How many swimmers participated in the summer olympic games in beijing

Often asked: How many swimmers participated in the summer beijing olympics?

Participating nations. A total of 1,026 swimmers (571 men and 455 women) from 162 nations would compete in swimming events at these Olympic Games.

How many people competed in swimming at the Olympics?

How many swimmers compete in the Olympics?

Men and women now compete in 16 events, involving four different strokes across a range of distances. Freestyle races cover 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1,500m, 10,000m; the 800m is for women only and the 1,500m for men only. The butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke races each cover 100m and 200m.

What’s the longest Olympic swimming race?

The longest swimming race. A test of endurance for up to two hours.

Who were the best Olympic swimmers?

Top 10 Swimmers of All Time

Which country has the most Olympic gold medal in swimming?

Olympic Medal Count 2012: Dominance in Swimming Ensured USA Would Finish on Top

What is the shortest Olympic swimming race?

Who is fastest swimmer in the world?

Olympic gold-medalist Michael Phelps can swim the 200-meter freestyle in approximately 1.42 minutes, which equates to a speed of about 4.7 mph (miles per hour) or 7.6 km/h (kilometers per hour). A sailfish could cover 200 meters in about 10 seconds!

How fast can Michael Phelps swim a 50?

When we convert the world record time of 20.26 seconds for the 50 meter freestyle to miles per hour, we arrive at a relatively staggering average pace of 5.52 mph.

Why do swimmers hate running?

Swimmers train their breathing to be quick, short, and spaced out. Swimmers, therefore, receive less oxygen while exercising, and is the reason many people feel more exhausted after swimming for 30 minutes as compared to running for 30 minutes. These two breathing techniques are also why it’s hard for swimmers to run.

Who is the most famous female swimmer?

Katie Ledecky is the most decorated female swimmer with six awards, followed by Evans, who won five consecutive awards from 1987 to 1991. Tracy Caulkins won four times in the early-1980s, while Natalie Coughlin, Katie Hoff and Jenny Thompson all won three times.

Who is the fastest 11 year old swimmer?

11-year-old Clark Kent is breaking swimming records that Michael Phelps used to hold.

Who is the famous Olympic swimmer?

Now considered the most famous Olympic swimmer of all time, Phelps is also the long course world record holder for the 100-meter butterfly, 200-meter butterfly, and 400-meter individual medley.

Is swim the hardest sport?

In the sports world it’s often a heated debate. While swimming may not be the hardest, it definitely is one of the hardest sports. While every sport is hard, each with its own challenges; consider these four points and how they make swimming extraordinarily unique from dry land sports.

Which country has the best swimmers in the world?

How old was the youngest Olympic swimmer to win a title?

Fourteen years and six days

Kyoko Iwasaki of Japan won the 200m breaststroke Olympic gold medal in Barcelona, making her, at the age of 14 years and 6 days, the youngest swimmer ever to claim an Olympic title.

What is the oldest stroke?

Some people refer to breaststroke as the “frog” stroke, as the arms and legs move somewhat like a frog swimming in the water. The stroke itself is the slowest of any competitive strokes and is thought to be the oldest of all swimming strokes.

Swimming at the Summer Olympics

Swimming has been a sport at every modern Summer Olympics. It has been open to women since 1912. Along with track & field athletics and gymnastics it is one of the most popular spectator sports at the Games and the one with the largest number of events.

Contents

Men’s events

Women’s events

Olympic records

The International Olympic Committee recognise the best performances in all 32 current pool-based swimming events at the Games as Olympic records.

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	214	155	120	489
2	Australia (AUS)	56	54	58	168
3	East Germany (GDR)	38	32	22	92
4	Hungary (HUN)	23	23	17	63
5	Japan (JPN)	20	21	21	62
6	Netherlands (NED)	17	17	18	52
7	Great Britain (GBR)	15	21	28	64
8	Germany (GER)	13	18	28	59
9	Soviet Union (URS)	12	21	26	59
10	Sweden (SWE)	8	14	13	35
11	China (CHN)	7	15	5	27
12	Canada (CAN)	7	13	20	40
13	Unified Team (EUN)	6	3	1	10
14	Russia (RUS)	5	5	5	15
15	France (FRA)	4	11	18	33
16	Ukraine (UKR)	4	5	1	10
17	Italy (ITA)	4	4	9	17
18	South Africa (RSA)	4	2	6	12
19	West Germany (FRG)	3	5	14	22
20	Romania (ROU)	3	2	4	9
21	Ireland (IRL)	3	0	1	4
22	Denmark (DEN)	2	5	5	12
23	Zimbabwe (ZIM)	2	4	1	7
24	Australasia (ANZ)	2	3	3	8
25	New Zealand (NZL)	2	1	3	6
26	Austria (AUT)	1	6	4	11
27	Germany (EUA)	1	5	6	12
28	Brazil (BRA)	1	3	7	11
29	Greece (GRE)	1	3	3	7
30	Poland (POL)	1	3	2	6
31	Belgium (BEL)	1	1	2	4
	Costa Rica (CRC)	1	1	2	4
33	Argentina (ARG)	1	1	1	3
	Bulgaria (BUL)	1	1	1	3
35	South Korea (KOR)	1	1	0	2
	Yugoslavia (YUG)	1	1	0	2
37	Spain (ESP)	1	0	3	4
38	Suriname (SUR)	1	0	1	2
	Mexico (MEX)	1	0	1	2
40	Tunisia (TUN)	1	0	0	1
41	Slovakia (SVK)	0	2	0	2
42	Finland (FIN)	0	1	3	4
43	Cuba (CUB)	0	1	1	2
	Norway (NOR)	0	1	1	2
45	Croatia (CRO)	0	1	0	1
	Serbia (SRB)	0	1	0	1
	Slovenia (SLO)	0	1	0	1
48	Philippines (PHI)	0	0	2	2
49	Switzerland (SUI)	0	0	1	1
	Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)	0	0	1	1
	Venezuela (VEN)	0	0	1	1
Total		489	485	491	1465

