How does swimming as a sport differ from other aquatic activities like diving or water polo?

Swimming, diving, and water polo are distinct aquatic activities with different focuses and rules. Swimming is a competitive sport where the primary goal is to complete a race distance in the shortest time, with different strokes like freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly. Diving emphasizes precision and grace, with athletes performing acrobatic jumps and twists before entering the water with minimal splash. Water polo combines swimming with team sports elements, where two teams of seven players each aim to score goals by throwing a ball into the opponent’s net while swimming and defending.