SWIMMING

Swimming is an individual or team sport and activity. Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports, with events in freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly.Competitive swimming became popular in the 19th century. The goal of competitive swimming is to break personal or world records while beating competitors in any given event.

Swim styles

In competitive swimming, four major styles have been established. These have been relatively stable over the last 30–40 years with minor improvements. The four main strokes in swimming are:

Butterfly (fly)
Backstroke (back)
Breaststroke (breast)
Freestyle (free)

Events in competition may have only one of these styles except in the case of the individual medley, or IM, which consists of all four. In this latter event, swimmers swim equal distances of butterfly, then backstroke, breaststroke, and finally, freestyle

International Swimming Events

FINA Swimming World Cup
FINA World Aquatics Championships
FINA World Championships - Short Course
FINA World Masters Championships
FINA Youth World Swimming Championships

European Junior Swimming Championships
European LC Championships
European Short Course Swimming Championships
European Masters Swimming Championships
Open de Paris de Natation

Irish Open Short Course Swimming Championships
Swedish Short Course Swimming Championships
Swedish Swimming Championships
Australian Swimming Championships

National Swimming Stars

Virdhawal Khade

This tall and lean Olympian from Kolhapur has been setting the pool ablaze around the world. At 17, he holds multiple National records and recently became the youngest swimmer to represent India at the Olympic Games. Currently he is among the fastest in Asia and is soon catching the rest of the world. Go Veer Go!!!!

Achievements

Won four golds and one silver medal at the Asian Age Groups Swimming Championships, creating four Meet Records and three National records.
Won three gold and three silver medals at the Commonwealth Youth Games 2008, creating four new National records and three Games records.
First Indian swimmer to compete in three events at an Olympic Games. Virdhawal swam in the 50, 100 and 200m Freestyle at the Beijing Olympic Games.
National record holder in five events - 50, 100, 200 and 400m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly.
Among the fastest swimmers in the world in his age group.
Arguably the fastest swimmer in Asia.
First Indian swimmer to break into the top 100 in the 2008 FINA World rankings. Best world rank of 57 in the 50m Butterfly.

J. Agnishwar

J. Agnishwar is the latest swimming sensation to hit the headlines. He has set numerous state and national level records in various age groups and has also won multiple medals at State, National and International meets. He was the first Indian to swim in the Junior Olympics in 2005 and also competed in the FINA Swimming World Champs at the age of 13! Go Agni Go!!

Achievements

Ranked 47th in the World in 50M Breast Stroke as a 13 year old in the Men’s World Championship Youngest male swimmer to represent India in the World Swimming Championship meet held at Indianapolis, USA.
National Record holder in the 50m Breast-stroke and 200m Individual Medley in his age group.

Fariha Zaman

Achievements

State Level :

Gold Medals : 81

Silver Medals : 38

Bronze Medals : 9

National Level

Gold Medals : 45

Silver Medals : 18

Bronze Medals : 10

New Meet Records :17

International Level

Gold Medals : 7

Silver Medals : 1

Bronze Medals : 1

New Meet Records : 7

International Swimming Stars

Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps’ path to becoming the most successful Olympian of all time looks in retrospect almost pre-determined.

Diagnosed with Attention Deficit disorder, Phelps was directed towards swimming in 1992 at the age of just seven in order to provide him with an outlet for his unbounded energy. After that, his transformation into an unbeatable swimmer appeared inexorable, and he broke record after record as he rose through the age categories.

It’s not clear what the Michael Phelps way will be from this point on, but with 22 Games medals to his name, including an astonishing 18 golds, his record as the most decorated Olympian of all time seems likely to last for at least the rest of his retirement.

Mark Spitz

Mark Spitz is one of the greatest swimmers of all time. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Games.

Seven golds

At the 1972 Munich Games, Spitz was determined to make up for his below-par performances four years earlier. He did not disappoint. Over a period of eight days, Mark Spitz entered seven events, won all seven and set a world record in every one.

Long-lasting record

Mark Spitz held the record for most gold medals won at a single Olympic Games for 36 years. It was finally broken by American phenomenon Michael Phelps who won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky

Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky (born March 17, 1997) is an American competition swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, nine-time world champion, and current world record holder in multiple events. She is the current world record-holder in the 400-, 800-, and 1,500-meter freestyle (long course). She also holds the fastest-ever times in the 500- and 1,650-yard freestyles.

In her international debut at the 2012 Summer Olympics as a 15-year-old, Ledecky unexpectedly won gold in the 800-meter freestyle in what was the second-fastest performance ever. In total, she has won fifteen medals in major international competitions, all of them gold, spanning the Summer Olympics, the World Championships, and the Pan Pacific Championships. During her career, she has broken ten world records.

Ledecky's success has earned her Swimming World's World Swimmer of the Year and the American Swimmer of the Year awards in 2013 and 2014, as well as the FINA Swimmer of the Year Award in 2013. Ledecky was also named the international female Champion of Champions by L'Équipe in 2014.