Nations

Nation	96	00	04	08	12	20	24	28	32	36	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	96	00	04	08	Years
Argentina (ARG)	4	22
Australasia (ANZ)	5	9	2
Australia (AUS)	1	6	5	22
Austria (AUT)	2	3	1	1	8	25
Belgium (BEL)	1	7	5	12	6	24
Brazil (BRA)	2	25	19
Canada (CAN)	1	1	3	2	23
Czechoslovakia (TCH)	4	9	17
Denmark (DEN)	1	5	1	4	23
East Germany (GDR)	5
Estonia (EST)	1	4	1	4	6	9	6
Finland (FIN)	3	6	1	2	23
France (FRA)	47	4	3	13	20	24
Germany (GER)	6	4	5	17	13
Great Britain (GBR)	7	25	18	18	26	24	15	22	32	26	22	32	33	27	36	40	32	44	31	28	39	32	37	24	24
Greece (GRE)	15	1	1	22
Hungary (HUN)	1	1	2	10	8	6	25
Italy (ITA)	2	4	2	4	6	24
Japan (JPN)	2	6	19
Lithuania (LTU)	2	8	6	10	9	5 [ 3 ]
Luxembourg (LUX)	2	4	21
Netherlands (NED)	4	7	4	12	23
New Zealand (NZL)	1	1	20
Norway (NOR)	5	2	1
Portugal (POR)	1	22
Puerto Rico (PUR)	12	X	5	3	6	7	3	6	4
Russia (RUS)	4	6
South Africa (RSA)	1	1	16
Spain (ESP)	2	4	11	21	18	23	16	23	20
Sweden (SWE)	1	12	24	13	14	24	18	17	18	16	15	18	24
Switzerland (SUI)	4	2
Soviet Union (URS)	X	9
United States (USA)	1	2	25	8	7	22	26	51	X	43	44	40	44	48	43	43	25
Yugoslavia (YUG)	6	22
Nations	4	12	4	14	17	19	23	33	45	42	51	52	51	41	67	77	92
Swimmers	19	76	32	100	120	116	118	235	380	405	468	532	471	333	494	633	641
Year	96	00	04	08	12	20	24	28	32	36	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	96	00	04	08	26

Notable changes to the sport

Times have consistently dropped over the years due to better training techniques and to new developments in the sport.

In the first four Olympics, competitions were not held in pools, but rather in open water (1896, the Mediterranean Sea; 1900, the Seine; 1904, an artificial lake; 1906, the Mediterranean). The 1904 Olympics’ races were the only ones ever measured at yards, instead of the usual metres. A 100 metre pool was built for the 1908 Olympics and sat in the centre of the main stadium’s track and field oval. The 1912 Olympics, held in the Stockholm harbour, marked the beginning of electrical timing.

Male swimmers wore full body swimsuits up until the 1940s, which caused more drag in the water than their modern swim-wear counterparts. Also, over the years, pool designs have lessened the drag. Some design considerations allow for the reduction of swimming resistance making the pool faster. Namely, proper pool depth, elimination of waves, elimination of currents, increased lane width, energy absorbing racing lane lines and gutters, and the use of other innovative hydraulic, acoustic, illumination, and swimwear designs.

The 1924 Olympics were the first to use the standard 50 metre pool with marked lanes. In the freestyle, swimmers originally dove from the pool walls, but diving blocks were incorporated starting at the 1936 Summer Olympics. The flip-turn was developed by the 1950s. Swimming goggles were first allowed in 1976.

Women were first allowed the longer distance of 800 metres freestyle in 1968, which remains the longest distance for women. Up until then, women were considered to be too «delicate» to swim a race this long, even though the men had had the 1,500 metre freestyle from the very early years.

Both men and women were granted the 200 metre freestyle race in 1968, giving swimmers an intermediate distance race between 100 metres and 400 metres.

