Most persons understand diving to mean simply a descent or plunge into the water head foremost, for comparatively few have seen the daring and graceful evolutions that repre sentative Swedish swimmers and divers can accomplish. Since the visit of the Swedish amateurs to the Life Saving Society, and the promotion by the latter of an annual compe tition known as the ' National Graceful Diving Competition,' great improvement has taken place amongst English divers, and there are many who can now perform most of the movements shown in the illustrations. The Swedes are past masters of their art, and know how to dive neatly and gracefully from a variety of heights. 'Their forward and back ward headers, backward springing, somersaults, com bination and diving from heights of twenty, thirty, forty and sixty feet, always create astonishment and enthusiasm in the spectator and call forth warm admiration.
• The 'swan 'dive, which is peculiar to Sweden, is taught there to boys and girls when they are quite young. It is done either from a standing spring or with a run, the latter being by far the most effective. Directly the body has been launched into space, the head is thrown backwards, the back sharply hollowed, the legs straightened and closed, and the arms flung out to form a horizontal line through the shoulders; this position is maintained until the body is within about six feet from the water, when the arms are swung together till the hands touch and the water is entered.
Nothing more fascinat ingly beautiful can possibly be imagined than seeing one person after another, as it were, hurled into space, with such pace and spring that will carry the body about thirty feet away from the diving tower, then as the gravity causes the downward deflection the diver appears to pause in the air, and as the proper distance from the water is reached, the hands are brought together and the body straightened. The swimmer
disappears for a second or two and then quietly emerges on the surface. It seems to the spectator a most daring movement. and proves that with due care and proper practice one may learn how to control one's body, and how graceful an ordinary head dive may be made.
To Englishmen the term swallow' dive, not swan,' would best convey the notion of this idealistic manner of reaching the water, for it is just like the action of the swallow when flying. It is the perfection of the art attained by gradual and careful trial at each height combined with gymnastic ability which adds charm, ease and grace to a picturesque performance. The illustrations of the Swedish forms of entering the water are so arranged as to give an idea of the various evolutions of the body in graceful and fancy diving. To be expert in all the movements shown, plenty of practice must be in dulged in. The daring nature of the feats requires considerable pluck and self confidence ; these qualities being present there is no reason why an ordinary swimmer should not be come an expert diver.
The two forms of diving given on this page are from photographs of a perform ance by Miss Lewin, the lady teacher at the Bath Club. Miss Lewin is one of the most graceful divers in this country. The illustrations of Swedish diving have been drawn from snap shots taken during displays by Messrs. Mauritzi & Hagborg, two famous Swedish swimmers.