Swimming
Modern swimming began in England and became popular in Yorkshire in the 1660s. The world's first indoor swimming pool was built at George's Dock, Liverpool, in 1828.
The world's first swimming association was established in 1837. In 1908, it was stipulated that swimming must be competed in a pool. An international standard swimming pool is 50 meters long, at least 21 meters wide and over 1.80 meters deep. There are 8 swimming lanes, each swimming lane is 2.50 meters wide, and the lane lines are connected by individual buoys with a diameter of 5 to 10 centimeters. Athletes must stand on the starting platform to start the competition (except for backstroke). The starting platform is 50 to 75 cm above the water surface and the area of ??the platform is 50 × 50 cm.
When swimming was listed as an Olympic event in 1896, it was a true "freestyle" regardless of swimming style. There were only three events: 100 meters, 500 meters, and 1200 meters. In the 2nd Olympic Games in 1900, the backstroke was separated; in the 3rd Olympic Games in 1904, the breaststroke was separated. In the 5th Olympic Games in 1912, women's swimming was included as an event. In the 16th Olympic Games in 1956, butterfly swimming was added, and from then on it was finalized into four swimming styles. Since then, the Olympic swimming competition has developed to include 7 major events and 34 events including freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly stroke, backstroke, medley, relay (freestyle and medley) and marathon (a new event for the Beijing Olympics). It is the only event in the Olympic Games. Second to the gold medalists in track and field.
On July 9, 1922, American swimming star Johnny Weissmuller became the first person in the world to swim under 1 minute in the 100-meter freestyle. His time was 58.6 seconds. Among female athletes, Australian female swimmer Dawn Fraser became the first woman to swim under one minute when she clocked 58.9 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle event at the Sydney Olympics on February 28, 1964.
Football
Olympic football began in the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, France. At the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, France, and the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, the United States, football was used as a performance event. In 1908, it became an official event at the London Olympics in England.
At the beginning of the 20th century, football was rapidly promoted in European countries, and football clubs were established in various countries. The relationship between football and commodity society was increasingly deepened, and a group of people made a living by playing football. Since then, professional football has become popular in continental Europe. The technical level of professional athletes who have gone through long-term training and competition on the Olympic football field is significantly higher than that of amateur athletes. This huge gap between levels makes the Olympic football competition lose its competitiveness and excitement, and affects the enthusiasm of many regions to participate in the Olympic Games. Especially after England's professional football players won two championships in the 1908 and 1912 Olympic Games, the controversy over whether to allow professional athletes to participate in the Olympics became more intense. Later, FIFA began to impose some restrictions on professional football players participating in the Olympic Games. However, FIFA does not have a very clear concept and definition on how to distinguish professional athletes from amateur athletes.
After several changes, in 1984 FIFA made the decision that players from Europe and South America who had participated in the World Cup finals were not allowed to participate in the Olympic football games; in 1988, FIFA made the following regulations on this basis : The age limit for Olympic football players is under 23 years old, and each team is allowed to have 3 over-age players.
There are 16 teams in the men’s football finals of the 29th Beijing Olympic Games: 4 teams from Asia (including the host Chinese team), 4 teams from Europe, 3 teams from Africa, 2 teams from South America, Central and North America and 2 teams in the Caribbean and 1 team in Oceania. There are 12 teams in the women's football finals of the 29th Beijing Olympic Games: 3 teams from Asia (including the host Chinese team), 3 teams from Europe, 1.5 teams from Africa, 2 teams from Central and North America and the Caribbean, 1.5 teams from South America, and 1 team from Oceania branch.
Weightlifting
Lifting heavy objects was common in ancient production, life and military activities. Weightlifting as a sport was formed on this basis. In ancient times, many ethnic groups often held weightlifting competitions. Weightlifting competitions in medieval Switzerland have always been an important part of folk festival celebrations.
Modern weightlifting emerged in Europe at the end of the 18th century. At that time, strongmen often performed weightlifting performances in the circus troupe of the London Concert Hall. At the beginning of the 19th century, Germany, Russia, and Austria also began to hold weightlifting competitions. However, there were various weightlifting equipments at that time and there were no unified competition rules to follow, so it was difficult to compare the sports performance between countries. After the 1870s, weightlifting developed further in Europe, and weightlifting equipment and competition rules were unified in various countries. In 1891, Britain held the first World Weightlifting Championships. In 1896, the first Olympic Games listed weightlifting as an official event. But at this time, the competition was limited to one-handed and two-handed clean and jerk, and there were no levels. It was only at the 7th Olympic Games in 1920 that the competition events were divided into three categories: one-handed snatch, one-handed clean and jerk, and two-handed clean and jerk, and athletes were divided into five competition levels according to their weight, thus laying the prototype of modern weightlifting. In 1924, weightlifting was changed to five events: one-handed snatch, clean and jerk, and two-handed press, snatch, and clean and jerk. In 1928, the one-handed event was canceled and the two-handed push, grab, and clean and jerk events were retained. Because pushing can easily cause injuries to athletes' lumbar spine and it is difficult to control referee standards, the pushing event was canceled after the 1972 Olympic Games.
The number of weightlifting levels had increased to 10 by the 1980 Olympics and is still being adjusted.
In the early stages of modern weightlifting, the barbell was made of a metal horizontal bar with a metal ball at each end, and the weight could not be increased or decreased. Later, it was developed that a hollow ball was installed at each end of the horizontal bar. When the weight was increased, iron sand or lead sand could be added into the ball. When lifting weights, this kind of barbell makes a sound due to the impact of the metal ball shell and the filling, so it is called a "barbell". In 1910, the metal balls were replaced by a set of plate barbells of varying weights (also known as "Bebell" barbells, so named because they were designed by Casper Berg in Nuremberg). After the plate barbell appeared, it was further improved and became a standard barbell consisting of three parts: a horizontal bar, a barbell plate, and a clamp.