Freestyle (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, affording the swimmer great freedom in style. Freestyle races are the most common of all swimming competitions, with distances reaching 1500m (1650 yards). The stroke used almost universally in freestyle races is the front crawl, as this style is generally the fastest. For this reason, the term freestyle is sometimes incorrectly used as a synonym for front crawl when in fact it means one is mostly free to choose a style.

Freestyle swimming implies to the freedom to choose any stroke style for competitive swimming. The front crawl is most commonly chosen by swimmers, as this provides the greatest speed. During a race, the competitor circles the arms forward in alternation and kicks the feet up and down (flutter kick). Although competitors can choose any motion 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 swimming competitions, however, one cannot use breaststroke, butterfly, or backstroke. Front crawl is based on the Trudgen that was improved by Richmond 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).

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