Georgian swimming

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A group of swimmers with arms and legs bound in preparation for Georgian-style swimming. Swimmers bound at poolside for Georgian style swimming.jpg
A group of swimmers with arms and legs bound in preparation for Georgian-style swimming.
Henry Kuprashvili swims Georgian style. Henry Kuprashvili. strait Dardanelles. 2002.08.30.jpg
Henry Kuprashvili swims Georgian style.

Georgian swimming comprises several styles unique to Georgia: “Lazuri” (Free Colchian), “Hands and feet bound Kolkhuri” (Military Colchian), “Apkhazuri” (Abkhazian), “Okribula”, “Iberiuli” (Iberian), “Takhvia” and partly “Khashuruli” and “Kizikuri”. More traditional movements of the extremities are restricted or barred and forward motion is accomplished by dolphin-like undulation of hips and paired feet. These styles emulate the motions of mammals such as the seal, dolphin, sea lion, whale, otter, and beaver, which have evolved adaptations to water that enable them to attain an optimal swimming ability.

Contents

The Georgian style of swimming (Colchian and Iberian style) was revived by the swimmer Henry Kuprashvili. He laid foundation of Georgian styles of swimming study process and established the school of swimming.

History

In the beginning of the 1960s, Levan Kursua (1887-1969), a resident of the seaside village of Ergeta (Anaklia) in Mingrelia (Colchis), retold a Georgian legend about Colchian (Lazica) and Iberian warriors who, as part of their training, used a style of swimming where their hands and feet were bound firmly. His narrative proposed that while, initially daunting, this style of swimming could also be used as a regimen to develop discipline and physical stamina in martial culture:

The revival of these unique Georgian style of swimming started at the “Lagune Vere” sports complex in Tbilisi.

Dimitri Dick, originally from Germany, is the first Georgian coach who was actively inculcated in the styles of Georgian swimming as part of the professional sportsmen training program at “Laguna Vere”. Georgian swimming styles are overseen there by chief coach Manana Zambakhidze.

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Georgia is a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and West Asia. It is part of the Caucasus region, bounded by the Black Sea to the west, Russia to the north and northeast, Turkey to the southwest, Armenia to the south, and Azerbaijan to the southeast. Georgia covers an area of 69,700 square kilometres (26,900 sq mi). It has a population of 3.7 million, of which over a third live in the capital and largest city, Tbilisi. Georgians, who are indigenous to the region, constitute a majority and a titular nation in Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colchis</span> Historical region of Georgia

In classical antiquity and Greco-Roman geography, Colchis was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi located on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Butterfly stroke</span> Swimming stroke

The butterfly is a swimming stroke swum on the chest, with both arms moving symmetrically, accompanied by the butterfly kick along with the movement of the hips and chest. It is the newest swimming style swum in competition, first swum in the early 1930s and originating out of the breaststroke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breaststroke</span> Swimming style in which the swimmer is on his or her chest and the torso does not rotate

Breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and that it can be swum comfortably at slow speeds. In most swimming classes, beginners learn either the breaststroke or the freestyle first. However, at the competitive level, swimming breaststroke at speed requires endurance and strength comparable to other strokes. Some people refer to breaststroke as the "frog" stroke, as the arms and legs move somewhat like a frog swimming in the water. The stroke itself is the slowest of any competitive strokes and is thought to be the oldest of all swimming strokes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Backstroke</span> Swimming style in which one swims on ones back

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The Democratic Republic of Georgia was the first modern establishment of a republic of Georgia, which existed from May 1918 to February 1921. Recognized by all major European powers of the time, DRG was created in the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917, which led to the collapse of the Russian Empire and allowed territories formerly under Russia's rule to assert independence. In contrast to Bolshevik Russia, DRG was governed by a moderate, multi-party political system led by the Georgian Social Democratic Party (Mensheviks).

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For articles related to Georgia, see Category:Georgia (country)

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Senaki</span> Place in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, Georgia

Senaki is a city in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region, western Georgia. It is located at around 42°16′8″N42°4′45″E between the rivers Tekhura/i and Tsivi, at an elevation of 28–38 meters above sea level. Senaki is the center of the Senaki Municipality and serves as a residence of Metropolitans of Senaki and Ckhorotskhu Eparchy of the Georgian Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henri Kuprashvili</span>

Full Professor of Georgian Technical University Henri Kuprashvili is a Georgian Doctor of Political Sciences, First Class State Councillor who is most notable for breaking a Guinness record for swimming the Dardanelles, with his hands and feet bound in a traditional Georgian style of swimming, also known as Colchian. Kuprashvili has been awarded the Order of Vakhtang Gorgasali and George Byron Golden Medal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swimming (sport)</span> Water-based sport

Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water. Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports, with varied distance events in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley. In addition to these individual events, four swimmers can take part in either a freestyle or medley relay. A medley relay consists of four swimmers who will each swim a different stroke, ordered as backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free Colchian</span> Georgian swimming style

Free Colchian is the name of a swimming style from Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of swimming</span>

Swimming has been recorded since prehistoric times; the earliest recording of swimming dates back to Stone Age paintings from around 7,000 years ago. In 1578, Nikolaus Wynmann, a German professor of languages, wrote the first swimming book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military history of Georgia</span>

Before the 10th-century unification of the country by the Bagrationi dynasty, several Georgian states subsisted between the Roman Empire on the west and the Sassanid Empire on the east. Between the 11th and 15th centuries, the Kingdom of Georgia was a major regional power which withstood invasions by the Seljuk, Mongol and Timurid Empires before its fragmentation and submission to the Ottoman and Safavid Empires. Many Georgians fought in the armies of empires that ruled the country since the 16th century, be it the Safavids, the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union. Since 1991, independent Georgia has taken part in a number of wars; its conflict with Russia culminated in the 2008 Russo–Georgian War, and its alliance with the United States led to Georgia's participation in the Afghan and Iraq Wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 Tbilisi flood</span>

A significant flood occurred in the Vere River valley in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, on the night of 13 to 14 June 2015. It resulted in at least 20 human deaths and struck the Tbilisi Zoo, leaving half of its animal inhabitants either dead or on the loose.

References

  1. "Untitled Document". Archived from the original on 2009-01-05. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  2. Untitled Document Archived 2009-01-05 at the Wayback Machine
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Untitled Document". Archived from the original on 2009-01-05. Retrieved 2007-12-03.

Further reading