this is a cool sport

Gender discrimination in the Olympics:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120571966898740709.html?mod=todays_us_page_one

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid452319854/bctid1452170692

UPDATE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ShLjqBsysE

The best way of getting fit all over and no probs with impacting your knee joints like with jogging. As a sport it's a true test of athleticsm although as a spectacle it's a bit limited. Cant see the point of the butterfly stroke. It's slower than the crawl/freestyle and more exhausting.

Another sport with excellent athletes. Great workout due to weightless environment that practically anyone could benefit from. Divers are also very flexible and great athletes. Swimming is what I due on the off season during winter to stay in shape but I am too chicken to dive.

This is fun, except I'm not a very good swimmer and I usually sink to the bottom of the pool.

Swimming is a Sport, Diving is not. Swimming takes athletic ability and personal strength to perform. Diving, while elegant, is like gymnastics in that it's Extreme Aerobic Activity.

Not a sport? Well gunner217 and Jason1972, you obviously seem to know so much about sports. Try diving off the diving block and swimming a 200 butterfly sprint, then maybe see what you think. Swimming is a hell of a better sport than hockey and takes a lot more willpower and strength. If you don't believe me then fine, but don't go saying swimming is not a sport. Neither one of you could probably do one lousy lap.

Great stuff and an immortal part of the Summer Olympic games! Always fast-paced and exciting!

With the right marketing, aquatics could enjoy tremendous popularity outside of Olympic years. I've had the privilege of being around Olympic caliber athletes before, and their gorgeous personalities can take anyone in. Seeing lots of cuties in swimsuits is just a bonus. Requires perfect physical shape and very rigorous training to make it to the top.

Diving a sport ha

Fun ...but sometimes cold!

Who dosent like swimming? Jason1972, if you know its not a sport, why do you rate it as one? Rate it for what you think it is.

not a great sport but i dont mind watching girls in a bikini

As a sport? no way but it is important during the Summer Olympics.

I used to be such a water baby when I was younger. I grew up beside the coast and loved being by the seaside and therefore I also spent most of my time in my local pool. For some strange reason I was better at swimming underwater than above and could make my way from the shallow end and follow the slope to the deep end or just dive down and touch the bottom of the pool. It is a fantastic form of exercise, but i just enjoy being in the water - its like a second home.

For exercise, yes. But for anything else, it stinks. Diving is not a sport. It is athletic, but it is judged. Anything judged someone's opinion. It is more an art than a sport. Swimming is a race, plain and simple. To me, I see no difference betwen racing in water or land. Same idea.

Great form of excercise, probably the best there is, but it's a bit dull as a sport - unless you're actually in the race.

Are you joking me? Swimming above hockey and football? You swim in a lane back and forth, Oh please let me watch.

Unlike Medgar Evers, I am no fish. I didn't learn to swim until I was about seven years old. But swimming and diving are heavenly, divine things for me. My best swimming strokes are butterfly and long-distance freestyle. Butterfly requires a lot of arm strnegth, so I don't recommend it if you don't have the build. But it's a great feeling to know that your one of those few good flyers who really knows the stroke. Backstroke has given many a swimmer a crick in the neck or a backache. But it's always a great race between the comptitors. Try not to run into the wall. Breaststroke is a relaxing, easy stroke, not really good for anything except a few cool-down laps after a hard practice; you can always tell after about five seconds who the winner is going to be. But like the fly, there are very few people who are REAL breaststrokers. And finally we have freestyle, the best stroke; especially in long distance, the race is always so exciting, as the competitiors gasp for breath and race to the finish, you never know who's going to win until the touchpad is hit. As far as diving goes, I am no pro, but it's very fun. My all-time favorite dive is the reverse. I hate flips---they make me dizzy---but the giant approach jump that a reverse requires makes the diver feel like he/she is flying. And when you go off the board, you actually are flying. Wow! Another dive I like is the gentle backdive...though I have gotten any headaches smacking the back of my head on the water, doing the backdive makes me, me who is so klutzy on skates that it isn't even funny, feel graceful. Do that backdive and you go right out of your mind, oooh. The front dive is sort of boring, but the people whocan do really good front dives in pike or layout have always impressed me. The inward is kind of scary and I have only gotten it right once or twice, but it's not a bad dive. People who can do handstand dives are supernatural. All in all swimming & diving are both great sports, and contrary to popular male chauvinistic belief, are not "girl sports". Take care, everyone!

I personally am just a fish, not a swimming athlete. I've never gotten into all those strokes, but I respect anyone who can shoot through the water like a torpedo or do a million flips off a high dive and dive without a splash. I love the water, I love to watch athletes in the water, but I personally don't dig the whole organized athletic side of it.

I love swimming!! I like the felling that you get live your flying through the water! And its a great work out and builds up some pretty big muscles!!