Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics

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Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics will be held over a sixteen day period from August 9 to August 21, with the conventional events ending on August 16 and the new marathon 10km events being held on August 20 and 21. All swimming events (except the two marathon 10km events) will take place at the Beijing National Aquatics Centre.

1 Events
2 Qualifying Criteria
3 Morning Finals
4 US Olympic Trials
5 Australian Olympic Trials

[edit] Events

The swimming program for 2008 has been expanded from 2004, with the addition of the 10 km marathon open water swimming events, bringing the total number of events to 34 (17 each for men and women).

Freestyle: 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m (women), 1500m (men), 4×100m relay, 4×200m relay, 10km marathon
Backstroke: 100m, 200m
Breaststroke: 100m, 200m
Butterfly: 100m, 200m
Medley: 200m individual, 400m individual, 4×100m relay

[edit] Qualifying Criteria

An NOC may enter up to 2 qualified athletes in each individual event if both meet the A standard, or 1 athlete per event if they meet the B standard. An NOC may also enter a maximum of 1 qualified relay team per event. NOCs may enter swimmers regardless of time (1 swimmer per sex) if they have no swimmers meeting qualifying B standard. The qualifying time standards must be obtained in Continental Championships, National Olympic Trials or International Competitions approved by FINA in the period March 15, 2007 to July 15, 2008.

FINA Qualifying Standards are as follows:

Events	Men's A	Men's B	Women's A	Women's B
50m Freestyle	00:22.35	00:23.13	00:25.43	00:26.32
100m Freestyle	00:49.23	00:50.95	00:55.24	00:57.17
200m Freestyle	01:48.72	01:52.53	01:59.29	02:03.47
400m Freestyle	03:49.96	03:58.01	04:11.26	04:20.05
800m Freestyle	-	-	08:35.98	08:54.04
1500m Freestyle	15:13.16	15:45.12	-	-
100m Backstroke	00:55.14	00:57.07	01:01.70	01:03.86
200m Backstroke	01:59.72	02:03.91	02:12.73	02:17.38
100m Breaststroke	01:01.57	01:03.72	01:09.01	01:11.43
200m Breaststroke	02:13.69	02:18.37	02:28.21	02:33.40
100m Butterfly	00:52.86	00:54.71	00:59.35	01:01.43
200m Butterfly	01:57.67	02:01.79	02:10.84	02:15.42
200m Individual Medley	02:01.40	02:05.65	02:15.27	02:19.97
400m Individual Medley	04:18.40	04:27.44	04:45.08	04:55.06

In relay competitions, the top 12 finishers per event at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships shall be qualified. The 4 other teams will be selected by FINA based on the results in the qualifying period.

For 10km Marathon events the qualifying criteria will be as follows (this applies for both men and women):

Top 10 finishers at the FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships 2008 in the 10km event (10)
The first eligible finisher outside the top 10 at the FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships 2008 in the 10km event from each continent (5)
One swimmer from the Host nation (People's Republic of China) if not qualified as mentioned above (0 or 1)
Remaining places will be filled at the FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier (9 or 10)

[edit] Morning Finals

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on October 26th, 2006 that the swimming finals for the 2008 games will be held in the morning. This is in response to a direct request by NBC, who has paid $3.55 billion for the exclusive North American media rights for the Olympic Games since 2000, in order to allow North American audiences to view the finals in prime-time.

This is unprecendented in swimming, as finals are always swum at night and any change would mean a drastic change of habits for athletes who have been racing at night their whole lives. Response to the announcement from athletes has so far been mixed. While racing in the morning would mean a new strategy, the decision allows athletes almost two years to adapt to the new schedule, and all swimmers would be affected equally. Australia, home to many of the world's best swimmers, is unhappy with the decision by the IOC, as it would have a negative effect on viewing figures both in Europe and Australia, and claims that sporting schedules shouldn't be the decision of a broadcasting network.

[edit] US Olympic Trials

The US Olympic Trials can be confusing to someone trying to figure out where it fits on the competition levels. It is held only once every 4 years. Since this meet offers such a coveted prize (a spot on the US Olympic Team) it never fails to attract the absolute fastest in the sport of swimming in the United States. Because of this, the entry time standards are even faster than the National Championships. However, even though this is a faster meet and would actually offer a truer indication of who is the fastest swimmer in the United States, the winner of each event in this meet is not officially considered a National Champion and this meet is NOT held in place of the National Championships every 4 years. This means that the National Championships meet held shortly after the Olympic Trials are very much slower than normal. Unlike all other US Swimming meets, United States citizenship is required to attend this meet.

2008 USA Olympic Team Trials – Swimming Location: Omaha, Nebraska Date / Time: 6/30/2008 Qwest Center Omaha 08 Trials

Information from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Swimming" and "http://www.usaswimming.org"

[edit] Australian Olympic Trials

Friday 7th December 2007 10km Open Water Qualifying in Sydney

Events at the 2008 Summer Olympics (Beijing)

Archery • Athletics • Badminton • Baseball • Basketball • Boxing • Canoeing • Cycling • Diving • Equestrian • Fencing • Football • Gymnastics • Handball • Hockey • Judo • Modern pentathlon • Rowing • Sailing • Shooting • Softball • Swimming • Synchronized swimming • Table tennis • Taekwondo • Tennis • Triathlon • Volleyball • Water polo • Weightlifting • Wrestling

Swimming at the Summer Olympics
1896 • 1900 • 1904 • 1908 • 1912 • 1920 • 1924 • 1928 • 1932 • 1936 • 1948 • 1952 • 1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1996 • 2000 • 2004 • 2008 See also: List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men) and List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)