The medley relay races (4×100 metres) were not held for men or for women until 1960, but they have continued in every Olympiad since then.

English Online

The Olympic Games

Table of Contents

The Olympic Games are an international sports competition which are held every four years in a different city. Thousands of athletes from all over the world compete against each other in individual and team sports. Over 1 billion people watch the games on TV.

The first Olympic Games were held in Greece in 776 B.C. They were called the ancient games and lasted until the 4th century A.D. The modern games began in 1896, when the Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin revived the games to bring peace and friendship to the young people all over the world.

Today, there are summer and winter games. Up to 1994 both games were held in the same year, but now they are staged two years apart from each other.

Ceremonies and symbols

The Olympic rings were created in 1913 and represent the five continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Americas).

After each event, medals are given to the first three athletes. They receive gold, silver and bronze medals. Their flags are raised and the national anthem of the winner’s country is played.

Paavo Nurmi lights the Olympic flame at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki

The International Olympic Committee

The IOC is the organisation that governs the games. It decides which sports and events are held at the games. The IOC also selects the host city for the summer and winter games, at least seven years before they take place. Cities that want the games must show that

Host cities must build an Olympic village where all athletes live during the games.

Normally, each country decides for itself which sportsmen and –women are allowed to take part. Athletes must qualify for the games by winning or doing well in competitions before the Olympic Games start.

Athletes, who are sent to the games by their country must be a citizen of that country. For years, only amateurs were able to participate in the games, but today, most athletes are professionals, who earn their money through sport.

Most governments give their team money so that it can take part in the games.

The Ancient Games

When the Romans conquered Greece in 140 B.C. the games started to lose their religious meaning and in 393 the Roman emperor banned the event.

The Summer Games

The Summer Games are held during the summer season of the host country. They last for 16 days. Today, there are more than 270 events during the games. Over 15,000 athletes from 190 nations take part.

The next Summer Games will be held in London (2012).

The Winter Games

Politics and the Olympic Games

In 1968 two Black American runners protested against their government and raised their fists when the American national anthem was played.

Olympia today

The Olympic Games have become very successful over the past years. More and more people are able to watch them on TV and television stations are spending more money for the rights to broadcast the games. The IOC earns more money than ever before. With this money they help athletes in poorer countries.

Summer Olympic Games

Summer Olympic Games
The Olympic flame at Beijing during the 2008 Summer Olympics
Games
1896 • 1900 • 1904 • (1906) • 1908 • 1912 • 1916 • 1920 • 1924 • 1928 • 1932 • 1936 • 1940 • 1944 • 1948 • 1952 • 1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1996 • 2000 • 2004 • 2008 • 2012 • 2016 • 2020 • 2024 • 2028
Sports (details)
Archery • Athletics • Badminton • Basketball • Boxing • Canoeing • Cycling • Diving • Equestrian • Field hockey • Fencing • Football • Gymnastics • Handball • Judo • Modern pentathlon • Rowing • Sailing • Shooting • Swimming • Synchronized swimming • Table tennis • Taekwondo • Tennis • Triathlon • Volleyball • Water polo • Weightlifting • Wrestling

The Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad are an international multi-sport event, occurring every four years, organized by the International Olympic Committee. Medals are awarded in each event, with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, a tradition that started in 1904. The Winter Olympics were also created due to the success of the summer Olympics.

The olympics have increased from a 42-event competition with fewer than 250 male athletes to a 300-event sporting celebration with over 10,000 competitors from 205 nations. Organizers for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing expected approximately 10,500 athletes to take part in the 302 events on the program for the games. [ 1 ]

The United States has hosted four Summer Olympics Games, more than any other nation. The United Kingdom will have hosted three Summer Olympics Games when they return to the British capital in 2012, all of them have been (and will be) in London, making it the first city to hold the Summer Olympic Games three times. Australia, France, Germany and Greece have all hosted the Summer Olympic Games twice. Other countries that have hosted the summer Olympics are Belgium, Canada, Finland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, the Soviet Union and Sweden. China hosted the Summer Olympics for the first time in Beijing in 2008. In the 2016 Summer Olympics, Rio de Janeiro will host the first Summer Games in South America. Four cities have hosted two Summer Olympic Games: Los Angeles, London, Paris and Athens. Stockholm, Sweden, has hosted events at two Summer Olympic Games, having hosted the games in 1912 and the equestrian events at the 1956 Summer Olympics—which they are usually listed as jointly hosting. [ 2 ] Events at the summer Olympics have also been held in Hong Kong and the Netherlands (both represented by their own NOCs), with the equestrian events at the 2008 Summer Olympics being held in Hong Kong and two sailing races at the 1920 Summer Olympics being held in the Netherlands.

Five countries – Greece, Great Britain, France, Switzerland, and Australia (twice combined with New Zealand as Australasia) – have been represented at all Summer Olympic Games. The only country to have won at least one gold medal at every Summer Olympic Games is Great Britain, ranging from one gold in 1904, 1952 and 1996 to fifty-six golds in 1908.

