Taking part in swimming competitions is great fun. You may have swimming galas at your school or local swimming club. If you do, try and take part because there is always a great atmosphere at these events. If you are not a member of a swimming club, ask your parent/guardian to find out if there is one you can join.

Swimming races are broken down into events for different strokes, these include:

• Butterfly
  
• Backstroke
  
• Breaststroke
  
• Freestyle - front crawl
  
• Medley – a race where you do all four strokes

Swimming races are also swum over different distances. If you are aged between 5 and 11 years old you are likely to compete in 25 metre and 50 metre races. However, this does depend on your swimming club, local swimming league and the length of the swimming pool.

When you get involved in swimming galas, sometimes you are swimming for yourself to try and win a medal, other times you are swimming for points for your club or school. You may also find yourself in a team race such as a freestyle or medley relay. Whichever you do, you always have a lot of fun cheering on your team and friends.

David Davies has been involved in swimming competitions for many years and now competes over longer distances. David won a Bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Athens for the 1500 metre event – that is 60 lengths of a standard 25 metre pool! David can swim this distance in a race as he does lots and lots of training, eats the right food and is very determined to win.