Invention of Swimming Goggles

Goggles have become a must for any serious swimmer, but it wasn't always that way. There are still many swimmers who remember swimming laps without goggles. Tears, eye irritation and foggy vision were just things swimmers learned to live with. Modern goggles protect swimmers' eyes from chlorine, salt water and harmful bacteria, and help them see clearly both underwater and outside the pool after a long workout.

  1. Ancient Goggles

    • Persian pearl divers invented the first known goggles in the 14th century. The Persians used the polished outer layer of tortoise shells to make windows in waterproof material. Artwork dating to the 16th century depicts Venetian coral divers wearing goggles. After the Venetians, goggles disappeared from the Western Hemisphere for 300 years. Meanwhile, Polynesian spear fishermen developed their own bamboo goggles. The Polynesian goggles had no lenses, but trapped air when pointed straight down, which allowed the fishermen to see under water.

    Channel Swimmers

    • In 1911, Thomas Burgess became the first competitive swimmer to use goggles when he wore a pair of motorcycle goggles to cross the English Channel. The goggles weren't waterproof, but since Burgess swam breaststroke, they served to protect his eyes from waves and spray. Fifteen years later, Gertrude Ederle broke the (men's) Channel record by two hours, becoming the first woman to swim the Channel and the first person (male or female) to swim the front crawl the whole way. What made her swim possible were the motorcycle goggles she waterproofed with a paraffin seal. By the time Florence Chadwick began raising the bar for women's open water swimming in the 1950s, large double-lensed goggles were commonplace among open water swimmers. Pool swimmers, however, still hadn't adopted goggles.

    Skin Divers

    • In the 1930s, skin diving was becoming a popular sport, and with it came a market for goggles. To protect his eyes from salt water, American pilot and writer Guy Gilpatric created goggles similar to Ederle's by adding window putty to a pair of aviator goggles. Divers continued rolling out new goggle technology, but no diving goggles were suitable for competitive swimming yet.

    Goggles for Pool Competition

    • Pool swimmers started training in goggles in the 1960s, but the technology still hadn't been perfected. Early swimming goggles fell off during flip turns and starts, and they didn't fit some faces at all. By the 1970 Commonwealth Games, goggle technology had developed enough for Britain's David Wilkie to be the first swimmer to use goggles in international competition. Goggles weren't allowed in Olympic competition for another two years.

    Advances Made Possible by Goggles

    • Goggles allowed swimmers to execute faster, more precise flip turns. They also made it possible for swimmers to spend more time training. Before goggles took off, workouts rarely exceeded 4000 meters. Now that swimmers could spend more time in the pool without irritating their eyes, they got faster. In 1964, the Olympic gold medal time in the men's 1500 meters was 17:01. Once goggles had become mainstream, the winning time dropped to 15:58 in 1972. In 1976, it dropped another minute to 15:02. Swimmers became 13 percent faster in twelve years thanks entirely to goggles.