COMPETITION

　　Synchronized swimming emerged as an exhibition sport at the Olympic Games from 1948 to 1968, then debuted as a full medal sport in Los Angeles in 1984. It is open only to women, with medals offered in two events: duet and team.

　　Competition for both events consists of a technical routine and a free routine, each performed to music within a time limit. In the technical routine, swimmers perform specific moves in a set order, including boosts, rockets, thrusts and twirls. In the free routine there are no restrictions on music or choreography. Judges of each routine look for a high degree of difficulty and risk, flawless execution, innovative choreography and seemingly effortless performance.

　　The judging for synchronized swimming resembles the judging for figure skating. Two panels of five judges assess a performance, one panel scoring technical merit and the other assessing artistic impression. In both cases, each judge awards a mark out of a possible 10.

Diving 跳水

　　Diving was contested at the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, and its appearance on the Olympic programme in both springboard and platform events has been continuous since 1908. The diving programme has been relatively constant since 1928, with men and women competing in both the 10-metre platform and the 3-metre springboard events. Prior to that time, a men’s event for plain high diving was on the programme in 1912, 1920 and 1924. Early Olympic competitions also differed in the heights of the platform and springboard.

　　Two new events were added to the Olympic programme in 2000 for both men and women, these being synchronized platform diving and synchronized springboard diving. These events consist of two divers leaving the platform or springboard simultaneously and diving together. Usually the athletes perform the same dive, although occasionally dives which complement each other are chosen.

　　The United States dominated the sport of diving, perhaps to an even greater extent than any other sport at the Olympics. In the late 1980s the Chinese entered diving competition and posed the first serious threat to this dominance. While the United States’ Greg Louganis was still competing the Chinese men posted few victories, but the Chinese women have been almost unbeatable of late. Now that Louganis, considered the greatest diver ever, is retired, China is also considered the top nation in the men’s events.