A KINEMATIC STUDY OF BUTTERFLY TURN IN ELITE SWIMMERS

Abstract

The aims of this work were (i) to evaluate the different phases of the butterfly turn during a 200 m race (in long course), (ii) to determine if the wall contact times were related to swim velocity, (iii) to compare the turn variables of the European champion with the other swimmers studied. Two studies were carried out, the first one was to: (i) test 22 swimmers ranked in 3 groups according to their performance. The most significant results revealed that the third turn was performed quicker by GI (the faster group) than by G3 (the slower group), both before (p<0.01) and after (p<0.02) the turn. The second study concerned objectives (ii) and (iii) by evaluating 15 swimmers based on a specific protocol. The main result found was that the longer the contact time on the feet on the wall, the higher the push-off speed.