The English are considered the first modern society to develop swimming as a sport. By 1837, regular swimming competitions were being held in London's six artificial pools, organized by the National Swimming Society in England. As the sport grew in popularity many more 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 metres and 1500 metres freestyle competitions held in open water. Soon after, as swimming gained popularity, more freestyle events were added, followed by the backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and finally, the individual medley.
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.
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.
From the humble beginning with four swimming events, the Olympics have developed to 32 swimming races, 16 for men and 16 for women. The Special Olympics, competitive swimming for people with disabilities, has 22 events for men and 22 for women.
現(xiàn)代游泳運動起源于英國。17世紀(jì)60年代，英國不少地區(qū)的游泳活動就開展得相當(dāng)活躍。1828年，英國在利物浦喬治碼頭修造了第一個室內(nèi)游泳池，這種泳池到19世紀(jì)30年代，在英國各大市城相繼出現(xiàn)。1837年，在英國倫敦成立了第一個游泳組織，同時舉辦了英國最早的游泳比賽。
1896年游泳被列為奧運會競賽項目時，不分泳姿，是真正的“自由式”，只有100米、500米、1200米3個項目。1900年第2屆奧運會，將仰泳分出；1904年第3屆奧運會，又分出蛙泳。1912年第5屆奧運會，女子游泳被列為比賽項目。1956年第16屆奧運會，又增加了蝶泳，從此定型為4種泳姿。在此后不斷的發(fā)展中，先后出現(xiàn)了自由泳、俯泳、仰泳、蝶泳、蛙泳、混合泳和接力（自由泳與混合泳）6大項32個小項。而今，游泳已成為奧運會上僅次于田徑的金牌大戶，成為當(dāng)今世界各國爭相角逐的體育競技大舞臺。
（Agencies)
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