The History of Aquatics: 1900 - 1907.

1900 The American Red Cross often employs land drills, such as this, to teach swimming strokes.

1900 The YMCA boasts 100 pools throughout its organization -- up from a reported 17 in 1885.

1902 Englishman. Frederick Cavill emigrates with his family to Australia, where they observe South Sea Islanders swimming with an overhand stroke -- which is known to the Western world -- and an up-and-down leg kick, which to that point is unfamiliar. He teaches this to his children, and son Richard Cavill "unveils" the technique at the 1902 International Championships, setting a world record for 100 yards: 58.4 seconds. One of the Cavills supposedly describes it as "crawling through water." Hence the name "Australian crawl," which today is more commonly known as "freestyle." Until that point, the fastest stroke had been the "trudgen," which combined the overhand motion with the existing frog kick associated with the breast stroke. It was named after Englishman J. Arthur Trudgen, who learned of it from South American Indians while visiting the continent in the latter part of the 1800s. The butterfly stroke is derived from the breast stroke in the 1930s, and makes its Olympic debut in 1956.

1903 The Schafer Prone Pressure Method of artificial respiration is developed. This method, which replaces the old-fashioned "over the barrel" ...