Underwater Dolphin Kick

While watching the Olympics this summer, It was obvious that the greatest swimmers are the fastest off the turns and on their underwaters. Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, to name two swimmers, both have lethal underwaters and are the fastest names in swimming. As a swimmer, doing dolphin kicks off of every wall is something that seems natural to me. The amount of propulsion that I get from the wall is great and it is amazing to feel aerodynamic and weightless for a few seconds. However, underwater dolphin kicks have not always been utilized  in swimming. 

Jesse Vassallo “invented” underwater dolphin kick when he was experimenting with his friends. They would put on fins and race underwater, pretending to be dolphins. Vassallo adopted this dolphin-like play into his swimming and unveiled it at the 1976 Summer Nationals. Many people criticized this new technique, especially John Naber, a fellow competitor, who stated that underwater dolphin kick would cause oxygen deprivation. However, many other swimmers embraced the new innovation. In 1984, Harvard student, David “Blastoff” Berkoff demonstrated his powerful underwaters at a Harvard vs. Dartmouth duel meet and noticed positive results. Additionally, “Blastoff” would streamline for 35 meters in a 50 meter pool and incorporated underwaters into his freestyle. 

At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, five out of the eight swimmers in the men’s 100 meter backstroke final used underwater dolphin kick farther than 20 meters. FINA decided that they needed to intervene and made a law allocating the use of underwater dolphin kicks for only ten meters. In 1991, however, the current standards of 15 meters were set. In 1998, FINA allowed 15 meters of dolphin kick to also be used on butterfly.