Butterfly stroke

The butterfly, (fly for short) is a swimming stroke swum on the breast, with the arms moving synchronously. The butterfly kick was developed separately, and is also known as the Dolphin. While other styles like breaststroke, front crawl, or backstroke can be swum easily even for beginners, the butterfly requires a very good technique to be feasible. Most students consider it the most difficult style. It is also the newest swimming style swum on competitions, first swum around 1934.

Competitions

There are three common distances swum in competitive butterfly swimming, both over either a long course (50m) or a short course (25m pool). Of course, other distances are also swum on occasions.

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• 50m Butterfly
• 100m Butterfly
• 200m Butterfly

Butterfly is also part of the Medley over the following distances:

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• 100m Medley (short 25m pool only)
• 200m Medley
• 400m Medley
• 4*100m Medley

These are the official FINA rules. They apply to swimmers during official swimming competitions.

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• From the beginning of the first arm stroke after the start and each turn, the body shall be kept on the breast. Under water kicking on the side is allowed. It is not permitted to roll onto the back at any time.
• Both arms shall be brought forward together over the water and brought backward simultaneously through-out the race, except after the start and at turns
• All up and down movements of the legs must be simultaneous. The position of the legs or the feet need not be on the same level, but they shall not alternate in relation to each other. A breaststroke kicking movement is not permitted.
• At each turn and at the finish of the race, the touch shall be made with both hands simultaneously, at, above or below the water surface.
• At the start and at turns, a swimmer is permitted one or more leg kicks and one arm pull under the water, which must bring him to the surface. It shall be permissible for a swimmer to be completely submerged for a distance of not more than 15 meters after the start and after each turn. By that point, the head must have broken the surface. The swimmer must remain on the surface until the next turn or finish.