Swimming is a sport that involves much appreciation for water. It involves moving every muscle in your body at once. Many people do not know how swimming started. Most people believe that it was invented along with the first Olympics (remember that the first Olympics began in Greece, in 776 B.C.) Wrong! The only sport during the first couple of years for the Olympics was a 200 yard footrace, with only male participants. Swimming has been known to man for centuries. There are depictions on walls/rocks in the Kebir desert, located in western Egypt. The depictions are said to be nearly 6,000 years old. Ancient sculptures depicted swimmers in similar styles, but different cultures, were found in what is now Italy, Greece, and Pompeii. Swimming was meant to be a leisurely activity during the Roman and Greek era, but it was held high as a social standard. Pluto was once recorded as saying, “a man who didn't know how to swim [is] uneducated.” Because swimming came from many different regions of the world, people adopted and adapted to the sport differently. For example, the Europeans gracefully swam through the water doing the breaststroke or the side stroke. In opposition, the Native Americans thrashed their arms in a windmill-like fashion while kicking their feet, much like how the freestyle is done to this day. Swimming became popular in the European countries, much faster than anywhere else on Earth. London created the very first swimming club called the Otter Swimming Club and the Leander Swimming Club back in the 19th century. It did not become popular in the Americas until the later 19th century, early 20th century.