| At first glance it’s less visible than, say, athletics, but swimming is a perennial Commonwealth/Olympic favourite and eagerly anticipated.
Swimming has been around for thousands of years. But while the ancient Greeks regarded swimming as useful for recreation and health, it wasn’t an Olympic event. At the first modern Olympics in 1896, the swimmers simply leapt off a yacht in the Piraeus marina and swam to the shore.
However, swimming has now become an essential part of both the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games.
In 1986, synchronised swimming became a Commonwealth Games event. |
