Ten fun facts about swimming

We absolutely love swimming here at PaddlePod – it’s something that we are all very passionate about. In our lessons, we teach children how to stay safe in the water, and how to swim confidently and effectively using a range of different strokes. What we don’t learn so much about, though, is the history or swimming, or some of the weird and wonderful aquatic truths… so here are ten things that you probably didn’t know about swimming.

Fact 1: calories burnt

An hour of vigorous swimming can burn off 650 calories – that’s more than walking or biking.

Fact 2: swim like an Egyptian

Ancient drawings and paintings found in Egypt show that swimming dates back to 2500BC. It became an amateur sport back in the latter half of the 19th century, and an Olympic event in 1896 (though women were not allowed to participate until 1912).

Fact 3: that’s a long way down!

Nemo 33, which is a recreational diving centre in Belgium, is home to the world’s deepest swimming pool – 33m at its deepest point.

Fact 4: pointy toes

Foot and ankle flexion is important for optimum swim performance, which means that swimmers work hard on perfecting their pointy toes. Many swimmers can sit down on the ground, with their legs stretched out in front of them, and point their toes all the way to the ground! Can you do this? Share your pictures to our Facebook page using the hashtags #pointytoes.

Fact 5: ribbit ribbit

Breaststroke (or “frog stroke” as it’s sometimes referred to) is the slowest of any of the competitive swimming strokes, but it’s also thought to be the oldest.

Fact 6: whoosh… that’s fast!

Bahraini Alzain Tareq become the youngest ever recorded international competitive swimmer in 2015. She finished her 50m butterfly meet (fancy swimming term for competition) in just 41.13 seconds. Incredible!

Fact 7: what came first… the tortoise or the goggles?

Back in the 14th century in Persia, the first swimming goggles were created using tortoise shell; rubber goggles were introduced in the 1930s.

Fact 8: an 88% reduction

A 2009 study reported an 88% reduction in drowning risk when children aged 1-4 years old participated in formal swimming lessons.

Fact 9: just keep swimming, just keep swimming

Elephants can swim up to 20 miles a day, using their trunks to breathe through.

Fact 10: don’t blame the chlorine!

Do your eyes sometimes sting after going swimming? Contrary to popular belief, it’s not the chlorine that’s irritating them – it’s actually the chlorine mixed with pee, sweat, dirt that swimmers bring into the water… which is why it’s so important that you shower before entering a pool (and why we insist on a double nappy policy for young children). And you know that strong chlorine smell that you get at some swimming pools? It’s not actually chlorine… it’s the chlorine reacting with all these things that we bring into the pool.

Learn something new every day, huh?!

Got another fun swimming fact that you think we need to know about? Share it to our PaddlePod Facebook page using the hashtag #swimmingfact