Freestyle swimming

From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids

Freestyle is one of the official swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. However, it is technically not a style, as there are very few regulations about the way freestyle has to be swum. Most swimmers choose to swim front crawl during freestyle, as this style is generally the fastest.

Contents 1 Technique 2 Rules and regulation 3 Competitions 4 Current world records 4.1 Long course swim pools 4.1.1 Men 4.1.2 Women 4.2 Short course swim pools 4.2.1 Men 4.2.2 Women 5 Endnotes 6 Bibliography 7 External links

[edit] Technique

Freestyle swimming competitions can be any of the unregulated strokes such as front crawl, dog paddle, or sidestroke. Individual freestyle competitions can also be swum in one of the officially regulated strokes (breaststroke, butterfly, and backstroke). For the freestyle part of medley competitions, however, one cannot use breaststroke, butterfly, or backstroke. Most competitive swimmers will choose to swim front crawl during freestyle competitions, as this style provides the greatest speed. Freestyle competitions have also been swum completely and partially in other styles, especially at lower ranking competitions. During the Olympic Games, front crawl is swum almost exclusively during freestyle.

[edit] Rules and regulation

Freestyle means any style for individual distances and any style but breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke for medley competitions. The wall has to be touched at every turn and upon completion. One part of the swimmer has to be above water at any time except for the first 15 m after the start and every turn as the swimmer is usually submereged underwater. This rule was introduced to avoid the dangers of swimmers passing out during underwater swimming. (see: History of swimming). The exact FINA rules are:

• Freestyle means that in an event so designated the swimmer may swim any style, except that in individual medley or medley relay events, freestyle means any style other than backstroke, breaststroke or butterfly.
• Some part of the swimmer must touch the wall upon completion of each length and at the finish.
• Some part of the swimmer must break the surface of the water throughout the race, except it shall be permissible for the swimmer to be completely submerged during the turn and for a distance of not more than 15 meters (half a lap) after the start and each turn. By that point the head must have broken the surface.

[edit] Competitions

There are eight common competitions swum in freestyle swimming, both over either a long course (50 m pool) or a short course (25 m pool). The United States also employs short course yards (25 yard pool). Of course, other distances are also swum on occasions.

• 50 m Freestyle
• 100 m Freestyle
• 200 m Freestyle
• 400 m Freestyle (500 yards for short course yards)
• 800 m Freestyle (1000 yards for short course yards)
• 1500 m Freestyle (1650 yards for short course yards)
• 4×100 m Freestyle Relay
• 4×200 m Freestyle Relay

Young swimmers (typically 8 years old and younger) may swim a 25 yard or 25 meter freestyle event. These shorter events are usually for swimmers who are slower than similarly aged swimmers or may have difficulty swimming longer distances.

Freestyle is also part of the medley over the following distances:

• 100 m Individual Medley (short 25 m pool only)
• 200 m Individual Medley
• 400 m Individual Medley
• 4×100 m Medley Relay

In the long distance races of 800 m and 1500 m, meets hosted by FINA (including the Olympics) only have the 800 m distance for women and the 1500 m distance for men. However, FINA does keep records in the 1500 meter distance for women and the 800 meter distance for men, and many meets in the United States have both distances for both genders.^[1]

[edit] Current world records

All records were achieved in finals unless otherwise specified. Records with an asterisk (*) after the time indicate that they have been attained since the last FINA world records list.

[edit] Long course swim pools

[edit] Men

Event	Record	Holder	Nation	Date	Location
50 m	21.64	Alexander Popov	Russia	June 16, 2000	Moscow, Russia
100 m	47.84	Pieter van den Hoogenband	Netherlands	September 19, 2000	Sydney, Australia (semifinals)
200 m	1:44.06	Ian Thorpe	Australia	July 25, 2001	Fukuoka, Japan
400 m	3:40.08	Ian Thorpe	Australia	July 30, 2002	Manchester, United Kingdom
800 m	7:38.65	Grant Hackett	Australia	July 27, 2005	Montreal, Canada
1500 m	14:34.56	Grant Hackett	Australia	July 29, 2001	Fukuoka, Japan
4×100 m	3:12.46	Michael Phelps (48.83) Neil Walker (47.89) Cullen Jones (47.96) Jason Lezak (47.78)	United States	August 19, 2006	Victoria, Canada
4×200 m	7:04.66	Grant Hackett (1:46.11) Michael Klim (1:46.49) William Kirby (1:47.92) Ian Thorpe (1:44.14)	Australia	July 27, 2001	Fukuoka, Japan

