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This is Finswimming competition, and the one pictured is the 400 meter immersion event for women. Finswimming is an international sport which started in Europe in the 1960s, and has been especially popular in Europe and Asia. As you can see, China is a major competing nation.
In the 1980s I was Finswimming Director for the Underwater Society of America, which is the CMAS (World Underwater Federation) member in the USA. There are competitions here in the USA, but they are not well known. In the later 1980s we actually met with representatives of the U.S. Olympic Committee to see about getting Finsimming into the Olympics. The Olympic Committee could not believe that there was a sport that was still using mostly home-made equipment (monofins). Now, some monofins are commercially available, but if you look at what some of the swimmers in this video were using, they are still customizing each one for the particular finswimmers. There are both surface and underwater competitions, called “surface“ and “immersion.” The 400 meter immersion for women is what is shown here. See the below link to Underwater Society of America Finswimming to see a surface competition in Alabama.
There are actually open water finswimming contests too, but not too many in the USA. Those are usually surface swims using fins (sometimes what is known to finswimmers as “bifins” which are usually full-foot fins).
CMAS also sanctions competitions in underwater hockey (which is popular in northern countries where lakes are frozen in the winter), underwater orienteering (swimming a compass course in open water for competition), Underwater Rugby, free diving, spear fishing, a new sport titled “para-free diving,” and several others. You can check it out here: Sport Committee
For competition in the USA, see this site:
www.underwater-society.org
SeaRat
In the 1980s I was Finswimming Director for the Underwater Society of America, which is the CMAS (World Underwater Federation) member in the USA. There are competitions here in the USA, but they are not well known. In the later 1980s we actually met with representatives of the U.S. Olympic Committee to see about getting Finsimming into the Olympics. The Olympic Committee could not believe that there was a sport that was still using mostly home-made equipment (monofins). Now, some monofins are commercially available, but if you look at what some of the swimmers in this video were using, they are still customizing each one for the particular finswimmers. There are both surface and underwater competitions, called “surface“ and “immersion.” The 400 meter immersion for women is what is shown here. See the below link to Underwater Society of America Finswimming to see a surface competition in Alabama.
There are actually open water finswimming contests too, but not too many in the USA. Those are usually surface swims using fins (sometimes what is known to finswimmers as “bifins” which are usually full-foot fins).
CMAS also sanctions competitions in underwater hockey (which is popular in northern countries where lakes are frozen in the winter), underwater orienteering (swimming a compass course in open water for competition), Underwater Rugby, free diving, spear fishing, a new sport titled “para-free diving,” and several others. You can check it out here: Sport Committee
For competition in the USA, see this site:
Fin Swimming
www.underwater-society.org
SeaRat
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OP
Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. So best left unseen!I only read this post, sounds like best I read no further or prior
- Messages
- 17,268
- Reaction score
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- Somewhere between here and there
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
Must resist temptation...,
OP
Noooo. I can't unsee that that now.
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