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Swimming clubs emerged with the development of swimming as a competitive sport in the early 1800s in England. By 1880, when the first national governing body, the Amateur Swimming Association, was formed, there were already over 300 regional clubs in operation across England. [1]
The more notable swim clubs often have association with past Olympic athletes and future contenders, and vice versa.
Notable swim clubs around the world include:
Swim Ireland is the national governing body of swimming, diving, water polo, open water swimming and synchronised swimming in the island of Ireland. Competitors from Northern Ireland can opt to compete for British Swimming in international competitions, with the exception of the Commonwealth Games where they can compete for Northern Ireland.
Aquatics GB is the national governing body of swimming, water polo, artistic swimming, diving and open water in Great Britain. Aquatics GB is a federation of the national governing bodies of England, Scotland, and Wales. These three are collectively known as the Home Country National Governing Bodies.
Tracy Anne Stockwell, OAM,, née Tracy Anne Caulkins, is an American former competition swimmer, three-time Olympic gold medalist, five-time world champion, and former world record-holder in three events.
USA Swimming is the national governing body for competitive swimming in the United States. It is charged with selecting the United States Olympic Swimming team and any other teams that officially represent the United States, as well as the overall organization and operation of the sport within the country, in accordance with the Olympic and Amateur Sports Act. The national headquarters of USA Swimming is located at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The Sleeman Centre is a sporting and entertainment facility located in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Located on Old Cleveland Road in the suburb of Chandler, the Centre is 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) east of Brisbane's CBD and is home to an aquatic Centre, velodrome, sports arena, gymnastics training hall, gymnasium, and auditorium. The centre offers a range of services to the public.
Donald Malcolm Talbot was an Australian Olympic swimming coach and sport administrator.
The history of water polo as a team sport began in mid 19th-century England and Scotland, where water sports were a feature of county fairs and festivals.
The Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre (SOPAC), formerly Sydney International Aquatic Centre (SIAC), is a swimming venue located in the Sydney Olympic Park in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Built in 1994, the SOPAC was a major venue for the 2000 Summer Olympics as it hosted the swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, the medal events for water polo, and the swimming portion of the modern pentathlon competitions. The SOPAC has since been a host venue for numerous schools and swimming associations around New South Wales. Currently, it has most notably been the venue for the annual CAS Swimming Championships. It is also scheduled to be the site of the 2022 Duel in the Pool. The SOPAC also includes a swim shop at the entry of the arena, a play area, a health club and operates swimming classes for all ages.
Swimming Australia is the peak governing body for competitive swimming in Australia. The body has approximately 100,000 registered members nationally in 1100 clubs across the country, which includes swimmers, coaches, officials, administrators and volunteers. The body oversees the management and development of the sport from the national team at the elite level, the conduct of national and international events, through to grass roots participation.
Swim England is the national governing body for swimming, diving, water polo, open water swimming, and synchronised swimming in England. It forms part of British Swimming, a federation of the national governing bodies of England, Scotland, and Wales. These three are collectively known as the Home Country National Governing Bodies.
Isabelle Mary White was the first British diver to win a medal at the Olympic Games, and the first to win a European championship. She competed in four Olympics, including the 1912 Summer Olympics, where she won a bronze medal in the women's plain high diving event, as well as the 1920 Summer Olympics, 1924 Summer Olympics, and 1928 Summer Olympics. She also won a gold medal at the European Aquatics Championships in 1927.
Douglas Albert Russell is an American former competitive swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in three different events.
Kylie Jayne Palmer, OAM, is an Australian distance freestyle swimmer.
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.
Kimberly Ann Linehan is an American former competition swimmer for the University of Texas, a 1982 World Aquatics champion, a 1984 Olympic competitor in the 400-meter freestyle, and a former world record-holder in the 400 and 1500-meter freestyle events. For a period in the late 1970's she was considered by many to be the top distance freestyler in the world.
Randy Reese is an American college and Olympic swimming coach. Reese is best known for coaching the Florida Gators swimming and diving teams of the University of Florida to four national championships, and coaching the winners of eighteen Olympic gold, eight silver and eight bronze medals. Reese is a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Out To Swim is a British aquatics sport club offering swimming, water polo and artistic swimming club for predominantly LGBTQ+ people and allied members. The club was founded by AGM when the name was agreed in March 1992. In 2006 "Out to swim Brighton" was formed in Brighton and Hove and 2018 "Out To Swim West" in Bristol.
Adam Lucas is an Australian Olympic swimmer who specialized in individual medley (IM) events. Lucas represented Australia at the 2004 Summer Olympics Games in Athens, Greece, swimming in the 200m IM. Lucas was the Australian Record holder in the Men's short course 100 IM, and won a silver and bronze World Championship medal as a member of 4x200m Freestyle Relay squads at the 2004 World Short Course Championships in Indianapolis, USA, and the 2005 World Championships in Montreal, Canada.
The Bondi Icebergs Swimming Club is an Australian winter swimmers club, located at the southern end of Bondi Beach in Sydney, New South Wales. The swimming club was established in 1929 and has a small museum on the first floor. A defining characteristic of the Club is a rule that to maintain membership it was mandatory that swimmers compete on three Sundays out of four for a period of five years.
Singapore Aquatics (SAQ) is the national governing body for competitive swimming, diving, synchronised swimming, water polo and open water swimming in Singapore. SAQ is also charged with selecting the Singapore Olympic Swimming team and any other teams that officially represent Singapore, as well as the overall organisation and operation of the sport within the country.