The butterfly (shortened to fly) is a swimming stroke swum on the chest, with both arms moving symmetrically, accompanied by the butterfly kick (also known as the "dolphin kick") along with the movement of the hips and chest. It is the newest swimming style swum in competition, first swum in the early 1930s and originating out of the breaststroke.
Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports, with varied distance events in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley. In addition to these individual events, four swimmers can take part in either a freestyle or medley relay. A medley relay consists of four swimmers who will each swim a different stroke, ordered as backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.
Swimming each stroke requires a set of specific techniques; in competition, there are distinct regulations concerning the acceptable form for each individual stroke. There are also regulations on what types of swimsuits, caps, jewelry and injury tape that are allowed at competitions. There are many health benefits to swimming, but it is possible for competitive swimmers to incur injuries such as tendinopathy in the shoulders or knees.
Medley swimming is a combination of four different swimming strokes butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle (usually front crawl), into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley (IM) or by four swimmers as a medley relay.
The first world record in the 100 metres butterfly in long course (50 metres) swimming was recognised by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) in 1957, for both men and women. In the short-course (25 metres) swimming events, the world's governing body recognizes world records since March 3, 1991.
The dolphin kick is a kicking movement used in swimming. It is frequently used by competitive swimmers during entry and turns, and as part of the butterfly stroke.
The front crawl or forward crawl, also known as the Australian crawl or American crawl, is a swimming stroke usually regarded as the fastest of the four front primary strokes. As such, the front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle swimming competition, and hence freestyle is used metonymically for the front crawl. It is one of two long axis strokes, the other one being the backstroke. Unlike the backstroke, the breaststroke, and the butterfly stroke, the front crawl is not regulated by World Aquatics. Hence, in "freestyle" competitive swimming events, any stroke or combination of strokes is permissible. This style is sometimes referred to as the Australian crawl although this can sometimes refer to a more specific variant of front crawl.
The face-down swimming position allows for a good range of motion of the arm in the water, as compared to the backstroke, where the hands cannot be moved easily along the back of the spine. The above-water recovery of the stroke reduces drag, compared to the underwater recovery of breaststroke. The alternating arms also allow some rolling movement of the body for an easier recovery compared to, for example, butterfly. Finally, the alternating arm stroke makes for a relatively constant speed throughout the cycle.
The International Olympic Committee recognises the fastest performances in pool-based swimming events at the Olympic Games. Men's swimming has been part of the official program of the Summer Olympics since the Games' modern inception in 1896; it was not until 1912 that women's events were held. The swimming events at the 1896 Olympic Games were held in a bay in the Aegean Sea with swimmers being required to swim to the shore—Hungarian swimmer Alfréd Hajós won two gold medals that year, saying "My will to live completely overcame my desire to win." The 1900 Summer Olympic Games in Paris had the swimming events take place in the River Seine, and the events at the 1908 Summer Olympics were held in a 100-metre pool surrounded by an athletics track in the White City Stadium in London.
Races are held in four swimming categories: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly, over varying distances and in either individual or relay race events. Medley swimming races are also held, both individually and in relays, in which all four swimming categories are used. In the Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, both men and women competed in eighteen events in the pool. Of the 35 pool-based events, swimmers from the United States hold fifteen records, Australia five, France four, China, Canada and South Africa two each, and one each to Ireland, Great Britain, Russian Olympic Committee, Hungary, and Sweden. Nineteen of the current Olympic records were set at the 2024 Summer Olympics, seven in 2020, five in 2016, one in 2012, and three in 2008.
The men's 200 metre butterfly event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held from 30 to 31 July 2024 at Paris La Défense Arena, which was converted to a swimming pool for the swimming events.
Going into the event, Kristóf Milák was considered the most likely to win by SwimSwam and Swimming World, but he had taken a break from swimming in 2023, and the Hungarian national head coach had reported that Milák had been training inconsistently. Second in contention was France's Léon Marchand. In the heats (preliminary rounds), Japan's Tomoru Honda, the silver medalist at the previous Olympics, was eliminated. In the semifinals, Kregor Zirk broke the Estonian national record, and Noè Ponti broke the Swiss national record.