By Mary Bellis
Swimming as an organized activity goes back as far as 2500 B.C. in ancient Egypt and later in ancient Greece, Rome, and Assyria. In Rome and Greece, swimming was part of the education of elementary age boys and the Romans built the first swimming pools (separate from bathing pools). The first heated swimming pool was built by Gaius Maecenas of Rome in the first century BC. Gaius Maecenas was a rich Roman lord and considered one of the first patron of arts - he supported the famous poets Horace, Virgil, and Propertius, making it possible for them to live and write without fear of poverty.
However, swimming pools did not became popular until the middle of the 19th century. By 1837, six indoor pools with diving boards were built in London, England. After the modern Olympic Games began in 1896 and swimming races were among the original events, the popularity of swimming pools began to spread - Reference Britannica
Swimming
and Swimming Pool History
Historical information about swimming and
swimming pools from your About guide to swimming, Mat Luebbers.
Synchronized
Swimming
They called their invention "ornamental
and scientific swimming;" we know it as synchronized swimming.
On July 29, 1997, a design patent (#381,781) for a swimming pool leaf and debris removal net was granted to Ross Clay.
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