Yesterday was my last day in GHD... 
Breaststroke is the slowest of the four official styles in competitive swimming. The fastest breaststroke swimmers can swim about 1.57 meters per second. Although it is the slowest of the four competitive strokes, it is commonly agreed that it is the one of the most difficult when done correctly. It is also often the hardest to teach to rising swimmers due to the importance of timing and the coordination required to move the legs properly.
Breaststroke is swum while leaning on the chest, with the arms only breaking the surface of the water slightly and legs always underwater, while the head is underwater for the second half of the stroke. The kick is sometimes referred to as a "frog kick" because of the resemblance to a frog's kick, but when done correctly it is more of a "whip kick" due to the whip-like motion that moves starting at the core down through the legs.
The body is often at a steep angle to the forward movement. This slows down the swimmer more than any other style. Professional breaststrokers use abdominal muscles and hips to add extra power to the kick, although most do not perfect this technique until the collegiate level. This much faster form of breaststroke is referred to as "wave-action" breaststroke and fully incorporates the whip-kick.
A special feature of competitive breaststroke is the underwater pullout. From the streamline position, one uses the arms to pull all the way down past the hips. As the arms are pulling down, one downward dolphin kick is allowed (as of the 2005 season), though still optional (However, any upward motion with the dolphin kick is strictly forbidden, and will result in a disqualification). This is followed by the recovery of the arms to the streamline position once more, and then a kick. The pullout at the start and after the turns contributes significantly to the swimming times. Therefore one way to improve the swimming times is to focus on the start and the turns.
Of the four competitive strokes of swimming, breaststroke is the most efficient in terms of energy consumption over a specified distance, though it is the slowest.
Information from wikipedia
The history of swimming goes way back to that of prehistoric times. Books written from 2000 to 1500 BC including the Bible have references to swimming. It was mostly used in these times as a means of cleansing. Any form of competitive swimming wasn’t formed until the 1800’s in Europe. It was included in the first Olympics in 1896 in Athens, Greece.
It was noted that Ancient Egypt had cave drawings of humans swimming in the nearby sea. They often depicted a form of the breaststroke as the first type of swimming or something they used to call the front crawl. Ancient Egyptian, Grecian and Roman palaces were often equipped with swimming pools or baths. Often reserved for the elite that used them as relaxation pools and cleaning tubs.
It is noted by historians that swimming was also often used in battle. The Greeks were often regarded as solid swimmers and at the Battle of Salamis after a number of both Greek and Persian boats were destroyed it was said that all of the Persians drowned due to their inability to swim while the Greek prevailed.
The history of swimming is much easier to understand than other sports. Without any equipment to speak of an individual can take to the waters. Obviously those countries that had the most access to water were the first to adapt to swimming. History did not have the spreading of the sport as many other sports had encountered because it was basically already available. You either adopted swimming as a means of life or you just chose not to swim.
The evolution of swimming history expanded during the middle ages. A number of individuals took it upon themselves to write books about swimming. They were often focused on the ability to not drown rather than a perfect backstroke as you would imagine. Life saving concepts and techniques began to form throughout the next few hundred years and around the 18th and 19th century the sport began to evolve into more of a competition than just life safety. Swimming Associations and Clubs popped up all over the world. Some of the first in swimming history were in China, Sweden and Germany.
Schools began to believe that swimming was a natural part of any life education. Therefore, they began to teach swimming in schools not just as a life safety course but as an extracurricular activity. Schools and Universities began to adopt these practices and set up clubs and swim teams. Competitions began to arise around the mid 1800’s. England was the first to modernize the sport and incorporate an indoor swimming pool with a swim team. They began to formulate new swimming styles including the sidestroke. Shortly after this, variations of the freestyle began to form and credit can’t really be given to one person as so many were responsible for developing this technique.
The Olympic Games of 1896 in Athens was the first real platform for the sport. There only men competed in a number of events. Throughout the 1900’s the sport evolved and saw a number of stars arise. Johnny Weissmuller, the original Tarzan completed his ten year career by never losing a race and winning five Olympic medals.
Science and technology began to play a part in the sport throughout the 1900’s as well. When scientist and coaches began studying swimmers and there underwater techniques to improve times. The swimsuits began to change as well as any form of resistance was under scrutiny from all competitors. Goggles, swim caps and different variations of training have all evolved as well. The US has seen its share of great Olympians going back to Mark Spitz who won seven gold medals in the 1972 Olympics.
The sport has evolved to a very competitive and fun sport for anyone. That has always been the great appeal that anyone can swim and we have been for the past 3000 years…So goes the history of swimming.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - History of Swimming
Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
每个人总有这么的一个阶段，尤其是孩童时期，总是会相信，甚至创造一个精灵、仙子或是外星人的角色。我们深信这些角色是善良的，会带我们去完成不容易实现的任务，会在一旁的守护着我们，倾听我们的声音，知道我们。
我 的小时候就是这样，老爱看月亮，跟月亮说话，月亮也会一直看着我。如果没有把记忆混淆的话，应该是在近圣诞节时期。爸爸也把传说中的圣诞老人带到了我的现 实生活中，他让我在二楼的露台前大声的对圣诞老人说出我想得到的礼物。圣诞老人也从没令我着幼小的心灵失望，爸爸给了我一个了不起的开始，也因此成就了现 在还爱发梦的我。是混淆了也好，不是也罢，月亮和露台，这个画面是到现在还很熟悉的、很温暖的。
所以故事中的——月光精灵，就这样联想出来了。
月光精灵只在晚上出现。因为晚上很黑很暗，他们会帮忙我们照亮，照亮我们的心，使我们更加勇敢也让我们安心的睡觉，这样我们的身体才会健康。就在一天的晚上，他们发现了还在工作到深夜的老公公和老婆婆。于是，他们就多了一份任务去帮助他们。
老公公和老婆婆其实是一个魔法师，但是他们没有高强的法力。他们把大家不要的东西，用他们的一双手再次的赋予新的生命，新的使命。
你也可以叫他们环保老公公和环保老婆婆。
现在大家都在谈环保，环保不是只有大公司、政府或是首领才能做到的，环保也有小的做。学习从自己开始做。这样多多个‘小小的自己’集合在一起，就可以是一个大机构了。希望故事里头的老公公和老婆婆，可以再一次的提醒你走入环保的潮流里。
故事中，以上的角色也将遇到了强调物质享受、浪费成性，欺压弱者的钱夫人。故事的发展，钱夫人一样会有恶报的惩罚。可是，她还是得到了宽恕，善的引导。
世界上就多了一个好人，不是更好吗？
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