London 2012 Olympic Swimming

By travoholic | Jul 4, 2010 | 1 Comments | Rating: 1

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The 2012 Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the XXX Olympiad are scheduled to take place in London, United Kingdom on July 27 to August 12. London was chosen to be the host on July 6, 2005. This means that London will be the first ever city to officially host the modern Olympic Games thrice. London has hosted the Olympic Games in 1908 and in 1948. The London 2012 Olympics program features twenty-six sports events and a total of thirty-eight disciplines. The 2012 Paralympic Games program, on the other hand, has twenty sports events and twenty-one disciplines.

On the first day of London 2012 Olympics, millions of people and over fifteen thousand athletes are expected to gather in the Olympic Park, Lower Lea Valley. About seven million Olympic Games tickets will be sold and two hundred and five countries will compete with one another at the Olympic Games. Anyway, Olympic swimming and synchronized swimming are two of the most awaited sports events. The viewers and swimming enthusiasts are mostly looking forward to see the legendary Michael Phelps swim for the last time. Michael Phelps, a fourteen-time gold medalist, has announced a few months earlier that he plans to retire after the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

On the other hand, Peter Vanderkaay, a two-time gold medalist, aims to win his third gold medal in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. He said that he feels better and rejuvenated after winning the 400 and 1500 meters freestyle swimming events at the Charlotte Ultraswim meet last May, 2010. Other US swimmers who are expected to be in the 2012 Olympics are Aaron Peirsol and Ryan Lochte. Conversely, Russia, China, and Japan are expected to shine in the 2012 Olympic Synchronized Swimming category. Russia, having won gold medals thrice in a row, is certainly going to be the favorite. Nevertheless, Canada and United States are also expected to do great. As for the Paralympics swimming event, Britain's Heather Frederiksen, 2008 Beiljing Paralympics gold medalist, is expected to swim well at the 2012 Paralympic Games despite having previous penalties and violation issues.

Anyway, the history of swimming at the Olympic Games dates as far back as 1896. The ancient events were freestyle swimming or breaststroke. Then, in 1904, backstroke was added to the list. For the first three modern Olympics, swimming took place in open waters such as seas, lakes, and rivers. But in 1908, a swimming pool was used for the very first time. The rules were also finally standardized during that time. In the 1940s, swimmers discovered that they can swim breaststroke faster if they bring both their arms overhead together. However, this approach was banned in the breaststroke category. Nonetheless, it became the butterfly stroke and was considered as the fourth stroke in competitive swimming ever since. Moreover, in 2008, a new Aquatics event was introduced in the Olympic Games. It was the 10km Marathon Swim and it took place for the very first time in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

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Comments

Jul 4, 2010 3:45pm

Philtrate
I kept seeing your olympic articles and wondered what you could be writing about. Now I see you have done some good research and written a well structured and interesting article. Difficult to interest me, as I have zero interest in swimming