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Swimming is a sport that boasts a rich history at the modern Olympic Games, having featured at every edition since Athens 1896.
The inaugural Games saw competitions only in men’s freestyle swimming. The backstroke events were added at Paris 1900, breaststroke at St. Louis 1904 and butterfly at Melbourne 1956.
All four swimming strokes, along with the medley, are part of the programme at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Having been contested in open water bodies for the first three Olympic Games, swimming events were held in the swimming pool for the first time at London 1908, a tradition that continues to this day.
Women’s swimming events were added to the Olympic programme at Stockholm 1912.
Overall, swimmers from the United States have dominated the Olympic pool and boast 580 Olympic medals, including 256 golds. Australia are second with a tally of 221 medals, including 71 golds.
USA’s Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time. With 23 gold medals, three silvers and two bronzes, Phelps has won more than twice as many golds as his nearest rival and compatriot Mark Spitz, a nine-time Olympic gold medallist.
A total of 854 athletes – 463 male and 391 female – from 187 countries, the Individual Neutral Athletes and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team, will compete at the Paris 2024 swimming events from July 27 to August 4 at the Paris La Defense Arena.
Each country could send at least two athletes to Paris through their NOC. Five countries – Dominica, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Vanuatu – will make their Olympic swimming debuts at Paris 2024.
Swimming at the Paris 2024 Olympics consists of individual events, team relay events (men and women separately) and a 4x100m medley relay for mixed teams. There are 35 events in total (17 women's, 17 men's and one mixed event). Each offers its own set of gold, silver and bronze medals.
Since the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the women’s and men’s programmes have been identical.
Freestyle (men and women)
Backstroke (men and women)
Breaststroke (men and women)
Butterfly (men and women)
Individual medley (men and women)
Team (men and women)
Mixed event
Swimming at the Paris 2024 Olympics will be held per the rules of the World Aquatics Constitution and Rules and the Olympic Charter.
The criteria for ranking in any swimming event is the same. The swimmer who completes the course legally in the least amount of time finishes first and the rest are ordered according to their timings - quickest to slowest.
Individual events of 50m, 100m and 200m consist of heats, semi-finals and finals. The top 16 swimmers from the heats will advance to the semi-finals and the top eight from the semis will advance from the finals, where medals will be decided.
Individual events of 400m, 800m, 1500m and the team relay events consist of two phases - heats and finals. The top eight athletes or teams will advance from the heats to the final.
For all single-gender relay events, a team consists of four athletes. For the mixed relay event, a team consists of two men and two women.
Heats for all events take place in morning sessions. Semi-finals, finals and victory ceremonies take place in evening sessions.
Tiebreak rules
For individual events of 200m or less, ties for the last qualification or reserve position (from heats and semi-finals) may be broken by swim-offs. In longer distance events and relays, if athletes or teams are tied for the last qualification place, all tied athletes or teams will take part in the final (maximum of 10 lanes). If more than three athletes or teams are tied for the last qualification place, a swim-off may be held. There are no other tie-breaking rules for ranking.
Penalties/disqualification rules
The most common reasons for individual disqualification in swimming are false starts and illegal touches or kicks in breaststroke or butterfly.
In relays, a common infraction is an early start during the exchange as detected by the automatic judging equipment. Video technology was initially introduced to confirm or overturn infraction reports made from the pool deck. It is now also used to initiate infraction reports.
Protests/appeals
Protests may be filed against decisions taken by referees. Protests are accepted up to 30 minutes after the publication of the phase results of the event concerned or in the case of a video review, up to 30 minutes after the video review has taken place. The jury of appeal is the World Aquatics Bureau.
Some events are conducted at the Swimming World Championships that are not in the Olympics. These are 50m butterfly, 50m breaststroke and 50m backstroke for men and women, and a mixed 4x100m freestyle relay.
The Olympic-sized swimming pools are 50-metre long and 25-metre wide with 10 lanes. As per World Aquatics, lanes shall be 2.5 metres wide with two spaces of 2.5 metres wide outside of lanes 1 and 8. The outside lanes are left empty to minimise the disadvantage caused by waves bouncing back off the side walls. There must be a rope separating each lane.
The 50-metre pool is typically referred to as a long-course swimming pool, distinguishing it from short course which applies to competitions in pools that are 25 metres in length.
Paris La Defense Arena will be the venue for swimming events for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The swimming pool at the venue is an Olympic-size 50-metre pool with 10 lanes. Swimming events will be held in the eight central lanes. Lanes zero and nine may also be used in the case of a tie.
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