Contents

Qualification

Qualification rules for each of the Olympic sports are set by the International Sports Federations (IFs) that governs that sport’s international competition. [ 3 ]

For individual sports, competitors typically qualify through attaining a certain place in a major international event or on the IF’s ranking list. National Olympic committees may enter a limited number of qualified competitors in each event, and the NOC decides which qualified competitors to select as representatives in each event if more have attained the benchmark than can be entered. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Many events provide for a certain number of wild card entries, given to athletes from developing nations. [ citation needed ]

Nations qualify teams for team sports through continental qualifying tournaments, in which each continental association is given a certain number of spots in the Olympic tournament. The host nation is generally given an automatic qualification. [ citation needed ]

History

Early years

The modern Olympic Games were founded in 1894 when Pierre Fredy, Baron de Coubertin sought to promote international understanding through sporting competition. He based his Olympics on the Wenlock Olympian Society Annual Games, which had been contested in Much Wenlock since 1850. [ 5 ]

The first edition of de Coubertin’s games, held in Athens in 1896, attracted just 245 competitors, of whom more than 200 were Greek, and only 14 countries were represented. Nevertheless, no international events of this magnitude had been organized before. Female athletes were not allowed to compete, though one woman, Stamata Revithi, ran the marathon course on her own, saying «[i]f the committee doesn’t let me compete I will go after them regardless». [ 6 ]

The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in Athens, Greece, from April 6 to April 15, 1896. It was the first Olympic Games held in the Modern era. Ancient Greece was the birthplace of the Olympic Games, consequently Athens was perceived to be an appropriate choice to stage the inaugural modern Games. It was unanimously chosen as the host city during a congress organized by Pierre de Coubertin, a French pedagogue and historian, in Paris, on June 23, 1894. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was also established during this congress.

Despite many obstacles and setbacks, the 1896 Olympics were regarded as a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date. Panathinaiko Stadium, the first big stadium in the modern world, overflowed with the largest crowd ever to watch a sporting event. [ 7 ] The highlight for the Greeks was the marathon victory by their compatriot Spiridon Louis. The most successful competitor was German wrestler and gymnast Carl Schuhmann, who won four gold medals.

After the Games, Coubertin and the IOC were petitioned by several prominent figures including Greece’s King George and some of the American competitors in Athens, to hold all the following Games in Athens. However, the 1900 Summer Olympics were already planned for Paris and, except for the 1906 Intercalated Games, the Olympics did not return to Greece until the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Four years later the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris attracted more than four times as many athletes, including 11 women, who were allowed to officially compete for the first time, in croquet, golf, sailing, and tennis. The Games were integrated with the Paris World’s Fair and lasted over 5 months. It is still disputed which events exactly were Olympic, since few or maybe even none of the events were advertised as such at the time.

Numbers declined for the 1904 Games in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, due in part to the lengthy transatlantic boat trip required of the European competitors, and the integration with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World’s Fair, which again spread the event out over an extended period. In contrast with Paris 1900, the word Olympic was used for practically every contest, including those exclusively for school boys or for Irish-Americans.

A series of smaller games were held in Athens in 1906. The IOC does not currently recognize these games as being official Olympic Games, although many historians do. The 1906 Athens alternating series of games to be held in Athens, but the series failed to materialize. The games were more successful than the 1900 and 1904 games, with over 900 athletes competing, and contributed positively to the success of future games.

The 1908 London Games saw numbers rise again, as well as the first running of the marathon over its now-standard distance of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards). The winner of the first Olympic Marathon in 1896 (a male-only race) was Spiridon «Spiros» Louis, a Greek water-carrier. He won at the Olympics in 2 hours 58 minutes and 50 seconds at a distance of 40 km (24 miles 85 yards). The new marathon distance of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards) was chosen to ensure that the race finished in front of the box occupied by the British royal family. Thus the marathon had been 40 km for the first games in 1896, but was subsequently varied by up to 2 km due to local conditions such as street and stadium layout. At the six Olympic games between 1900 and 1920, the marathon was raced over six different distances.

At the end of the 1908 marathon the Italian runner Dorando Pietri was first to enter the stadium, but he was clearly in distress, and collapsed of exhaustion before he could complete the event. He was helped over the finish line by concerned race officials, but later he was disqualified and the gold medal was awarded to John Hayes, who had trailed him by around 30 seconds.

The Games continued to grow, attracting 2,504 competitors, to Stockholm in 1912, including the great all-rounder Jim Thorpe, who won both the decathlon and pentathlon. Thorpe had previously played a few games of baseball for a fee, and saw his medals stripped for this breach of amateurism after complaints from Avery Brundage. They were reinstated in 1983, 30 years after his death. The Games at Stockholm were the first to fulfill Pierre de Coubertin’s original idea. For the first time since the Games started in 1896 were all continents represented with athletes competing in the same stadium.

