Freestyle

     Two Native Americans, Flying Gull and Tobacco entered a British swimming competition in 1844. They finished in first and second, easily sailing past the local swimmers with a type of front crawl stroke. The British declared the stroke "totally un-European," continuing that the Native Americans "thrashed the water violently with their arms, like sails of a windmill, and beat downward with their feet, blowing with force and forming grotesque antics." British swimmers continued to use their slower,"acceptable" stroke for nearly 40 years after they witnessed the freestyle.

     During a trip to South America, Arthur Trudgen noticed that the Indians generated much more speed in the water with their overhand stroke than he had produced with the breaststroke as an amateur swimmer in England. After returning to England, Trudgen began teaching others the new arm movement. The Trudgen stroke was responsible for shaving 10 seconds off the fastest 100-yeard time.

     Another Englishman, Fredrick Cavill, developed the stroke that most widely used today. Swimming the traditional breastroke, Cavill became well known in England and in 1878 emigrated to Australia. Just before the turn of the century, Cavill made a trip to the South Seas, and like Trudgen, he noticed that the natives used an overhand stroke. But Cavill was more observant; realizing that their kicking action was also different. Returning to Australia, Cavill taught his sons the new stroke, and they soon were splashing past all existing records.

     When asked to describe the revolutionary style, one of the Cavills said it was "like crawling through the water." Gradually it became known as the crawl.

-- Splash Magazine April/May 2001