Does anyone remember:
When were flip turns in free style invented/introduced in competitive swimming?
When did goggles become 'standard equipment' for swimmers?
Thanks!
Former Member
What about streamlined dolphin kick start (free and back)--when was it introduced?
Before the goggles, did the swimmers open or close their eyes underwater?
Just saw a video on youtube of the 84 Olympic trials- men 200 back(I'd normally post it, but it's late and I'm tired). Anyway, you can see Jesse Vassallo kicking a few dolphins on his start which was unusual compared to the other swimmers.
The original post was wrong. *** has always been part of IM. It was fly that was added (since it wasn't considered a separate stroke prior to 1952).
Of course it wasn't *** stroke ... So, I'll just have to keep arguing for a new swim event, the 300 tripley: 100 fly-100 back-100 free. Would be a great event for two reasons:
1. No need to do *** stroke (at which I really suck ...)
2. A perfect distance - not too short, not too long
Anyone doing a backstroke start tiday like the ones we did in the seventies would probably be disqualified for delaying the start ... :cane:
The original post was wrong. *** has always been part of IM. It was fly that was added (since it wasn't considered a separate stroke prior to 1952).
Just found results from some 'ancient' Danish National Championships revealing that swimming competitions included:
- 300 m individual medley w/o fly in 1943-45 (this was during the German occupation in World War II, does that say anything about anything?).
- 3 x 100 m medley relay w/o fly 1924-1936 and again 1946-48 (women only up to 1936, wonder why?)
- 400 m IM from 1962
- 200 m IM from 1966
- 100 m fly from 1949-1952 and again from 1966
- 200 m fly from 1953
AND:
- 400 m BREASTSTROKE (oh dear!) in 1918-1948 (Women swam this event only in 1948)
500 m freestyle in 1908-1933 - men only
1 English mile (1609 m) in 1896-1912 - men only
Denmarks first competition pool opened in 1930, results before that was in open water. New ideas usually get to us from America, things probably changed a bit earlier in the US.
I still believe 300 tripley (fly-back-free) would be a great event :applaud:
Just saw a video on youtube of the 84 Olympic trials- men 200 back(I'd normally post it, but it's late and I'm tired). Anyway, you can see Jesse Vassallo kicking a few dolphins on his start which was unusual compared to the other swimmers.
Thanks. YouTube- 1984 Olympic Trials 200 Backstroke is the link (it's not late so I'm not tired :)).
Seems that Lane 1 (Jesse Vassallo) and Lane 4 (Rick Carey) both did a few dolphin kicks at the start (not after flip turns, though?), and they turned out to be the 2nd and 1st places--perhaps owing to the dolphin kicks!
Also noticed the differences between then and now: a) before the race started, they had some easy swims as warm-up, as opposed to nowadays swimmers just jump in and get ready. b) it seems they stroke more frequently (more stroke counts) than the swimmers in the next video clip with Peirsol (not sure what year that was).
Does anyone remember:
When were flip turns in free style invented/introduced in competitive swimming?
When did goggles become 'standard equipment' for swimmers?
Thanks!
Flip turns we're first used in the Olympics in 1956
Not sure about flip turns but I saw my first pair of goggles in 1968. They looked like 2 plastic thimbles held together with a rubber band. A few other historic swimming oddities. We used to swim 220 and 440 yard races to equate to 200 and 400 meter distances- finishing in the middle of the pool. That ended in the early 60s. Breaststroke was added to the IM in 1958. Up till then it was fly back free only.
You have breaststroke and butterfly mixed up. Butterfly was not accepted as a stroke until 1953. So it was butterfly that was added to thmedley not breaststroke which was already inclided
Breaststroke was added to the IM in 1952. Up till then it was fly back free only.
Actually, it was the other way around. Butterfly was not separated from Breaststroke until 1952. So both Individual Medleys and Medley Relays were Back, ***, and Free. In 1954, the international rules were changed to include Fly as part of the Medley. Butterfly become part of the 1956 Olympics.
