Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Swimming
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Pictogram for swimming at the 2008 Games
VenueBeijing National Aquatics Centre (pool)
Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park (open water)
Dates9–17 August 2008 (pool)
20–21 August 2008 (open water)
Competitors1,026 from 162 nations
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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.

  1. ^ "Olympedia – Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  2. ^ "BBC 2008 Olympic Coverage: Swimming". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ "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.
  5. ^ a b "Phelps wins historic eighth gold". BBC Sport. 17 August 2008. Retrieved 30 June 2013.