American crawl

The front crawl or forward crawl, also known as the Australian crawl or American crawl, is a swimming stroke usually regarded as the fastest of the four front primary strokes. As such, the front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle swimming competition, and hence freestyle is used metonymically for the front crawl. It is one of two long axis strokes, the other one being the backstroke. Unlike the backstroke, the butterfly stroke, and the breaststroke, the front crawl is not regulated by the FINA. This style is sometimes referred to as the Australian crawl although this can sometimes refer to a more specific variant of front crawl.

The face-down swimming position allows for a good range of motion of the arm in the water, as compared to the backstroke, where the hands cannot be moved easily along the back of the spine. The above-water recovery of the stroke reduces drag, compared to the underwater recovery of breaststroke. The alternating arms also allow some rolling movement of the body for an easier recovery compared to, for example, butterfly. Finally, the alternating arm stroke makes for a relatively constant speed throughout the cycle.

The "front crawl" style has been in use since ancient times. There is an Egyptian bas relief piece dating to 2000 BCE showing it in use.

In the Western world, the stroke, which would later be refined into the modern front crawl, was first seen in a swimming race held in 1844 in London, where it was swum by Northern Native Americans. The Anishinaabe Flying Gull and Tobacco had been invited by the British Swimming Society to give an exhibition at the swimming baths in High Holborn. They raced against each other for a silver medal to be presented by the society, which was won by Flying Gull. English gentlemen, however, considered this style, with its considerable splashing and "grotesque antics", to be barbarically "un-European" and the British continued to swim only the breaststroke in competition.

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