[edit] Women

Event	Record	Holder	Nation	Date	Location
50 m	24.13	Inge de Bruijn	Netherlands	September 22, 2000	Sydney, Australia (semifinals)
100 m	53.30	Britta Steffen	Germany	August 2, 2006	Budapest, Hungary
200 m	1:56.64	Franziska van Almsick	Germany	August 3, 2002	Berlin, Germany
400 m	4:02.13	Laure Manaudou	France	August 6, 2006	Budapest, Hungary
800 m	8:16.22	Janet Evans	United States	August 20, 1989	Tokyo, Japan
1500 m	15:52.10	Janet Evans	United States	March 26, 1988	Orlando, USA
4x100 m	3:35.22	Petra Dallmann (54.53) Daniela Goetz (53.87) Britta Steffen (52.66) Annika Liebs (54.16)	Germany	July 31, 2006	Budapest, Hungary
4×200 m	7:50.82	Petra Dallmann (1:59.14) Daniela Samulski (1:58.27) Britta Steffen (1:57.77) Annika Liebs (1:55.64)	Germany	August 3, 2006	Budapest, Hungary

[edit] Short course swim pools

[edit] Men

Event	Record	Holder	Nation	Date	Location
50 m	20.98	Roland Schoeman	South Africa	August 12, 2006	Hamburg, Germany (semifinals)
100 m	46.25	Ian Crocker	United States	March 27, 2004	East Meadow, USA
		Roland Schoeman	South Africa	January 22, 2005	Berlin, Germany
200 m	1:41.10	Ian Thorpe	Australia	February 6, 2000	Berlin, Germany
400 m	3:34.58	Grant Hackett	Australia	July 18, 2002	Sydney, Australia
800 m	7:25.28	Grant Hackett	Australia	August 3, 2001	Perth, Australia
1500 m	14:10.10	Grant Hackett	Australia	August 7, 2001	Perth, Australia
4×100 m	3:09.57	Johan Nystrom (49.04) Lars Frolander (45.69) Mattias Ohlin (47.87) Stefan Nystrand (46.97)	Sweden	March 16, 2000	Athens, Greece
4×200 m	6:56.41	William Kirby (1:44.97) Ian Thorpe (1:42.63) Michael Klim (1:45.55) Grant Hackett (1:43.26)	Australia	August 7, 2001	Perth, Australia

[edit] Women

Event	Record	Holder	Nation	Date	Location
50 m	23.59	Therese Alshammar	Sweden	March 18, 2000	Athens, Greece
100 m	51.70	Lisbeth Lenton	Australia	August 9, 2005	Melbourne, Australia
200 m	1:53.29	Lisbeth Lenton	Australia	November 19, 2005	Sydney, Australia
400 m	3:56.79	Laure Manaudou	France	December 10, 2005	Trieste, Italy
800 m	8:11.25	Laure Manaudou	France	December 9, 2005	Trieste, Italy
1500 m	15:42.39	Laure Manaudou	France	November 20, 2004	La Roche-sur-Yon, France
4×100 m	3:33.32	Inge Dekker (53.52) Hinkelian Schreuder (53.63) Chantal Groot (54.00) Magdalena Veldhuis (52.17)	Netherlands	April 8, 2006	Shanghai, China
4×200 m	7:46.30	Yanvei Xu (1:55.73) Yingven Zhu (1:57.04) Jingzhi Tang (1:58.37) Yu Yang (1:55.16)	China	April 3, 2002	Moscow, Russia

[edit] Endnotes

1. ^ The 2002 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships had an 800 meter distance for men, and 1500 meter distance for women, and appear to have been conducted on this basis since 1989. The 2006 USA Swimming Summer Nationals have both events, as do the 2006 USA Swimming Summer Junior Nationals and the 2005 USMS Long Course Nationals.

[edit] Bibliography

• Hines, Emmett W. (1998). Fitness Swimming. Human Kinetics Publishers. ISBN 0-88011-656-0.

• Laughlin, Terry (2001). Swimming Made Easy: The Total Immersion Way for Any Swimmer to Achieve Fluency, Ease, and Speed in Any Stroke. Total Immersion Inc. ISBN 1-931009-01-5.

• Colwin, Cecil (2002). Breakthrough Swimming. Human Kinetics Publishers. ISBN 0-7360-3777-2.

[edit] External links

• Swim.ee: Detailed discussion of swimming techniques and speeds
• FINA Long Course Meters World record list
• FINA Short Course Meters World record list
• USA Swimming Long Course Meters record list (updated faster than FINA lists)
• USA Swimming Short Course Meters record list (updated faster than FINA lists)

Styles of Swimming
Competitive: Backstroke | Breaststroke | Butterfly | Freestyle | Medley
Competitive Variations: Front crawl | Total Immersion | Trudgen
Recreational: Sidestroke | Snorkeling
Other: Dog paddle | Treading water