There are four major strokes disciplines in swimming - Butterfly, Backstroke, Freestyle, and Breaststroke. We now take a look at the top swimmers of the world who are dominating the swimming arena.
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Swimming is a team or individual sport that involves moving through the water while using one’s full body. While some could characterize it as calm, relaxed, and with a sense of being at ease, others might describe it as energizing, quick-paced, and throbbing. The world’s first swimming organization was established in London in 1837, marking the beginning of the swimming sport’s history in the middle of the 19th century. The scenario soon turned competitive, and the first swimming competition was organized in Australia in 1846. The competition developed into an annual occurrence and it served as an early predictor of the future success of competitive swimming. Since the very first modern Olympic Games in 1896, Swimming has been a part of the Olympic program. There are four major strokes disciplines in swimming – Butterfly, Backstroke, Freestyle, and Breaststroke. We now take a look at the top swimmers of the world who are dominating the swimming arena.
With victories in the 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle events at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Ariarne Elizabeth Titmus is the current Olympic champion in both disciplines. Additionally, she holds the 400-meter freestyle world record on the long course, having previously held the record over the short course. With a time of 3:53.92, Titmus broke Wang Jianjiahe’s previous record set two months earlier and took home the gold medal in the women’s short course 400-meter freestyle event at the FINA World Swimming Championships 2018.
Ariarne rose to prominence after defeating American swimmer Katey Ledecky at the World Aquatics Championships 2019 in Gwangju, South Korea. Her timing of 3:58.76 earned her the gold medal and broke the Oceania record in the women’s 400-meter freestyle final, beating Katie by a second after placing second in her heat. However, this was not the only time the Australian outperformed the world’s best female distance swimmer. She beat world record holder Ledecky by less than a second with a timing of 3:56.69 in the 400-meter freestyle final at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Ariarne then shattered Katie’s long-course 400-meter freestyle record during the Australian Swimming Championships 2022 in May.
Adam George Peaty is a Breaststroke swimmer who represents Great Britain in international competitions. He is one of the most highly-rated swimmers presently in the world. His brilliance is such that even the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) or International Swimming Federation regards him as the most successful sprint breaststroke swimmer of all time and the most accomplished breaststroke swimmer of his period. He became the first male British swimmer to win a gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke at the Summer Olympics 2020. He went on to defend his title at the Tokyo Olympic 2020 in 2021, scripting history as the first British swimmer to achieve the feat.
Peaty is the only swimmer to hold all four major gold medals in the same single event at the same time. A six-time European swimmer of the year, Peaty has also achieved the swimmer of the year title twice in the years 2015 and 2018. Peaty holds the world record in both the 50m and 100m breaststroke events and has been unbeaten in any race in a long-course global championship since 2014, a streak of eight consecutive global triumphs in both events. He has broken world records 14 times, being the first man to complete the 50-meter breaststroke in under 26 seconds and the first to complete the 100-meter breaststroke in under 58 and 57 seconds.
Emma Jennifer McKeon is widely regarded as one of Australia’s best swimmers. She is also considered to be the greatest female swimmer in her country due to her longevity, adaptability, and stamina. The 28-year-old represents her nation, primarily in the Butterfly and Freestyle disciplines. She became Australia’s most successful Olympian after the Tokyo Olympics 2020, with 11 Olympic medals, including four golds from Tokyo and one each from Rio de Janeiro (2016) and Rio de Janeiro (2010). She was the most accomplished athlete across all sports in the Summer Olympics 2020, with four gold and three bronze medals, and she was tied for the most medals won by a woman in a single Olympic Games alongside Soviet gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya.
McKeon was pre-selected for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England as a result of her Tokyo Olympics 2020 campaign and a new Swimming Australia regulation, without competing in the Australian Swimming Championships. The Commonwealth Games were McKeon’s first competitive race in 2022 after she decided to skip the Budapest World Aquatics Championships. McKeon was phenomenal during the Commonwealth Games 2022 (CWG) as she set a new record for the most CWG medals ever won, with six gold, one silver, and one bronze, extending her total to 20 medals. She also tied the record for the most gold medals won at a single Games, held by Susie O’Neill and Ian Thorpe. While her eight medals matched Susie O’Neill’s mark for the most medals won in a single edition.
Among the male swimmers, if there is someone who can be called the successor of the world’s greatest swimmer Michael Phelps, he is definitely Caeleb Remel Dressel. Dressel is a ‘fifteen-time’ world champion and a seven-time Olympic gold medalist. He owns world records in the 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter individual medley (both in short course), and 100-meter butterfly (long course and short course). Dressel became the fifth American to win five gold medals in a single Olympic Games since 1970 when he won five gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Moreover, he etched his name in swimming history at the modern Olympic Games by becoming the first male swimmer to win gold medals in the 50-meter, 100-meter, and 100-meter butterfly events since 1896.
The third of Christina and Michael Dressel’s four children, Caeleb, was born in Green Cove Springs, Florida. All three of his siblings – Kaitlyn, Tyler, and Sherridon are accomplished swimmers. However, Caeleb was one of a kind who shattered records at a very young age. Caeleb Dressel swam the 200-yard free relay in 19.82 seconds, becoming the first U16 swimmer to break the 20-second barrier in the 50-yard freestyle at the USA Swimming Winter Nationals 2012. In the same competition, he also broke the record for the 100-yard freestyle for the 15–16 National Age Group, which had been set in 1990, over two decades back. Throughout Dressel’s four years at the University of Florida, he never lost in the 50-yard freestyle division at the NCAA Championships.
Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky, popularly known as Katie Ledecky, caught everyone’s attention when she unexpectedly claimed a gold medal at London 2012 at the age of just 15. She stunned the field by claiming gold in the final by more nearly four seconds and breaking an American record that had stood since 1989 after qualifying for the 800m freestyle final in third place overall. She has so far broken sixteen world records while winning 42 medals (34 gold, 7 silver, and 1 bronze) in important international competitions, including the Summer Olympics, World Championships, and Pan Pacific Championships.
Widely recognised as the greatest female swimmer of all time, Katie holds records in women’s swimming with her six Olympic individual gold medals, 14 World Aquatics Championship gold medals, and 22 overall medals. She is the female swimmer with the most gold medals in history with 19 world championship golds and seven Olympic gold medals. Due to her accomplishments, Ledecky has been named the Female World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World a record-breaking five times. She also won the titles of female athlete of the year from the Associated Press in 2017, female athlete of the year from the United States Olympic Committee in 2013, 2016, and 2017, and Sportswoman of the year from the Women’s Sports Foundation in 2017.
Read more: WATCH: Swimmer Katie Ledecky Breaks World Records in 800m, 1500m Freestyle Short-course
