4 ms·

The history of butterfly swimming

34 points by mooreds 5mo ago

AtlasBarfed 5mo ago
Butterfly is the "three point shot" of swimming. If you can do a pool length of butterfly you are a "real" swimmer, kind of like a non-prayer three point shot implies you actually played basketball.
dfee 5mo ago
butterfly is interesting because it's faster than breaststroke (mentioned) but slower than freestyle. it also consumes far more energy than any other stroke. to that end, i'm not sure why it exists, except that it's truly a unique style. * i also still hold my high school's butterfly record, 20 years on.
- forinti 5mo ago
  I think the objective is to show how strong you are. If you wanna go fast, use freestyle, if you want to conserve energy, use breaststroke or backstroke. I don't see a reason to use the butterfly outside of a butterfly competition.
  - Contax 5mo ago
    In my case the reason is to exercise. I really like it as an exercise. Though I also practice the other strokes for more variety, and fun, when I'm short of time butterfly is my choice.
- slwvx 5mo ago
  > to that end, i'm not sure why it exists, except that it's truly a unique style. Many people swim as a form of exercise. Fly is exercising different muscles and allows me to get my heart rate up higher than freestyle Fly is useful to train for other strokes Perhaps more importantly, I think that having a different stroke to do makes swimming more interesting. Whether doing sets as part of a swim team or on your own, it's more interesting when you can vary things. The more swimming is interesting, the easier it is to enjoy and keep doing it
- sleepydog 5mo ago
  The modern Olympics is at least as much for entertainment as it is for measuring human ability, and the butterfly is simply an awe-inspiring technique. The line of swimmers repeatedly shooting out of the water like flying fish is mesmerizing. Who cares if they're not going as fast as freestyle?
- ge96 5mo ago
  Funny I hated swimming but I was good at it, also did butterfly and freestyle. Everyone had to do the 500 at least once, that was brutal.
Bratmon 5mo ago
I never quite understood why there are Olympic medals for Butterfly swimming, but not things like "100m hop-on-one-foot sprint" Like, why is being good at a deliberately-inefficent form of movement worth a medal in only this one case?
- skinfaxi 5mo ago
  Deliberately-inefficient compared to what? TFA leads with: > Swimmers and coaches began to realise that breaststroke was quicker when a swimmer recovered their arms forward above the water and the arm technique – as well as the swimming term ‘butterfly’ – was born.
  - john_strinlai 5mo ago
    the butterfly stroke is the most energy-inefficient stroke, i believe, despite being quicker.
  - Bratmon 5mo ago
    I noticed the article pointedly didn't compare the stroke to the forward crawl, which is clearly both faster and more efficient. There's no real way to compare the butterfly and the forward crawl that doesn't make the butterfly look like a ridiculous farce.
    - deleted 5mo ago
      [deleted]
  - marttt 5mo ago
    This whole story somehow reminds me of the Fosbury flop technique in high jump -- amazingly, Dick Fosbury started to develop it at the age of 16: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Fosbury#High_school_and_the_origins_of_the_Fosbury_Flop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Fosbury#High_school_and_t... From the Wikipedia article on Fosbury: "The technique gained the name the "Fosbury Flop" when in 1964 the Medford Mail-Tribune ran a photo captioned "Fosbury Flops Over Bar," while in an accompanying article a reporter wrote that he looked like "a fish flopping in a boat." Others were even less kind, with one newspaper captioning Fosbury's photograph, "World's Laziest High Jumper""
dan_sbl 5mo ago
> unveiling it to the confusion of officials and competitors in a 150 yard medley race in 1933 The article doesn't say, but did the medley relay/IM become a 4 stroke event around the same time in 1952 when FINA recognized it as a new stroke? Funny to see a 150 yard event mentioned since it seems like such an odd distance nowadays.
- garciasn 5mo ago
  1960 Olympics was the first where fly was added to the MR.
pseingatl 5mo ago
The article fails to mention that until the 1970's, the frog kick was a legal kick when swimming butterfly. After that, the dolphin kick became mandatory. Doc Councilman's _The Science of Swimming_ was not mentioned. I don't have a copy handy, band I would bet the stroke is discussed extensively.

