From Adam Peaty to Bill Furniss: A beginner's guide to Olympic swimming

Here’s how to bluff your Olympics banter as you cheer on our swimmers
Adam Peaty celebrates after he broke the World Record in the Men's 100m Breaststroke Final
AFP
Rosamund Urwin9 August 2016

At the Rio Olympics, it’s all going swimmingly. Sure, Team GB has met with disappointment on the bikes and on the fencing strip but it has triumphed at the Aquatics Stadium. Sunday night brought a gold for Adam Peaty, the once-aquaphobic super-star swimmer with a champion nan. Minutes later, Jazz Carlin took silver in the 400m freestyle. Swimming, decreed those more prone to lounging beside the pool than actually getting in it, was cool once more. And that’s before we get to diving, with Tom Daley and Daniel Goodfellow’s bronze medal last night.

The Olympics has a propensity to turn us into experts on events we only take an interest in quadrennially. “Must have caught a crab,” armchair-Olympians muttered about the capsized Serbian rowers. “She’s going to do the Produnova!” they gasped as Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar took to the vault. Swimming, we kid ourselves, is easy to grasp. But since the abiding memories many of us have of school swimming lessons are Verruca socks and feigning perpetual periods to exempt us, here’s how to bluff as you cheer on our swimmers.

Breast is best

Yes, it used to be the stroke that we only did (in the slow lane) to avoid messing up our hair. But breaststroke is now the choice of über-champions; Peaty — a man who doesn’t just do press-ups, he does Superman flying press-ups — broke his own 100m world record twice in 48 hours.

Breaststroke is good for beginners (because breathing is easier, you can see, and both arms and legs have recovery time) but is tricky to master. While it may be slower than crawl, it can still give you a toned, taut body. It uses the chest muscles and the trapezius muscles in the back, while the frog-like kicking motion builds your glutes and quads.

“A common error with breaststroke is arms and legs going too wide,” says Adam Comfort, Virgin Active’s swim project manager. “Keep legs kicking in a tight circle with knees pointing down to the bottom of the pool. Focus arms on small scoops that don’t go out much further than shoulder-width.”

PS. Your hair should actually get wet if you’re doing it properly.

Comeback kids

London 2012 may have been the best Olympics ever, never to be bettered etc etc, but Team GB’s performance in the pool was a damp squib. Three medals didn’t satisfy UK Sport and it took away £4 million in funding. That made the swimmers underdogs. And we Brits love an underdog. Bill Furniss (Rebecca Adlington’s former coach) was appointed head coach in 2013 and has imposed a tougher regime. On top of the cuts, nine kit bags also went missing from the Olympic Village on the day of the opening ceremony, though Speedo speedily replaced the Speedos.

Where to watch the Rio Olympics in London

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Peaty perfection

Peaty was our surest swimming bet in Rio; the bookies gave odds of 100-1 on for him to win. The 21-year-old — whose grandmother revealed he used to scream every bath-time as a child — is Olympic, world, Commonwealth and European champion. He hugged girlfriend Anna Zair outside the press conference room in celebration. His gran is his biggest fan — her house is decked out in Union Jack bunting — but it was his barber who gave him a pep talk during a moment of self-doubt four months ago. “He said: ‘You’ve got nothing to worry about it. It’s simple. You’re world champion, aren’t you?’” recalls Peaty.

Team talent

Carlin’s lane to Rio had many more obstacles than Peaty’s. After she failed to qualify for London 2012, she debated hanging up her cossie. Instead she pulled off a lifetime best and was only beaten by queen of the pool Katie Ledecky. “Four years ago I was in the stand cheering everyone on and now I’ve come away with a silver medal,” Carlin said. She is in the 800m freestyle heats on Thursday, while Peaty will compete in the medley relay on Friday. They aren’t our only medal hopes. Last night, Siobhan-Marie O’Connor qualified fastest for the 200m individual medley final, breaking the British record.

Dive in, the water’s lovely

Swimming is an excellent workout. “It’s great for stretching and flexibility,” adds Comfort. “Your core strength is tested to its limit to hold your body position in the water. And swimming has no impact on your joints.”

If you’re inspired head to the London Aquatics Centre, where superhumans ruled the pool four years ago.

Follow Rosamund Urwin on Twitter: @RosamundUrwin

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