Freestyle - Pre Sydney 2000

Not commonly known is the fact that freestyle is not actually a stroke. In this event swimmers can pick whatever stroke they wish, but the reality is that they always pick the fastest one, the crawl.

In the medley event, however, where racers compete using all four strokes, the freestyle leg must be swum using the crawl.

During the freestyle event some part of the body must be above the surface of the water at all times, apart from 15 metres after a start or a turn when competitors may swim underwater.