| Swimming at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad | |
|---|---|
 Pictogram for swimming at the 2008 Games | |
| Venue | Beijing National Aquatics Centre (pool) Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park (open water) |
| Dates | 9–17 August 2008 (pool) 20–21 August 2008 (open water) |
| Competitors | 1,026 from 162 nations |
| Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Qualification | ||
| Freestyle | ||
| 50 m | men | women |
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| 800 m | women | |
| 1500 m | men | |
| Backstroke | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| Breaststroke | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| Butterfly | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| Individual medley | ||
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| Freestyle relay | ||
| 4 × 100 m | men | women |
| 4 × 200 m | men | women |
| Medley relay | ||
| 4 × 100 m | men | women |
| Marathon | ||
| 10 km | men | women |
The swimming competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place from 9 to 17 August 2008 at the Beijing National Aquatics Centre.[1] The newly introduced open water marathon events (10 km) were held on 20 and 21 August 2008 at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park.[2]
Swimming featured 34 events (17 male, 17 female), including two 10 km open-water marathons. The remaining 32 were contested in a 50 m long course pool within the Olympic Park.
The United States claimed a total of 31 medals (12 golds, 9 silver, and 10 bronze) in the leaderboard to maintain its standings as the most successful nation in swimming.[3] A stellar performance in the pool also made an Olympic history for Michael Phelps, who captured eight gold medals to break Mark Spitz's 1972 record, a total of seven, at a single Games.[4][5] Despite the male swimmers failing to attain a single gold in swimming, Australia managed to repeat a second-place effort on its third consecutive Olympics with 20 medals (six golds, six silver, and eight bronze).[3] Meanwhile, Great Britain finished third with a total of six medals by the benefit of a sterling long-distance freestyle double from Rebecca Adlington.[5]
A total of 25 world records and 65 Olympic records were set during the competition.
- ^ "Olympedia – Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
- ^ "BBC 2008 Olympic Coverage: Swimming". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
- ^ a b Staff (18 August 2008). "Recap: Phelps eight golds more than any other country". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Archived from the original on 5 January 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
- ^ "Phelps claims Olympic-record eighth gold medal with relay win". Sports Illustrated. CNN. 17 August 2008. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2008.
- ^ a b "Phelps wins historic eighth gold". BBC Sport. 17 August 2008. Retrieved 30 June 2013.