Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 10 km events being held on August 20 and 21. All swimming events (except the two marathon 10 km events) will take place at the Beijing National Aquatics Centre.

Contents

[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). The following events will be contested from August 9 to 21, 2008:[1]

  • Freestyle: 50 m, 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 800 m (women), 1500 m (men), 4×100 m Relay, 4×200 m Relay, Marathon 10 km
  • Backstroke: 100 m, 200 m
  • Breaststroke: 100 m, 200 m
  • Butterfly: 100 m, 200 m
  • Medley: 200 m Individual, 400 m Individual, 4×100 m Relay

[edit] Qualifying Criteria

A National Olympic Committee (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:[2]

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

Main article: Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Relay Qualification

[edit] Marathon Swimming

A nation may qualify up to two marathon swimmers per event.[3]

[edit] Men's 10km

Event Location Date Vacancies Qualified
FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships Flag of Spain Seville May 3-4, 2008 10 Flag of Russia Vladimir Dyatchin
Flag of the United Kingdom David Davies
Flag of Germany Thomas Lurz
Flag of the Netherlands Maarten van der Weijden
Flag of Russia Evgeny Drattsev
Flag of Australia Ky Hurst
Flag of the United States Mark Warkentin
Flag of Italy Valerio Cleri
Flag of Greece Gianniotis Spridon
Flag of Belgium Brian Ryckeman
Continental Representation* Flag of Spain Seville May 3-4, 2008 5** Flag of France Gilles Rondy
Flag of Mexico Luis Escobar
Flag of Egypt Mohamed El Zanaty
Flag of Syria Saleh Mohammad
Host Nation - - 1 Flag of the People's Republic of China China
FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier Flag of the People's Republic of China Beijing May 31 - Jun 1, 2008 9 Flag of Bulgaria Petar Stoychev
Flag of Hungary Csaba Gercsak
Flag of the Czech Republic Rostislav Vitek
Flag of South Africa Chad Ho
Flag of Venezuela Erwin Maldonado
Flag of Brazil Allan Do Carmo
Flag of Argentina Damian Blaum
Flag of Israel Daniel Katzir
Flag of Spain Jose Francisco Hervas
Flag of Portugal Arseniy Lavrentyev**
TOTAL 25

* The first eligible finisher from each of the five Continents at World Championship.
** Since Australia was the only Oceanian country at the championships, Oceania did not receive any continental berth and the place redistributed at the FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier.

[edit] Women's 10km

Event Location Date Vacancies Qualified
FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships Flag of Spain Seville May 3-4, 2008 10 Flag of Russia Larisa Ilchenko
Flag of the United Kingdom Cassandra Patten
Flag of Spain Yurema Requena
Flag of South Africa Natalie Du Toit
Flag of the Czech Republic Jana Pechanova
Flag of Brazil Poliana Okimoto
Flag of Germany Angela Maurer
Flag of the United Kingdom Keri Anne Payne
Flag of France Aurelie Muller
Flag of Brazil Ana Marcela Cunha
Continental Representation* Flag of Spain Seville May 3-4, 2008 5** Flag of the Netherlands Edith van Dijk
Flag of the People's Republic of China Fang Yanqiao
Flag of Venezuela Andreina Pinto
Flag of Australia Melissa Gorman
Host Nation - - 1***
FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier Flag of the People's Republic of China Beijing May 31 - Jun 1, 2008 9 Flag of the United States Chloe Sutton
Flag of Italy Martina Grimaldi
Flag of Greece Marianna Lymperta
Flag of Ukraine Nataliya Samorodina
Flag of Chile Kristel Kobrich
Flag of Mexico Imelda Martinez
Flag of Sweden Eva Berglund
Flag of Slovenia Teja Zupan
Flag of Argentina Antonella Bogarin
Flag of Israel Olga Beresneva**
Flag of Portugal Daniela Inacio***
TOTAL 25

* The first eligible finisher from each of the five Continents at World Championship.
**Since South Africa was the only African country at the championships, Africa did not receive any continental berth and the place redistributed at the FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier.
***China qualified 1 athlete through the World Championships, then this slot added to FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier.

