Patriot Swimming

Our Swimmers are the racers of the water. They train hours upon hours to compete, and the drive of competing keeps them training.

"Finishing races is important, but racing is more important." - Dale Earnhardt

Different Strokes

There are four strokes athletes can race individually: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle. One event, the individual medley, involves the athlete swimming all four strokes throughout the race. The pictures on the right show examples of the four strokes.

Relays

Relay events involve four athletes participating as a team. Each athlete will swim an equal distance of the race. There are two freestyle relays and one medley relay in high school swimming. An athlete can participate in all three relay events, so long as they only compete in one individual event.

Fun Facts:

  • Swimming first became part of the Olympic games in 1896.

  • The Olympics contain pool races, synchronized swimming, and open water swimming. They have also seen events such as the swimming obstacle race and underwater swimming.

  • Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe become the youngest world champion at age 15.

  • David Wilkie is the only professional swimmer that has won American, British, European, Commonwealth, Olympic, and world titles at the same time.

  • The International Swimming Hall of Fame is located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

  • The headquarters of the International Swimming Federation or FINA, is located in Lausanne, Switzerland.

  • The most common stroke in swimming is the freestyle. The freestyle was developed based on a traditional swimming style in the Solomon Islands.