SWIMMING

T&T’s George Bovell III resumed his competitive preparations for this year’s Rio Olympic Games with bronze and fourth-place finish at the Sixth Trofeo Citta di Milan Swimming Championship, in Milan, Italy, yesterday.

Trinidad and Tobago’s top open water swimmer Christian Marsden splashed to his third consecutive victory in record time as he conquered the Subway Maracas Open Water Classic 5k title at Maracas Bay yesterday.

Parents of the 33-member Trinidad and Tobago swim team and the 11-member water polo team no longer have to fork out $3,000 for their participation in the 31st edition of the March 21-26 Carifta Swimming Championships in Martinique. And the Amateur Swimming Association of Trinidad and Tobago (ASATT) must reimburse those who have already paid.

The English are considered the first modern society to develop swimming as a sport. By 1837 swimming competitions were being held in London’s six artificial pools, these competitions were organized by the National Swimming Society in England. As the sport grew in popularity many more swimming pools were built, and when a new governing body, the Amateur Swimming Association of Great Britain, was organized in 1880, it numbered more than 300 member clubs.

In 1896, swimming became an Olympic sport for men with the 100 meters and 1500 meters freestyle competitions held in open water. Soon after, as swimming gained popularity, more freestyle events were included, followed by the backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke, and lastly, the individual medley.

For a variety of reasons, women were excluded from swimming in the first several Olympic Games. In 1896 and again in 1906, women could not participate because the developer of the modern games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, held firmly to the assumption, common in the Victorian era, that women were too frail to engage in competitive sports. It was only at the 1912 Games when women’s swimming made its debut at the prompting the International Olympic Committee. Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) is the international governing body for international competitive swimming. The Amateur Swimming Association of Trinidad and Tobago is FINA’s associate in this country.

The best swimmers in the world will face up to seven drugs tests ahead of August's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, according to reports.