[edit] National Team Trials

See 2008 Olympic Swimming National Trials

[edit] Competition Schedule

[edit] Saturday, August 9, 2008

Local Time Event Stage
18:30 400 m Individual Medley Men Heats
100 m Butterfly Women Heats
400 m Freestyle Men Heats
400 m Individual Medley Women Heats
100 m Breaststroke Men Heats
4×100 m Freestyle Relay Women Heats

[edit] Sunday, August 10, 2008

Local Time Event Stage
10:00-11:40 400 m Individual Medley Men Finals
100 m Butterfly Women Semifinals
400 m Freestyle Men Finals
400 m Individual Medley Women Finals
100 m Breaststroke Men Semifinals
4×100 m Freestyle Relay Women Finals
18:30 100 m Backstroke Women Heats
200 m Freestyle Men Heats
100 m Breaststroke Women Heats
100 m Backstroke Men Heats
400 m Freestyle Women Heats
4×100 m Freestyle Relay Men Heats

[edit] Monday, August 11, 2008

Local Time Event Stage
10:00-11:55 100 m Backstroke Women Semifinals
200 m Freestyle Men Semifinals
100 m Butterfly Women Finals
100 m Breaststroke Men Finals
100 m Breaststroke Women Semifinals
100 m Backstroke Men Semifinals
400 m Freestyle Women Finals
4×100 m Freestyle Relay Men Finals
18:30 200 m Freestyle Women Heats
200 m Butterfly Men Heats
200 m Individual Medley Women Heats

[edit] Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Local Time Event Stage
10:00-11:45 200 m Freestyle Women Semifinals
200 m Freestyle Men Finals
100 m Backstroke Women Finals
100 m Backstroke Men Finals
100 m Breaststroke Women Finals
200 m Butterfly Men Semifinals
200 m Individual Medley Women Semifinals
18:30 100 m Freestyle Men Heats
200 m Butterfly Women Heats
200 m Breaststroke Men Heats
4×200 m Freestyle Relay Men Heats

[edit] Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Local Time Event Stage
10:00-11:50 100 m Freestyle Men Semifinals
200 m Freestyle Women Finals
200 m Butterfly Men Finals
200 m Butterfly Women Semifinals
200 m Breaststroke Men Semifinals
200 m Individual Medley Women Finals
4×200 m Freestyle Relay Men Finals
18:30 100 m Freestyle Women Heats
200 m Backstroke Men Heats
200 m Breaststroke Women Heats
200 m Individual Medley Men Heats
4×200 m Freestyle Relay Women Heats

[edit] Thursday, August 14, 2008

Local Time Event Stage
10:00-12:00 200 m Breaststroke Men Finals
100 m Freestyle Women Semifinals
200 m Backstroke Men Semifinals
200 m Butterfly Women Finals
100 m Freestyle Men Finals
200 m Breaststroke Women Semifinals
200 m Individual Medley Men Semifinals
4×200 m Freestyle Relay Women Finals
18:30 50 m Freestyle Men Heats
800 m Freestyle Women Heats
100 m Butterfly Men Heats
200 m Backstroke Women Heats

[edit] Friday, August 15, 2008

Local Time Event Stage
10:00-12:00 50 m Freestyle Men Semifinals
200 m Breaststroke Women Finals
200 m Backstroke Men Finals
200 m Backstroke Women Semifinals
200 m Individual Medley Men Finals
100 m Freestyle Women Finals
100 m Butterfly Men Semifinals
18:30 50 m Freestyle Women Heats
1500 m Freestyle Men Heats
4×100 m Medley Relay Women Heats
4×100 m Medley Relay Men Heats

[edit] Saturday, August 16, 2008

Local Time Event Stage
10:00-11:20 200 m Backstroke Women Finals
100 m Butterfly Men Finals
800 m Freestyle Women Finals
50 m Freestyle Men Finals
50 m Freestyle Women Semifinals

[edit] Sunday, August 17, 2008

Local Time Event Stage
10:00-11:20 50 m Freestyle Women Finals
1500 m Freestyle Men Finals
4×100 m Medley Relay Women Finals
4×100 m Medley Relay Men Finals

[edit] Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Local Time Event
9:00-12:00 Marathon 10km Women

[edit] Thursday, August 21, 2008

Local Time Event
9:00-12:00 Marathon 10km Men

[edit] Timezones

Sydney Beijing Paris London New York Chicago San Francisco
Finals 12:00 10:00 4:00 3:00 22:00 21:00 19:00
Heats 20:30 18:30 12:30 11:30 6:30 5:30 3:30

[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 American media rights for the Olympic Games since 2000, in order to allow American audiences to view the finals in prime-time.

This is unprecedented 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] External links


[edit] References

  1. ^ Olympic Swimming Schedule. FINA. Retrieved on 2008-04-23.
  2. ^ Olympic Qualifying Procedures for Swimming. FINA. Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
  3. ^ Olympic Swimming Qualifying Procedures. FINA. Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
v • d • e
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
v • d • e
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
List of medalists (men, women) • List of Olympic records