Whether or not these people were swimming does not matter; their mere presence in the record attempt area counts towards overall numbers.
Of those, at least 81 were kids from the Colorado Parks & Recreation Association summer program and the Hyland Hills Park & Recreation district; 25 lifeguards were on hand too, either teaching the lessons or nearby to supervise. Some lifeguards even pushed around Chick-Fil-A's cow mascots in inner tubes. (The two Denver North-area Chick-Fil-A's, on 120th and Washington Street and 104th and Federal Boulevard sponsored the event.)
Water World also participated during last year's record-breaking attempt, when 3,971 swimmers at 73 venues in the United States, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico and South Korea took swimming lessons on June 3, 2010.
Water world will be hosting another event of epic proportions next week, the 15th Annual Belly Flop Splashdown, on Thursday, June 23, at 10:15 a.m. During the contest, Colorado College students will be belly flopping their way to $4,500 in scholarship prizes.
Here are some photos from the world's largest swimming lesson today at Water World: