Butterfly (Swimming)
The butterfly stroke is one of the major swimming styles, swum on the breast, with both arms moving simultaneously, accompanied by a "dolphin kick". This style is considered as one of the hardest and is not highly recommended for beginners (unlike front crawl or freestyle). To perfect this stroke, one requires efficiency, strength, and timing.
The originator of the butterfly stroke is the Australian Sydney Cavill. He introduced it in the early 1900s and starting 1956, this stroke has its own competition in the Olympics.
To start with this swimming style, the swimmer lies on his breast, stretches his arms to the front and the legs are extended at the back. Then the hands are pulled down into the water, slightly lower than the shoulders, creating a slightly circular motion on the sides forming Y. As the arms are moving up, same is the head and the torso. This is the best time to breathe. And then going down again. The feet should be held together and should do the "dolphin kick" as the head is going up. The body performs a wave-like movement.
butterfly swimmerSwimming Variations
- freestyle
- backstroke
- breaststroke
- Relay Swimming — a swimming race in which teams of four race consecutively.
Related Pages
- Swimming Summary
- Swimming at the Olympics
- More about the sport of swimming
- Complete list of sports
- The Encyclopedia of Sports
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