The Olympics are here and many are watching a variety of sports, in this lesson we’ll look at some of the items needed to participate in the aquatic sports, aqua means water so these sports all take place in the water.

Swimming Pool – The large container of water where all aquatic sports take place.

Diving Board – The diving board is a term used to describe any place people dive from. There are three main types of diving boards, springboards, platforms and diving blocks

Spring Board – One type of diving board which allows the diver to bounce a little. They are generally mounted at two heights, one meter and three meters.

Platform – A platform diving board does not move, it is a solid structure and is usually set at 10 meters in height.

Diving Block – A large, non-moving block that a swimmer jumps from to start a swimming race, they are usually anywhere from 1/2 meter to 3/4 of a meter above the water. While not used for competitive diving, it is still considered a type of diving board.

Lane – A 2.5 meter wide space in the swimming pool where each contestant must swim inside of. An Olympic swimming pool has 10 lanes but only 8 are used as the two on each side have more waves so no one is forced to use them.

Swim Cap – A tight fitting latex hat that most swimmers wear to make sure their hair does not slow them down.

Swimming Goggles – CA pair of glasses worn by swimmers to protect their eyes from the chemicals in the water while swimming.

Swimsuit – A piece of clothing, generally quite small and tight, which is worn while swimming. There are two main types which will be explained below.

One Piece – A swimsuit which is all one piece that is worn by females. Generally for competitions people prefer to have a one piece swim suit as it helps people go faster.

Speedo – A tight swim suit worn by some guys, though in most of the west they are considered quite horrible and most guys just wear swimming shorts except in competitions.

Bikini – Also called a two piece sometimes, a bikini is more often worn on the beach and you will see it in other sports such as Women’s Beach Volleyball

Swimming Styles

Breaststroke – A style of swimming where your arms come together in front of you then sweep back pushing yourself forward, your legs move similar to the legs of a swimming frog. It’s considered one of the most difficult, one of the slowest and one of the oldest styles of swimming.

Butterfly – A style of swimming where your arms enter the water in a “Y” shape then sweep back together, moving at the same time, to push yourself forward, your legs move similar to a dolphin in that they move up and town together in a ripple effect. The Butterfly is a fast technique but must be performed perfectly in order to match your swimming with your breathing.

Backstroke – A style of swimming similar to the butterfly except upside down as you are on your back. As well your arms and legs do not move together they move one than the other.

Front Crawl – A style of swimming on your front, your arms do not move together. Your arms, one at a time, will stretch out in front of you then sweep down and back, pulling yourself forward like you are crawling on your stomach, your legs move seperately in a regular swimming style kicking motion.

Freestyle – A freestyle swimming competition allows the competitors to use whatever style they want, generally though, they will all use the frontcrawl as it’s the fastest style.

Individual Medley – Also called IM, the individual Medley race will have each participant swims the required distance in each of the styles in the proper order, butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle.

Relay – A relay is a swimming competition where teams of two or more swimmers will swim one oafter another, they might all be swimming the same style or they could each be assigned one style they must use. The team which finishes with the fastest combined time, wins.

Diving Positions

Straight – The straight position in diving requires there to be no bend in either the hips or the knees. Arm position is up to the diver.

Pike – The pike position in diving requires the diver to bend their body at the waste and bring their legs up against their upper body. There should be no space between their body and their legs, the pike can be done two ways, an “Open Pike” position will have your arms extending out from your body, the “Closed Pike” position will have your arms wrapped around your legs holding them close.

Tucked – A tucked position in diving means you bring your knees in towards your chest and your body looks like a ball. Your hands should hold onto your leg between your knee and your foot and your toes should be pointed.

Free – The free position in diving is used during twists and can be any combination of the straight, pike and tucked positioning. Your legs must stay together the whole time and your toes must be pointed out.

Somersault – A somersault is when you spin your body forward or backwards making your head chase after your feet.

Twist – A twist is when you spin your body around making one should spin around and chase your other shoulder.





Olympic Sport Vocabulary
1. Summer Olympic Sports
2. Aquatic (Water) Sports
3. Cycling Sports
4. Gymnastics