Swimming is a natural human movement in water, aimed at staying afloat, navigating through aquatic space, and ultimately ensuring survival in nature. This ability has been known to humans for thousands of years—long before swimming became a recognized sport. Numerous material artifacts, such as Egyptian hieroglyphs and Assyrian bas-reliefs, bear witness to its ancient origins.
The need for swimming and its acceptance varied across cultures. In some societies, swimming knowledge was discouraged or even punished, while in others, it was highly valued. For example, the ancient Athenians had a saying that defined an uneducated man as "someone who can neither read nor swim."
Naturally, the need to swim was closely tied to one’s environment. People who lived far from water had little reason to learn it, while those surrounded by rivers, lakes, or seas relied on swimming for survival. This law of nature has left a mark even in modern times.
In the case of Novi Bečej and the Tisa River, for instance, residents of the nearby villages Novo Selo and Vranjevo rarely swam, while most bathers came from Novi Bečej proper—people who lived on the riverbanks and depended on the river in many ways. Every local who learned to swim in the Tisa had the ambition to swim across it—only then did they feel they had truly mastered the skill.
Driven by necessity and curiosity, humans devised different swimming methods. In the beginning, they imitated what they observed: frogs and fish in water, logs and animals floating on it. Based on this, it's reasonable to assume that the earliest swimming techniques were frog-like or animalistic (using all four limbs). In Novi Bečej, these were colloquially referred to as "female" (frog) and "dog-style" swimming. Over time, people refined these primitive techniques and developed more effective, controlled movements.
Swimming as a sporting discipline began to evolve in 1867, with the founding of the first swimming club in London. A few years later, the first swimming competitions were organized. Until that point, swimming in the civilized world was a matter of necessity; afterward, it began to take shape as a sport. It became part of the Olympic Games in 1896, during the first modern Olympics held in Athens.
In its early days, swimming techniques were not clearly defined, but several types were known: naval swimming, side-stroke, trudgen, Australian crawl, American crawl, Japanese crawl, water polo crawl, universal crawl, breaststroke, Japanese breaststroke, butterfly, and dolphin stroke. Backstroke was initially known as back crawl, and later versions were named Japanese backstroke, Kiefer’s backstroke, and water polo backstroke.
In the beginning, these techniques were often referred to as styles, so people would talk about the crawl style, breaststroke style, and backstroke style. However, this was technically incorrect. Technique refers to the specific method of swimming, while style refers to an individual’s personal way of performing that technique. In other words, multiple swimmers may use the same technique, but each does so in a slightly unique, personalized way that reflects their physicality and personality.
There’s another common misconception related to laypeople’s understanding of swimming. Due to media influence, many assume that the crawl is a modern invention. However, cave drawings, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and Assyrian bas-reliefs show that people have been swimming this way for thousands of years. One Assyrian relief (see: Fig. 1) even depicts an officer leading an attack on a fortress across water, swimming a perfect crawl, while his non-swimming soldiers follow with the help of inflated animal skins.
At that time, like most sports, swimming was seasonal. There were no open or indoor swimming pools, so all swimming took place in natural water bodies. This meant that swimming and diving could only be practiced during the summer, and rowing in late spring, summer, and early autumn. The same seasonal limitations applied to all outdoor sports. Winter sports included skating, skiing, sledding, and ice hockey. Consequently, the training and competition period was quite short, which reduced public interest in swimming and water polo, and limited the level of achievement accordingly.
Before World War II, in the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia, swimming and water polo were most developed in Vojvodina and Croatia. The most prominent centers were: Sombor, Subotica, Veliki Bečkerek (now Zrenjanin), Zagreb, Karlovac, Sušak, and Split. The Yugoslav Swimming Federation was founded in 1921 in Zagreb. That same year, the first national championship in swimming and water polo was held on Lake Bled. The first national water polo champion was a team from Sombor.
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