FREESTYLE

FREESTYLE SWIMMING





When it comes to freestyle in swimming, Freestyle is a category of swimming competition, defined by the rules of the International Swimming Federation (FINA), in which competitors are subject to only limited restrictions on their swimming stroke. (In other words, they have great freedom with respect to their swimming style.) The stroke used almost universally in freestyle races is the front crawl, as this style is generally the fastest. This swim style is also the most common and has longer distances, such as 1500M or the 1650 yard swim.For this reason, the term freestyle is sometimes used as a synonym for front crawl

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 THE TECHNIQUE
The most common technique for freestyle is front crawl. During a race, the competitor would circle arms forward, alternating arms, and kick their feet up and down about a foot apart (also known as flutter kick). Although competitors can do whatever they please during the freestyle stroke, it is not common to see someone doing dog paddle, or sidestroke during a race or competition. Stand-alone freestyle events can also be swum using one of the officially regulated strokes (breaststroke, butterfly, and backstroke). For the freestyle part of medley competitions, however, one cannot use breaststroke, butterfly, or backstroke. Most competitive swimmers choose the Australian or front crawl during freestyle competitions, as this style provides the greatest speed. It is based on the Trudgen that was improved by Richard Cavill from Sydney, Australia. Cavill developed the stroke by observing a young boy from the Solomon Islands, Alick Wickham. Cavill and his brothers spread the Australian crawl to England, New Zealand and America. Richmond Cavill used this stroke in 1902 at an International Championships in England to set a new world record by swimming 100 yards (91 m) in 58.4 seconds. Freestyle competitions have also been swum completely and partially in other styles, especially at lower ranking competitions as some swimmers find their backstroke quicker than their front crawl. During the Olympic Games, front crawl is swum almost exclusively during freestyle. Some of the few rules are that swimmers must touch the end of the pool during each length and cannot push off the bottom or hang on the wall or pull on the lane lines during the course of the race. As with all competitive events, false starts are not allowed "the number of false starts depends upon the particular competitive rules for that competition".

THE COMPETITION
Here are eight common competitions that are swam in freestyle swimming, both over either a long course (50 m pool) or a short course (25 m pool). The United States also employs short course yards (25 yard pool).

    50 m freestyle
    100 m freestyle
    200 m freestyle
    400 m freestyle (500 yards for short course yards)
    800 m freestyle (1000 yards for short course yards)
    1500 m freestyle (1650 yards for short course yards)
    4×50 m freestyle relay
    4×100 m freestyle relay
    4×200 m freestyle relay.