Three things you never knew about swimming

What is the oldest swimming technique? What is the fastest swimmer? And who completed the world’s longest swim? Do you know the answers to theses three swimming trivia questions?

The oldest swimming technique

The “Cave of Swimmers” is seemingly the oldest record of swimming. And it is here, in Egypt, that you can see a depiction of a man doing the breast stroke.  So, the breasts stroke is thought to be the oldest swimming technique.

The longest swim

In 2007, an amazing swimmer called Martin Strel swam the 5,268km length of the Amazon River in a record-breaking 66 days. Strel, who is nicknamed the “Fishman”, swam for all but five hours every day. During the five hours he would sleep!

The fastest swimmer

The world’s fastest swimming organism is the sailfish, which can swim up to 110km per hour.

One more great swimming fact

Did you know that many swimmers shave their body hair off? Some professional swimmers are even known to shave their hands and feet, too. But why? It would appear that the effect of a hairless body gives the swimmer physical and psychological benefits. Many swimmers believe that shaving off body hair makes the swimmer more aerodynamic, which makes them feel like they are swimming, which gives them a psychological boost. Physically, shaving removes the layer of dead skin cells on the surface of the epidermis. After the removal of the dead skin cells, the skin becomes more sensitive and the swimmer then has a heightened “water sense”.