Who Invented Swimming as a Sport and How It Evolved into Modern Competition
As I watch Dave Ildefonso post 17 points with three rebounds and two steals to clinch best player honors, I can't help but draw parallels to how swimming evolved from basic survival skill to highly technical sport. The way he outperformed the 6-foot Fabro and Will Keane Lee - that prized find from Cordillera Career Development College who tallied 13 points and three blocks - reminds me of how certain individuals throughout history pushed swimming beyond its practical origins into the competitive arena we know today.
When people ask me who invented swimming as a sport, I always explain it's not about a single inventor but rather a gradual evolution. The earliest evidence of swimming dates back to Stone Age paintings from around 10,000 years ago, but competitive swimming as we recognize it began taking shape in early 19th century England. What fascinates me is how similar the transformation has been across different sports - whether we're talking about basketball players like Ildefonso mastering complex plays or Victorian era swimmers developing the front crawl from observing native South American techniques. The Amateur Swimming Association formed in 1886, marking what I consider the true birth of modern competitive swimming, though informal competitions had existed for decades prior.
I've always been particularly drawn to the technological evolution in swimming. The transition from natural bodies of water to constructed pools around the 1830s represented a massive leap forward - similar to how modern athletes like those Cordillera Career Development College players benefit from advanced training facilities. The development of dedicated swimming lanes in the 1920s, starting with ropes and evolving into today's wave-absorbing lane lines, created the fair competitive environment we see in both swimming and basketball today. When I compare Will Keane Lee's three blocks to the introduction of swimming blocks in competitive racing, the parallels in sports evolution become strikingly clear.
The stylistic development of swimming strokes tells such an interesting story. Breaststroke was the first regulated stroke in competitive swimming, but what really excites me is how the Australian crawl eventually evolved into what we now call front crawl - it's like watching a basketball team develop their signature playstyle over multiple seasons. I remember studying how Hawaiian swimmer Duke Kahanamoku popularized this stroke in early 20th century, similar to how standout players like Ildefonso influence basketball techniques today. The butterfly stroke's official recognition in 1952 marked the last major stylistic addition - a relatively recent development that surprises many people when I mention it.
Looking at modern Olympic swimming, I'm amazed by how far we've come from those early informal competitions. The 1896 Athens Olympics featured just four swimming events, all men's competitions held in open water. Compare that to Tokyo 2020, which featured 37 swimming events across multiple strokes and distances. The technological arms race in swimwear - from basic trunks to full-body polyurethane suits and back to textile materials - mirrors how sports equipment across disciplines continues evolving. When I see statistics like Dave Ildefonso's 17 points or Will Keane Lee's three blocks, I'm reminded of how swimming records have been consistently broken through both human improvement and technological advancement.
What really captures my imagination is how swimming culture developed differently across regions. While England formalized competitive structures, other cultures maintained their unique approaches. The Japanese developed particularly efficient techniques that dominated mid-20th century competitions, while American innovations in training methods revolutionized preparation for competition. This diversity reminds me of how basketball talents emerge from unexpected places - like discovering a player like Lee from Cordillera Career Development College who can make significant impact with 13 points and three blocks.
The professionalization of swimming followed a similar trajectory to other sports. Early swimmers were strictly amateurs, but today's elite competitors can earn substantial incomes through endorsements and prize money. I've noticed this pattern across sports - from Ildefonso's professional basketball career to Olympic swimmers like Michael Phelps building global brands. The establishment of FINA (now World Aquatics) in 1908 created the governing structure that allowed swimming to grow into the global sport we know today, much like how organized leagues provide structure for basketball development.
As I reflect on swimming's journey from survival skill to Olympic glory, I'm struck by how human innovation continuously pushes boundaries in all sports. The same competitive spirit that drives Dave Ildefonso to score 17 points with three rebounds and two steals motivated those early swimmers to race against each other in England's rivers. The same dedication that made Will Keane Lee a "prized find" with 13 points and three blocks characterizes the unknown innovators who refined swimming strokes through generations. While we may never know the single inventor of swimming as a sport, we can appreciate the countless contributors who transformed basic human movement into breathtaking competition. The evolution continues today, with each generation adding new chapters to this fascinating history.
We are shifting fundamentally from historically being a take, make and dispose organisation to an avoid, reduce, reuse, and recycle organisation whilst regenerating to reduce our environmental impact. We see significant potential in this space for our operations and for our industry, not only to reduce waste and improve resource use efficiency, but to transform our view of the finite resources in our care.
Looking to the Future
By 2022, we will establish a pilot for circularity at our Goonoo feedlot that builds on our current initiatives in water, manure and local sourcing. We will extend these initiatives to reach our full circularity potential at Goonoo feedlot and then draw on this pilot to light a pathway to integrating circularity across our supply chain.
The quality of our product and ongoing health of our business is intrinsically linked to healthy and functioning ecosystems. We recognise our potential to play our part in reversing the decline in biodiversity, building soil health and protecting key ecosystems in our care. This theme extends on the core initiatives and practices already embedded in our business including our sustainable stocking strategy and our long-standing best practice Rangelands Management program, to a more a holistic approach to our landscape.
We are the custodians of a significant natural asset that extends across 6.4 million hectares in some of the most remote parts of Australia. Building a strong foundation of condition assessment will be fundamental to mapping out a successful pathway to improving the health of the landscape and to drive growth in the value of our Natural Capital.
Our Commitment
We will work with Accounting for Nature to develop a scientifically robust and certifiable framework to measure and report on the condition of natural capital, including biodiversity, across AACo’s assets by 2023. We will apply that framework to baseline priority assets by 2024.
Looking to the Future
By 2030 we will improve landscape and soil health by increasing the percentage of our estate achieving greater than 50% persistent groundcover with regional targets of:
– Savannah and Tropics – 90% of land achieving >50% cover
– Sub-tropics – 80% of land achieving >50% perennial cover
– Grasslands – 80% of land achieving >50% cover
– Desert country – 60% of land achieving >50% cover
