Swimming
Swimming
Swimming is racing in pools of international size (50 metres, 8 lanes), where an athlete moves using nothing but arm strokes and leg kicks, each in their own lane.
Freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke are contested separately or all four together (individual medley) over 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1500 metres, individually and in relays.
Diving
Diving
Diving is a sport in which the athlete jumps from a set height, performs aesthetic movements in the air and enters the water vertically.
Springboard diving is performed from a flexible board 1 or 3 metres high; platform diving from 5, 7.5 and 10 metre platforms. The discipline is on the Olympic programme.
Artistic swimming
Artistic swimming
In artistic swimming athletes perform routines to music above and below the surface, competing for the judges' scores.
Under World Aquatics rules, two zones 10 metres long and 3 metres wide are used for the required routines. The discipline is part of the Olympic Games programme.
Water polo
Water polo
Water polo is a ball game between two teams in a pool. A team consists of six field players and a goalkeeper, plus substitutes.
The game is played in four periods of eight minutes; the team that scores more goals wins. Water polo is on the Olympic programme.
Open water swimming
Open water swimming
Open water swimming covers distances longer than 200 metres in natural water. The official distances are 5, 10 and 25 kilometres, and marathons of up to 150 km are also known.
Along the course swimmers may change strokes and take on food while staying afloat without support. In Azerbaijan the discipline is represented by mass events on the Caspian Sea and the Kura river.