The hot weather makes going for a swim a very attractive pastime. Maybe it's that nearly 12% of Australian houses have pools in the garden. Perhaps it's the practice we get in the sea when being chased by a shark. Or it could just be a byproduct of having something like 7000 beaches over 26,735 kilometres of coastline.
Rich, affluent country, great climate for summer sports, most of the population lives near the coast, and a very sports mad. Of course we are going to have lots of pools, and lots of people who spend a lot of time in the water, which inevitable means lots of sporting success in swimming.
With over 10,000 beaches, Australia is an aquatic playground. Whether you are coming for a swim, snorkel or a surf, you can experience incredible spots in every corner of the country.
The popularity of sport in Australia can partly be attributed to a warm climate that encourages people to get outdoors and be active. Sport also enables well-loved national values like 'mateship', 'having a go' and 'egalitarianism' (the assumption that that all people are equal), to be played out.
Australia is known for its excellence in swimming, leading the world with an impressive record at the Olympic Games. The nation has a deep history of success and achievement in this sport, with many iconic athletes entering our collective consciousness through their repeated successes.
What is this? Australia is internationally renowned for cricket, and the Australian Men's Cricket Team has a higher percentage of successful matches than any other international team. However, although Australia is particularly good at cricket, Australians also love rugby, netball, swimming and surfing and more.
But it's India that takes the crown as the most recent nation to fall in love with the varied landscapes of Australia, with an impressive 15.4 per cent increase in travellers.
Golf, for example, is undoubtedly one of the least popular sports in Australia. Around 67% of citizens agreeing that they find it pretty boring. Another example of a less interesting sport is cycling.
The Australian Sports Commission's official AusPlay survey has shown that soccer is once again the most popular sport to play in the country. The 'beautiful game' has 1,154,153 participants, followed by golf (742,231), Aussie Rules (699,940) and tennis (648,210).
The annual AusPlay sport survey shows walking and going to the gym were the most popular physical activities for adults but swimming was more popular for women (1.83 million) than men (1.43 million).
Swimming is one of the most popular physical activities undertaken by Australians, but a large number of Australians are poor swimmers or cannot swim at all. Recent research for for Royal Life Saving Australia found one in four adults are either weak swimmers or can't swim.
Swimming is Australia's most successful Olympic and Paralympic sport, generating almost 50% of Australia's medals. Nine of Australia's top 10 Olympic medal winners are swimmers.
Frequently asked questions about tap water in Australia
Yes, tap water in Australia is generally safe to drink.
Among the most obvious are the words people use for the same thing, such as swimwear – preferences for “togs”, “swimmers”, “cossie” or “bathers” vary markedly across the states and territories.
So why do so many of us steer clear of the water, and how can we change it? According to USA Swimming, in 2017, 66% of Asian Americans did not know how to swim compared to 40% of white Americans.
Lake Victoria, Tanzania and Uganda
Lake Victoria is referred to as the "world's most dangerous lake." Don't let the calm water fool you; more than 5,000 people die in the waters every year.
Australia is known for many things, including swathes of tropical beaches, marine reserves, Aboriginal culture, cute koalas, rolling wine country, and lush rainforests.
Cricket is considered to be Australia's national sport.
Swimming remains the most popular sport in Australia for your girls (and boys for that matter). With our extensive coastline and warm weather, Australian's love nothing more than a swim on a hot summer's days.
According to Sports Virsa, the top 10 hardest sports in the world to play in 2022 are as follows: Boxing (hardest), American football, mixed martial arts, ice hockey, gymnastics, basketball, soccer, wrestling, rugby, and water polo.
Touch Football is one of the only sports that was invented in Australia. It's a sport that's been formally recognised for more than 50 years. The sport's Golden Jubilee was celebrated in 2018.
Unicycle Hockey, Chess Boxing, Indoor Kabaddi least popular sports among the fans around the world.
Australia ranks amongst the highest in the world for quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights.
On a mean wealth basis, Australia was the fourth-richest country in 2021 behind Switzerland, the US and Hong Kong.
The United Nations process the annual World Happiness Report to understand what happiness is and how it affects our lives, cultures and economy. Australia is ranked under 12, Canada 15 and the United States is 16th and a popular destination for most South Africans, the United Kingdom is 17th.