The Trudgeon stroke, marked by a double arm movement over the water, a scissor kick and the head held above the surface, is attributed to English swimmer Jack Trudgeon. In one of his few interviews, he said he learned the style from Payaguá Indigenous people during his childhood in Asunción. The connection was later investigated by Gary Osmond, a professor of sports history at the University of Queensland in Australia.
The story unfolded during Paraguay’s industrial transformation under President Carlos Antonio López. John Trudgeon, Jack’s father, arrived in the country on December 31, 1859, among about 200 English technicians hired by the London company Blyth & Company to work at the arsenal and shipyard on the banks of the Paraguay River. Jack was born in 1852 and, in May 1862, at age 10, was already listed on payroll records as his father’s assistant in the construction of the arsenal.
In his free time, the boy played in the water with Payaguá children. It is in this context that the account places the origins of the technique that would later bear his name; there is no record of a specific teaching scene. The version also rests on a statement by the swimmer himself and on Osmond’s research, although accounts of Trudgeon’s life are fragmentary and he left no known writings.
The war worsened the family’s difficulties. John died of diarrhea in Asunción on December 24, 1866, according to English architect Alonzo Taylor. Ann, Jack’s mother, left Paraguay in September 1867 aboard the British gunboat Doterel, along with other widows and their children, but died of dysentery at age 64 in February 1868, shortly after reaching London. Jack remained in the country, listed among the arsenal’s mechanics, until he was evacuated from Angostura in November 1868 aboard the British ship H.M.S. Baliza.
Back in England, Trudgeon rose to prominence just as swimming was becoming popular as a recreational and sporting activity, driven by the construction of London’s first municipal pools and the proliferation of competitive strokes. In August 1873, he made his debut at Lambeth Baths and won a 160-yard race, about 146 meters, among 100 competitors.
Versatile, he competed over various distances. In 1874, he won the 600-yard race that determined the captain of the Alliance Swimming Club and repeated the feat in each of the following three years. In 1875, he won a 1,000-yard race, became English amateur champion over 100 yards — a title he also won in 1876 — and received the Ashbury Gold Medal after winning a mile race on the River Thames. In 1878, he won the contest for captain of the newly established East London Swimming Club.
The unusual stroke spread across England and later internationally. There is no information about Trudgeon between 1879 and 1893, an interval possibly related to family and professional commitments. When he returned to competition in the 1890s, the style bearing his surname was already common.