The scheduled Berlin Games of 1916 were canceled following the onset of World War I.

Interwar era

The 1920 Antwerp games in war-ravaged Belgium were a subdued affair, but again drew a record number of competitors. This record only stood until 1924, when the Paris Games would involve 3,000 competitors, the greatest of whom was Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi. «The Flying Finn», won three team gold medals and the individual 1,500 and 5,000 meter runs, the latter two on the same day.

The 1928 Amsterdam games were notable for being the first games which allowed females to compete at track & field athletics, and benefited greatly from the general prosperity of the times alongside the first appearance of sponsorship of the games, from Coca-Cola. The 1928 games saw the introduction of a standard medal design with the IOC choosing Giuseppe Cassioli’s depiction of greek goddess Nike and a winner being carried by a crowd of people. This design would be used up until 1972.

The 1932 in Los Angeles games were affected by the Great Depression, which contributed to the fewest competitors since the St. Louis games. The 1936 Berlin Games were seen by the German government as a golden opportunity to promote their ideology. The ruling Nazi Party commissioned film-maker Leni Riefenstahl to film the games. The result, Olympia, was a masterpiece, despite Hitler’s theories of Aryan racial superiority being repeatedly shown up by «non-Aryan» athletes. In particular, African-American sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals. The tale of Hitler snubbing Owens at the ensuing medal ceremony is a fabrication. [ 8 ] The 1936 Berlin Games also saw the reintroduction of the Torch Relay. [ 9 ]

Due to World War II, the Games of 1940 (due to be held in Tokyo and temporarily relocated to Helsinki upon the outbreak of war) were canceled. The Games of 1944 were due to be held in London but were also canceled; instead, London hosted the first games after the end of the war, in 1948.

After World War II

The first post-war Games were held in 1948 in London, with both Germany and Japan excluded. Dutch sprinter Fanny Blankers-Koen won four gold medals on the track, emulating Owens’ achievement in Berlin.

At the 1952 Games in Helsinki the USSR team competed for the first time and immediately became one of the dominant teams. Finland made a legend of an amiable Czech army lieutenant named Emil Zátopek, who was intent on improving on his single gold and silver medals from 1948. Having first won both the 10,000 and 5,000 meter races, he also entered the marathon, despite having never previously raced at that distance. Pacing himself by chatting with the other leaders, Zátopek led from about half way, slowly dropping the remaining contenders to win by two and a half minutes, and completed a trio of wins.

The 1956 Melbourne Games were largely successful, barring a water polo match between Hungary and the Soviet Union, which political tensions caused to end as a pitched battle between the teams. Due to a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Britain at the time and the strict quarantine laws of Australia, the equestrian events were held in Stockholm.

At the 1960 Rome Games a young light-heavyweight boxer named Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, arrived on the scene. Ali would later throw his gold medal away in disgust after being refused service in a whites-only restaurant in his home town, Louisville, Kentucky. [ 10 ] Soviet women’s artistic gymnastics team members won 15 of 16 possible medals. Other performers of note in 1960 included Wilma Rudolph, a gold medalist in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4×100 meters relay events.

The 1964 Games held in Tokyo are notable for heralding the modern age of telecommunications. These games were the first to be broadcast worldwide on television, enabled by the recent advent of communication satellites. The 1964 Games were thus a turning point in the global visibility and popularity of the Olympics.

Performances at the 1968 Mexico City games were affected by the altitude of the host city. [ 11 ] No event was affected more than the long jump. American athlete Bob Beamon jumped 8.90 meters, setting a new world record and, in the words of fellow competitor and then-reigning champion Lynn Davies, «making the rest of us look silly.» [ citation needed ] Beamon’s world record would stand for 23 years. The 1968 Games also introduced the now-universal Fosbury flop, a technique which won American high jumper Dick Fosbury the gold medal. Politics took center stage in the medal ceremony for the men’s 200 meter dash, where Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a protest gesture on the podium against the segregation in the United States; their political act was condemned within the Olympic Movement, but was praised in the American Civil Rights Movement.

End of the 20th century

Following the Soviet Union’s participation in the Afghan Civil War, 66 nations, including the United States, Canada, West Germany and Japan, boycotted the 1980 games held in Moscow. The boycott contributed to the 1980 Games being a less publicised and less competitive affair, which was dominated by the host country.

In 1984 the Soviet Union, and 13 Soviet Allies, reciprocated by boycotting the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. These games were perhaps the first games of a new era to make a profit. The games were again viable, but had become more commercial. Again, without the participation of the Eastern European countries, the 1984 Games were dominated by their host country. The game was also the first time Mainland China (People’s Republic) participated.

The 1988 games, in Seoul, were very well planned but the games were tainted when many of the athletes, most notably men’s 100 metres winner Ben Johnson, failed mandatory drug tests. Despite splendid drug-free performances by many individuals, the number of people who failed screenings for performance-enhancing chemicals overshadowed the games.

