History Of World Swimming And 3 Indonesian Legendary Swimmers

Illustration. (Freepik).

JAKARTA - Swimming is a sport that is popular with all circles. Starting from toddlers to adults. Swimming is believed to be able to train the respiratory system, stimulate blood flow to the heart and lungs and increase blood flow in the body.

Therefore, it is not surprising that swimming has become a popular sport among the public. In fact, because of its popularity, swimming has been staged both at the national and international levels.

History of world swimming

Actually, swimming has been around since the time of humans who have not known writing. However, the person who first popularized swimming was Matthew Webb. This former British Navy officer introduced swimming in 1875.

At that time, he was crossing the Gulf of England by swimming for 22 hours. The stunt made Matthew a celebrity and swimming turned into a popular sport.

In 1896, this aquatic sport was further developed until it was entered into competitions at the Athens Olympics.

Initially, swimming competitions were only done with breaststroke or breastroke. However, over time, in 1902, Richmon Cavill from Australia introduced swimming with a new technique, namely freestyle during the Olympics.

Since then, swimming has continued to develop until various styles or competition numbers have emerged, such as the 100 meter freestyle race and the 4x100 meter freestyle relay.

History of swimming in Indonesia

Before independence, there were already a number of beautiful and good swimming pools in the Dutch East Indies, but they were only reserved for the aristocrats and the Dutch. One of them is the Cihampelas swimming pool in Bandung which was founded in 1904.

Swimming began to develop with the formation of the Bandungsche Zwembond swimming association, aka the Bandung Swimming Association in 1917. This association is in charge of 7 associations, including swimming associations in schools such as OSVIA, MULO and KWEEKSCHOOL. In the same year, a swimming organization was also established in Jakarta and Surabaya.

A year later, or in 1918, in West Java a similar swimming organization was established at a higher level, namely West Java Zwembond.

Then in 1927 the Oost Java Zwembond or the East Java swimming association was also established. The scope of this organization includes Malang, Surabaya, Pasuruan, Blitar and Lumajang.

Over time, a national swimming organization was founded. The initiator is Poerwo Soedarmo. He founded PRSI (Indonesian Swimming Association) on March 21, 1952 with the aim of overseeing the organizations under him and athletes.

PRSI has a role to foster and train athletes, both at regional and national levels.

Not only that, PRSI also provides training for referees and judges to improve quality in a competition.

Until now, there have been many good swimmers who have been able to make Indonesia proud in the international arena. Some of them are even referred to as Indonesian legendary swimmers. Who are they?

3 Indonesian legendary swimmers

Summarized by VOI from various sources, here are 3 legendary Indonesian swimmers who have won championships at the international level.

1. Lukman Niode

Olimpian Lukman Niode is an Indonesian swimmer born in Jakarta, October 21, 1963. Some of the achievements that Lukman has made include:

- Holds the Asian record for 100 meter backstroke

- Bring home two gold medals for the 100 m and 100 meter jersey at the 1983 Singapore SEA Games.

- Received the title of The Best Performance at Cypress High School.

- Became one of the Indonesian contingents who appeared at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, United States.

Lukman Niode died at the age of 56 on April 17, 2020, after undergoing treatment at Pelni Hospital, Jakarta.

2. Richard Sambera

Richard Sambera is Indonesia's flagship swimmer born in Jakarta, December 19, 1971. Some of his achievements include:

- Won a bronze medal at the 1960 Asian Games in Beijing, China

- Won the NCAA Division I All-American award

- Sea Games record holder for the 100m swimming event.

- Gold medal winner at the SEA Games for 50m swimming in 1957, 1997, 1999 and 2001.

- Won a silver medal for the World Swimming Championship for 50 m swimming, Hong Kong, in 2000.

- Best Indonesian Athlete SIWO PWI in 2001.

In addition, Richard is one of the founders of the National Champions Millennium Aquatics Club, and has competed in long-distance triathlon events throughout Indonesia.

3. Elsa Manora Nasution

Elsa is a swimmer from Jakarta who specializes in backstroke. Some of the achievements that have been made by this woman who was born on October 25, 1977 include:

- Won a bronze medal in the 100m backstroke event at the 2003 SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam

- Competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the 100m backstroke

- National Best Athlete SIWO / PWI Jaya (1980,1981,1983)

- Received 9 gold medals in the club championship in Jakarta in 1983

- Received 8 gold and 2 silver at PON XI Jakarta in 1985.