Group | Gender | Participants | Freestyle | Backstroke | Breaststroke |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Under 12 | Boys | Swimmer 1 | X | X | |
Swimmer 2 | X | X | |||
Girls | Swimmer 3 | X | X | ||
Swimmer 4 | X | X | |||
Under 16 | Boys | Swimmer 5 | X | X | |
Swimmer 6 | X | X | |||
Girls | Swimmer 7 | X | X | ||
Swimmer 8 | X | X |
The first swimming races of which there is a record were held in Japan in 36BC, but England was the first modern society to develop swimming as a competitive sport. In the nineteenth century, the British competed in the breaststroke and the sidestroke. They were generally more interested in endurance than speed, and viewed swimming the English Channel as the supreme test.