By then the process of choosing a location for the Games had itself become a commercial concern; allegations of corruption rocked the International Olympic Committee, in particular with reference to Salt Lake City’s bid to host the 2002 Winter Olympics. It was also widely rumored that The Coca-Cola Company, a key IOC sponsor, was highly influential in the 1996 Summer Olympics being hosted by its home city of Atlanta. [ citation needed ] In the stadium in 1996, the highlight was 200 meters runner Michael Johnson annihilating the world record in front of a home crowd. Canadians savored Donovan Bailey’s record-breaking gold medal run in the 100-meter dash. This was popularly felt to be an appropriate recompense for the previous national disgrace involving Ben Johnson. There were also emotional scenes, such as when Muhammad Ali, clearly affected by Parkinson’s disease, lit the Olympic torch and received a replacement medal for the one he had discarded in 1960. The latter event took place not at the boxing ring but in the basketball arena, at the demand of US television. The atmosphere at the Games was marred, however, when a bomb exploded during the celebration in Centennial Olympic Park. In June 2003, the principal suspect in this bombing, Eric Robert Rudolph, was arrested.

New millennium

The 2000 Games were held in Sydney, Australia, and showcased individual performances by local favorite Ian Thorpe in the pool, Briton Steve Redgrave who won a rowing gold medal in an unprecedented fifth consecutive Olympics, and Cathy Freeman, an Indigenous Australian whose triumph in the 400 meters united a packed stadium. Eric «the Eel» Moussambani, a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, had a memorably slow 100 meter freestyle swim that showed that, even in the commercial world of the twentieth century, some of de Coubertin’s original vision still remained. [ 14 ] The Sydney Games were also memorable for the first appearance of a joint North and South Korean contingent (to a standing ovation) at the opening ceremonies, even if they competed as different countries. Controversy did not escape the 2000 Games in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics, in which the vaulting horse was set to the wrong height during the All Around Competition. Several athletes faltered, including Russian Svetlana Khorkina, who had been favored to win gold after qualifying for the competition in first place.

The 2008 Summer Olympics were held in Beijing, People’s Republic of China. This Olympics was the subject of much controversy, especially following the March Tibetan riots. Human rights activists unsuccessfully called for a boycott, and some even compared the 2008 Olympics to the 1936 ones held in Nazi Germany. Several new events were held, including the new discipline of BMX for both men and women. For the first time, women competed in the steeplechase. The fencing program was expanded to include all six events for both men and women. Women had not previously been able to compete in team foil or saber events (although women’s team épée and men’s team foil were dropped for these Games). Marathon swimming events, over the distance of 10 kilometers, were added. In addition, the doubles events in table tennis were replaced by team events. [ 1 ] American swimmer Michael Phelps set a record for gold medals at a single Games with eight, and tied the record of Heiden and Scherbo for most individual golds at a single Games. Another major star of the Games was Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who became the first male athlete ever to set world records in the finals of both the 100 and 200 metres in the same Games.

London, United Kingdom will hold the 2012 Summer Olympics, making it the first city to host the Games three times. The International Olympic Committee has removed baseball and softball from the 2012 program. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will be the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics, becoming the first South American city to host either the Summer or Winter Games. Also, this will be the first games held in a lusosphere country (a Portuguese speaking country).

List of Olympic sports

43 different sports, spanning 56 different disciplines, have been part of the Olympic program at one point or another. 28 sports have comprised the schedule for the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Summer Olympics, though baseball and softball have been removed to give a list of 26 for the 2012 Games. [ 16 ]

The Summer Olympic Sports or Federations are regrouped under a common umbrella association, called the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF).

