Swimming (sport)

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. In addition to these individual events, Olympic swimmers also participate in relays.

History

Evidence of recreational swimming in prehistoric times has been found, with the earliest evidence dating to Stone Age paintings from around 10000 years ago. Written references date from 2000 BC, with some of the earliest references to swimming including the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Bible, Beowulf, the Quran and others. In 1538, Nikolaus Wynmann, a German professor of languages, wrote the first swimming book, The Swimmer or A Dialogue on the Art of Swimming (Der Schwimmer oder ein Zweigespräch über die Schwimmkunst).

Swimming emerged as a competitive recreational activity in the 1830s in England. In 1828, the first indoor swimming pool, St George's Baths was opened to the public. By 1837, the National Swimming Society was holding regular swimming competitions in six artificial swimming pools, built around London. The recreational activity grew in popularity and by 1880, when the first national governing body, the Amateur Swimming Association, was formed, there were already over 300 regional clubs in operation across the country.

Swimmer (video game)

Swimmer (スイマ一) is an arcade game developed in 1982 by Tehkan (now known as Tecmo) and published by Centuri. The comic gameplay involves swimming up a river while avoiding logs and various marine life. The player collects fruit to score points and power up to knock enemies out. Players could swim from side to side to avoid obstacles, or press a button to dive under them. The aim of the game is to swim until the character reaches the treasure island.

In 2005, Swimmer was released exclusively on the Xbox, as part of the Tecmo Classic Arcade collection.

References

External links

Swimmer (film)

Swimmer is a 2012 Scottish short film directed by Lynne Ramsay. The film won Best Short Film at the 66th British Academy Film Awards.

Cast

Tom Litten as The Swimmer

Production

The film was one of 4 unique co-commissions in partnership between BBC Films, Film4 and the London Organisationing Committee of the Olympic and Paraolympic Games to celebrate the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Reception

Director Lynne Ramsay was nominated for Best Short at the British Independent Film Awards. She went on to receive BAFTA Award for Best Short Film for her work.

References