34 points by mooreds 5mo ago

Butterfly is the "three point shot" of swimming. If you can do a pool length of butterfly you are a "real" swimmer, kind of like a non-prayer three point shot implies you actually played basketball.

dfee 5mo ago

butterfly is interesting because it's faster than breaststroke (mentioned) but slower than freestyle. it also consumes far more energy than any other stroke. to that end, i'm not sure why it exists, except that it's truly a unique style. * i also still hold my high school's butterfly record, 20 years on.

forinti 5mo ago
I think the objective is to show how strong you are. If you wanna go fast, use freestyle, if you want to conserve energy, use breaststroke or backstroke. I don't see a reason to use the butterfly outside of a butterfly competition.
- Contax 5mo ago
  In my case the reason is to exercise. I really like it as an exercise. Though I also practice the other strokes for more variety, and fun, when I'm short of time butterfly is my choice.
slwvx 5mo ago
> to that end, i'm not sure why it exists, except that it's truly a unique style. Many people swim as a form of exercise. Fly is exercising different muscles and allows me to get my heart rate up higher than freestyle Fly is useful to train for other strokes Perhaps more importantly, I think that having a different stroke to do makes swimming more interesting. Whether doing sets as part of a swim team or on your own, it's more interesting when you can vary things. The more swimming is interesting, the easier it is to enjoy and keep doing it
sleepydog 5mo ago
The modern Olympics is at least as much for entertainment as it is for measuring human ability, and the butterfly is simply an awe-inspiring technique. The line of swimmers repeatedly shooting out of the water like flying fish is mesmerizing. Who cares if they're not going as fast as freestyle?
ge96 5mo ago
Funny I hated swimming but I was good at it, also did butterfly and freestyle. Everyone had to do the 500 at least once, that was brutal.

Bratmon 5mo ago

I never quite understood why there are Olympic medals for Butterfly swimming, but not things like "100m hop-on-one-foot sprint" Like, why is being good at a deliberately-inefficent form of movement worth a medal in only this one case?

skinfaxi 5mo ago
Deliberately-inefficient compared to what? TFA leads with: > Swimmers and coaches began to realise that breaststroke was quicker when a swimmer recovered their arms forward above the water and the arm technique – as well as the swimming term ‘butterfly’ – was born.
- john_strinlai 5mo ago
  the butterfly stroke is the most energy-inefficient stroke, i believe, despite being quicker.
- Bratmon 5mo ago
  I noticed the article pointedly didn't compare the stroke to the forward crawl, which is clearly both faster and more efficient. There's no real way to compare the butterfly and the forward crawl that doesn't make the butterfly look like a ridiculous farce.
  - deleted 5mo ago
    [deleted]
- marttt 5mo ago
  This whole story somehow reminds me of the Fosbury flop technique in high jump -- amazingly, Dick Fosbury started to develop it at the age of 16: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Fosbury#High_school_and_the_origins_of_the_Fosbury_Flop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Fosbury#High_school_and_t... From the Wikipedia article on Fosbury: "The technique gained the name the "Fosbury Flop" when in 1964 the Medford Mail-Tribune ran a photo captioned "Fosbury Flops Over Bar," while in an accompanying article a reporter wrote that he looked like "a fish flopping in a boat." Others were even less kind, with one newspaper captioning Fosbury's photograph, "World's Laziest High Jumper""

dan_sbl 5mo ago

> unveiling it to the confusion of officials and competitors in a 150 yard medley race in 1933 The article doesn't say, but did the medley relay/IM become a 4 stroke event around the same time in 1952 when FINA recognized it as a new stroke? Funny to see a 150 yard event mentioned since it seems like such an odd distance nowadays.

garciasn 5mo ago
1960 Olympics was the first where fly was added to the MR.

pseingatl 5mo ago

The article fails to mention that until the 1970's, the frog kick was a legal kick when swimming butterfly. After that, the dolphin kick became mandatory. Doc Councilman's _The Science of Swimming_ was not mentioned. I don't have a copy handy, band I would bet the stroke is discussed extensively.