List of modern Summer Olympic Games

Games	Year	Host	Dates	Nations	Competitors			Sports	Events	Ref
					Total	Men	Women
I	1896	Athens, Greece	6–15 April	14	241	241	0	9	43	[1]
II	1900	Paris, France	14 May – 28 October	24	997	975	22	18	95	[2]
III	1904	St. Louis, United States	1 July – 23 November	12	651	645	6	17	91	[3]
IV	1908	London, United Kingdom	27 April – 31 October	22	2008	1971	37	22	110	[4]
V	1912	Stockholm, Sweden	12 May – 27 July	28	2407	2359	48	14	102	[5]
VI	1916	Originally awarded to Berlin, cancelled because of World War I
VII	1920	Antwerp, Belgium	20 April – 12 September	29	2626	2561	65	22	154	[6]
VIII	1924	Paris, France	4 May – 27 July	44	3089	2954	135	17	126	[7]
IX	1928	Amsterdam, Netherlands	17 May – 12 August	46	2883	2606	277	14	109	[8]
X	1932	Los Angeles, United States	30 July – 14 August	37	1332	1206	126	14	117	[9]
XI	1936	Berlin, Germany	1–16 August	49	3963	3632	331	19	129	[10]
XII	1940	Originally awarded to Tokyo, then awarded to Helsinki, cancelled because of World War II
XIII	1944	Originally awarded to London, cancelled because of World War II
XIV	1948	London, United Kingdom	29 July – 14 August	59	4104	3714	390	17	136	[11]
XV	1952	Helsinki, Finland	19 July – 3 August	69	4955	4436	519	17	149	[12]
XVI	1956	Melbourne, Australia	22 November – 9 December	72	3314	2938	376	17	145	[13]
XVII	1960	Rome, Italy	25 August – 11 September	83	5338	4727	611	17	150	[14]
XVIII	1964	Tokyo, Japan	10–24 October	93	5151	4473	678	19	163	[15]
XIX	1968	Mexico City, Mexico	12–27 October	112	5516	4735	781	18	172	[16]
XX	1972	Munich, West Germany	26 August – 11 September	121	7134	6075	1059	21	195	[17]
XXI	1976	Montreal, Canada	17 July – 1 August	92	6084	4824	1260	21	198	[18]
XXII	1980	Moscow, Soviet Union	19 July – 3 August	80	5179	4064	1115	21	203	[19]
XXIII	1984	Los Angeles, United States	28 July – 12 August	140	6829	5263	1566	21	221	[20]
XXIV	1988	Seoul, South Korea	17 September – 2 October	160	8391	6197	2194	23	237	[21]
XXV	1992	Barcelona, Spain	25 July – 9 August	169	9356	6652	2704	25	257	[22]
XXVI	1996	Atlanta, United States	19 July – 4 August	197	10318	6806	3512	26	271	[23]
XXVII	2000	Sydney, Australia	15 September – 1 October	199	10651	6582	4069	28	300	[24]
XXVIII	2004	Athens, Greece	13–29 August	201	10625	6296	4329	28	301	[25]
XXIX	2008	Beijing, China	8–24 August	204	10942	6305	4637	28	302	[26]
XXX	2012	London, United Kingdom	27 July – 12 August	future event
XXXI	2016	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	5–21 August	future event
XXXII	2020	TBD (2013)	TBD	future event
XXXIII	2024	TBD (2017)	TBD	future event
XXXIV	2028	TBD (2021)	TBD	future event

^ A: The 1906 Intercalated Games are no longer considered official Games by the IOC.
^ B: Due to Australian quarantine laws, the equestrian events were held in Stockholm several months before the rest of the 1956 Games in Melbourne.

Note: Although the Games of 1916, 1940, and 1944 had been cancelled, the Roman numerals for those Games were still used because the Summer Games’ official titles count Olympiads, not the Games themselves; those Olympiads occurred anyway per the Olympic Charter. This is in contrast to the Roman numerals in the official titles of the Winter Olympic Games, which ignore the cancelled Winter Games of 1940 & 1944; those titles count Games instead of Olympiads.

Famous Olympic Swimmers

Swimming has been a part of the Summer Olympic Games since their inception back in 1896. Women’s swimming was introduced in 1912. Over the years, there has been a pantheon of greats who have dominated the swimming pool. Here’s some of them.

Swimming has been a part of the Summer Olympic Games since their inception back in 1896. Women’s swimming was introduced in 1912. Over the years, there has been a pantheon of greats who have dominated the swimming pool. Here’s some of them.

Swimming is one of the most popular events of the Olympic Games. Olympic swimmers vie for fame and glory in 17 recognized events, held in a pool measuring 50 meters in length.

Did you know?

In the Athens games of 1896, swimming only had 4 events: the 100 m freestyle, 500 m freestyle, 1200 m freestyle and 100 m freestyle for sailors. The 500 m, 1200 m and the ‘sailor special’ have been discarded since.

History of swimming in Olympics

Women’s swimming began in 1912 with only 2 events: 100 m freestyle, and the 4 x 100 m relay. The backstroke and the breaststroke were added as separate events in 1900 and 1904, respectively. At first, the butterfly was regarded as a variation of the breaststroke. It was recognized as a separate stroke in the Olympics of 1956. Medleys were the last discipline to be added to the sport, in 1964. From these humble beginnings, swimming has now become a world-favorite sport.

Stroke Order

Presently, four swimming strokes are recognized in the Olympics, viz. the freestyle, the breaststroke, the backstroke, and the butterfly. Apart from the separate stroke events, the ‘individual medley’, or IM, is made up of all the four strokes combined and performed in a particular order – the butterfly, the backstroke, the breaststroke, and then freestyle.

Male Olympic Swimmers

Given below are some of the famous Olympic swimmers who have accomplished great feats in these events.

Michael Phelps

Date of Birth: June 30, 1985
Nationality: American
Olympic Participation: Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 (6 Gold, 2 Bronze), Beijing 2008 (8 Gold), London 2012 (4 Gold, 2 Silver)

He is a holder of world records in a number of categories. Amongst his achievements are the 8 gold medals he won at the Summer Olympics of 2008 held in Beijing, the highest gold medal haul in a single Olympic by any athlete. His total of 22 Olympic medals is also a world record, with his 18 gold medals standing head and shoulders above the best of the rest. He was named the World Swimmer of the Year in 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2007. Phelps announced his retirement from the sport after the 2012 London Olympics, leaving his name carved in golden letters in the very highest echelons of Olympic folklore.

