Swimming Sporting Discipline

Swimming is the practice of swimming as a sporting discipline. In its basic form, swimming is a competition between several participants to swim a given distance in the shortest possible time. However, swimming can also be practised without time pressure to improve one's own swimming technique or as a leisure activity and for health promotion.

Swimming has been part of the Olympic programme since the first Olympic Games in modern times (1896 in Athens). At the second Olympic Games in Paris in 1900, an obstacle swim, an underwater endurance swim and a 4000-metre swim were held. Except for the latter (long-distance swimming), these forms of competition were not held later. At the 1912 Olympic Games, women were allowed to compete for the first time. Official swimming world championships have been held since 1973.

Generally, swimming competitions are held according to the rules of the international swimming federation Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA). However, national swimming federations can also set their own rules for events in their area of responsibility based on the FINA rules, in Germany for example the competition regulations (Wettkampfbestimmungen - WB) of the German Swimming Federation. The rules of the FINA rules are used in the German swimming federation.