There is evidence, particularly archaeological evidence which suggests that what we deem as modern swimming has been practiced from as early as 2500 BC in Egypt and thereafter in Assyrian, Roman and Greek civilizations. Swimming was often a part of martial training in the Greek and Roman civilizations in order to help with strength and overall fitness.
During the 1st Century BCE, Gaius Maecenas a Roman diplomat and counsellor to the Roman emperor Augustus built the first known heated swimming pool. As for swimming in Europe and the UK, it wasn’t really practiced until around the late 17th century for Europe and around 1830 in the UK. (SwimmingNature)
Swimming started its sporting journey in the mid-19th century, when the world’s first swimming organization was formed in London in 1837. Inevitably, things soon became competitive, and, in 1846, the first swimming championship was held in Australia. (Olympics-com)
The breaststroke is believed to be the oldest stroke and the first to be swum competitively. Breaststroke looked relatively similar to what we see in pools today: A wide, sweeping pull with the arms at the same time, followed by a ‘frog kick’ with both legs simultaneously. Between strokes, swimmers would glide for a few beats before their next pull.
The breaststroke is believed to be the oldest stroke and the first to be swum competitively. Captain Matthew Webb was the first man to swim across the English Channel – from Dover to Calais – swimming the breaststroke for 21 hours 45 minutes without stopping on August 24-25, 1875.
The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens in 1896. Swimming is “one of only four disciplines to have been retained, appearing in every summer Olympics since [the first Olympic Games] – the others being athletics, artistic gymnastics and fencing.”
The first Olympics introduced some strange races into the lineup, as it was purely an experimental event to begin with. For example, the 100m free for sailors was strictly for members of the Greek Navy, and all of the races were held in open water. (Swimming World)
By the late 1890s, Australian swimmers of the British Empire began experimenting with the earliest version of the crawl stroke. Charles Daniels is credited with perfecting the modern freestyle stroke. (pbs)
This freestyle stroke was evolving painfully in the western world until Duke Kahanamoku swam out of the Hawaiian Islands with it in 1911. His world record times no one would believe. (International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF))
Until 1912, only male swimmers were allowed to compete in the Olympics. It was not until the 1912 Stockholm Olympics that women were able to compete, and even when they were finally allowed in the water, they were only given two events in which to compete—the 100 free and 400 free relay.
“There was — and arguably still is — no greater icon in the sport of swimming than Duke Paoa Kahanamoku. He was the most successful athlete of his time and the harbinger of Hawai‘i’s Golden Age of Swimming.” (Checkoway)
Duke Kahanamoku earned his living as a beachboy and stevedore at the Honolulu Harbor docks. Growing up on the beach in Waikiki, Duke surfed with his brothers and entertained tourists with tandem rides.
By the time that Kahanamoku burst upon the world scene in 1911 (at the age of 21,) shattering American and world records in the one hundred and fifty yard freestyle swimming races at an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) sanctioned meet in Honolulu Harbor, sport had become a tool of nationalism used by countries around the world to demonstrate modern manliness and vigor. (Nendel)
Duke later won an Olympic gold medal in 1912 – a feat he repeated eight years later at the age of 30. In 1924, he won the silver. Overall, he won five medals at the various Olympic Games.
For The Record: Olympic Games: 1912 gold (100m freestyle), silver (4x200m freestyle relay); 1920 gold (100m freestyle; 4x200m freestyle relay), 4th (water polo); 1924 silver (100m freestyle); 1932 team member (water polo); World Records: freestyle.
In the 1924 Olympics, Kahanamoku raced against Johnny Weissmuller. Barely 20 years old, Johnny Weissmuller was favored against 34-year-old Duke Kahanamoku. Both were tall, lean and strong, with large hands and feet. And both were faster than any swimmers the world had yet seen. (Smithsonian)
Just before the race began, pointing at the awards podium, Duke told Weissmuller: “Hey, the most important thing in this race is to get the American flag up there three times. Let’s do it”. (Sports Gazette) Weissmuller nodded his agreement. Weissmuller finished 2.4 seconds ahead of Kahanamoku; Kahanamoku’s younger brother Sam took the bronze medal. (Smithsonian)
The 1932 Olympic Games were held in the middle of the Great Depression and, given the transport links of the time, in the relatively remote region of California. Consequently, participation in the Games was the lowest since 1904, with only half as many athletes taking part as had in 1928. Despite this, the standard of competition was excellent. (Olympics-com)
Clarence Linden ‘Buster’ Crabbe II, who was not a native Hawaiian but who lived in the Territory, won Olympic gold in the 400-meter freestyle in Los Angeles in 1932, and two island brothers named Maiola and Manuela Kalili grabbed silvers at the same Games in the 4×200-meter relay. (Checkoway)
Buster Crabbe moved to Hawaii as a 2-year-old when his father took a job as an overseer on a pineapple plantation. At Punahou he was a three-year letterman in swimming and captain of the 1927 swimming team.
While in college at USC from 1928 to 1932 he was the AAU National Indoor and Outdoor Champion, domination every freestyle event in excess of 200 yards. (Punahou)
Kahanamoku was a legend in his own right – swimmers Weissmuller and Crabbe went on to portray legends. Johnny Weissmuller was swimming’s first superstar by winning five Olympic gold medals and set 28 world records.
After his Olympic swimming experiences, Kahanamoku played in four decades of intermittent bit-part acting in Hollywood films. Though he was never able to escape typecasting or achieve Hollywood stardom, you can still spot him in small roles in 13 Hollywood films. (pbs)
After his swimming career, Weissmuller became a movie star. Cast as ‘Tarzan the Ape Man’, he starred in 12 films and became the actor most commonly identified with the character. (Olympics-com)
After the Olympics, Crabbe was signed by Paramount Studios, who were looking for a rival to Johnny Weissmuller’s Tarzan at MGM. The first of Crabbe’s 175 movies was ‘King of the Jungle’ in which he played the role of Kasta, the Lion Man.
Although Crabbe played Tarzan only once, as the star of (B) movies he was never short of work, playing the title role in Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers films in addition to appearing in 65 westerns. (Olympics-com)
