Challenging nature

Open water competitions are defined by FINA since 1985 as those taking place in rivers, lakes or seas. However, despite the more recent formal recognition of these events, races within this definition already existed by the time FINA was founded in 1908. Some were even accepted by the International Federation for the first Olympic programmes under its scope. Although very popular, those events were generally not considered by FINA as aquatic marathons, or more globally, as long distance races.

In the last third of the 19th Century, the emergence of ancient legendary stories on one hand, and the development of professional and amateur swimming communities on the other, provoked the search for aquatic feats with a romantic, sportive or commercial outcome. To show one's expertise as a swimmer was a sign of dominating both the other competitors and the forces of nature in an extraordinary demonstration of courage. One of the most significant examples of this conception was the crossing of the English Channel; several times attempted in the years 1860 and 1870, but finally succeeded by English Matthew Webb on August 24, 1875, in a time of 21 hours and 45 minutes.

The value of this event was directly connected to the media coverage and popular interest it generated. When Webb returned to England, an enormous crowd was waiting for him on the beach. Soon, dignitaries were trying to meet with him. The news of his feat spread throughout England and Europe. He became the subject of scientific research; specialists in medicine were curious about his "superhuman" capacities. He became a national hero and came to symbolise the courage and strength of the country. He promoted the ideas of risk, challenge and...success, as well as the values which were able to unite the different British sub-cultures into a single coherent and national culture.

The conditions of the race were changeable, depending on waves, winds, tides, currents, temperature, jelly fishes, variations of distance; therefore, performances were difficult to compare and the logics of FINA (standardisation of timing) were not respected.

The professional success of Webb would later seduce other candidates who decided to face the Channel. Following the unsuccessful attempt of the famous professional swimmer Cavill in 1876, the number of further such attempts would increase until the successful crossing of the Anglo-Frenchman T.W. Burgess in 1911. More than 70 failed attempts were registered between the crossings of Webb and Burgess. Most of them came from professional English swimmers, searching for financial fortune with an extraordinary feat. Some women also attempted it, namely the Romanian princess Walburga de Isacescu in July 1900 or Australian Annette Kellermann, in 1905, who quit after six hours of effort. In all these cases, newspapers intensively explored the attempts, giving their readers exhaustive details on the swimmers.

The maximum number of attempts (29) was made between 1903 and 1911, precisely during the period FINA was created. However, it never occurred to the FINA founding fathers to make official an event like the crossing of the Channel. In spite of that, other less famous events existed in that time, revealing the same approach for swimming: aquatic marathons. In 1890, for instance, one of them was swum between Batoum and Poti (59 km), in the Black Sea. These races were also organised in the United States at the beginning of the 20th Century, and in Europe, where several events were held in Paris, in the Seine River, over circuits ranging from 20 to 40 km.

For spectators, the races in close loops were more interesting to follow than the events following river courses or those held in the sea, as they would allow on-lookers to witness the two most interesting stages of the race: the start and the finish. Another way of making things more attractive was to reduce the length of the race: England gave the pace to that trend by organising, from 1877, a long distance championship, initially known as 'Lords and Commons Race'. This yearly race was held over five or six miles, always in an open water environment (never in pools), despite the hundreds of swimming pools already available in the country.

The major crossings, in river or in the sea, amateur, professional or open to both categories, became frequent and popular events, and well-accepted during the end of the 19th Century and beginning of the 20th. Without a regulating authority, 'world championships' were even held in many countries. On August 15-16, 1903, for example, such a championship was organised in the Seine River, in Paris, in front of 15,000 spectators that applauded the victory of Englishman John Jarvis. A year later, there were more than 40,000 supporters on the shores of the river. During the summer of 1906, Paris held, within few days, two crossings, three 'world championships' and a 24-hour swimming race, all in the waters of its river.

To show one's expertise as a swimmer was a sign of dominating both the other competitors and the forces of nature in an extraordinary demonstration of courage. One of the most significant examples of this conception was the crossing of the English Channel.

The success of these races was also due to the expectation created by the newspapers or the sportive institutions. This strategy comprised the announcement of new ways of swimming, the invitation to famous international athletes, or the presence of female swimmers. This was a true phenomenon for the majority of spectators in a time when sports for women were in their roots, and decisively contributed to the popularity of the open water races. On September 10, 1905, the first swimming crossing of Paris (12 km) became more famous not because of its 184 participants, or by the discovery, for many, of the 'over arm stroke', but more because of the presence of Annette Kellermann, from Australia.

The existence of many attempts to cross the Channel, of aquatic marathons in a straight line or in closed loops, and of city-crossing swims, could have been a good opportunity for the founders of FINA to integrate some of those events in a more official frame. That was not the case. A surprising decision, especially considering that at the first Olympic Games of the modern era in Athens (1896), or even at the Intercalated Games in 1906 also in the Hellenic capital, swimming events were not held in a swimming pool but at Zea's Bay, in the port of Piraeus. In 1900, in Paris, they were organised in the Seine River, with a 4000m event, in the same sense as the tide. Despite all that, in 1908, FINA did not retain any event over 1500m, nor any marathon or long distance event. Two main explanations help to understand this decision.

The first reason relates to the characteristics of aquatic crossings and marathons, which were not compatible with the sportive rules established by FINA