Ian Thorpe

Date of Birth: October 13, 1982
Nationality: Australian
Olympic Participation: Sydney 2000 (3 Gold, 2 Silver), Athens 2004 (2 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze)

Ian Thorpe is, without doubt, one of the greatest swimmers ever, if not one of the greatest athletes. No other Australian has been able to match his Olympic gold tally. In addition to that, he has been nominated four times as the World Swimmer of the Year by the Swimming World International magazine.

Mark Spitz

Nationality: American
Olympic Participation: Mexico City 1968 (2 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze), Munich 1972 (7 Gold)

Mark Spitz ruled the water world before a certain Mr. Phelps came along. Spitz shot to fame when he won 7 gold medals at the 1972 Olympics held in Munich, an achievement only surpassed by Phelps at the 2008 Games. Spitz, though, set world records in all the seven events he participated in, a record that still stands. Widely regarded among the greatest athletes of all time, he was named the swimmer of the year in 1969, 1971, and 1972. Sports Illustrated magazine voted him one of the greatest Olympians and the athlete of the century in 2000. In addition, the International Olympic Committee has named him as one of the 5 athletes of the century. He is, along with Phelps, Paavo Nurmi, Carl Lewis and Larisa Latynina, one of only five Olympians to have won 9 gold medals.

Johnny Weissmuller

Nationality: American (Born in Hungary)
Olympic Participation: Paris 1924 (3 Gold, 1 Bronze), Amsterdam 1928 (2 Gold)

Matt Biondi

Nationality: American
Olympic Participation: Los Angeles 1984 (1 Gold), Seoul 1988 (5 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze), Barcelona 1992 (2 Gold, 1 Silver)

Born in 1965, Matthew Nicholas Biondi has won 11 Olympic medals, participating in the 1984, 1988, and 1992 Olympics. He equaled Mark Spitz’s feat of winning 7 medals (although all of Spitz’s medals were gold) in a single edition of the Olympic Games in 1988. Biondi won 5 golds in Seoul, while he set records in four of the events.

Ryan Lochte

Date of Birth: August 3, 1984
Nationality: American
Olympic Participation: Athens 2004 (1 Gold, 1 Silver), Beijing 2008 (2 Gold, 2 Bronze), London 2012 (2 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze)

In an era that has seen unprecedented domination by Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte has certainly managed to hold his own. Lochte currently holds the world record for the 200 m and 400 m medley. He has been named the Swimmer of the Year, as well as American Swimmer of the Year, for 2010 and 2011.

Aaron Peirsol

Date of Birth: July 23, 1983
Nationality: American
Olympic Participation: Athens 2004 (3 Gold), Beijing 2008 (2 Gold, 1 Silver)

Peirsol won all 3 of his individual gold medals in backstroke events, the other 2 coming via 4X100 m medley relay. He holds the world record for 100 m and 200 m backstroke.

Female Olympic Swimmers

Dawn Fraser

Date of Birth: September 4, 1937
Nationality: Australian
Olympic Participation: Melbourne 1956 (2 Gold, 1 Silver), Rome 1960 (1 Gold, 2 Silver), Tokyo 1964 (1 Gold, 1 Silver)

Dawn Fraser is regarded as the greatest female swimmer in the world, being the first woman who swam the 100-meter event in less than a minute. When she was 12 years old, in 1952, a Sydney coach at one of the local baths spotted her. Fraser earned acclaim in 1955 when she broke existing records in the freestyle events right up to 880 yards. She shot into international fame at the Melbourne Olympics held in 1956 when she broke the 100-meter freestyle record, which was set 20 years back by Willy den Ouden. When she was just 18, she won 3 medals from her first Olympic games. She became the first of only three swimmers, along with Michael Phelps and Krisztina Egerszegi, in Olympic history to have won the gold medal in the same discipline for 3 successive Olympic games when she won the 100 m freestyle event in 1964.

Jennifer Beth Thompson

Date of Birth: February 26, 1973
Nationality: American
Olympic Participation: Barcelona 1992 (2 Gold, 1 Silver), Atalanta 1996 (3 Gold), Sydney 2000 (3 Gold, 1 Bronze), Athens 2004 (2 Silver)

She has won 12 Olympic medals, which includes 8 golds, making her the most decorated female American Olympian in history. She was the USA Swimmer of the Year in 1993 and 1998, and Women’s Sports Foundation’s Athlete of the Year in 2000.

Inge de Bruijn

Date of Birth: August 24, 1973
Nationality: Dutch
Olympic Participation: Sydney 2000 (3 Gold, 1 Silver), Athens 2004 (1 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze)

Inge de Bruijn is the most decorated Dutch Olympian. In addition to that, she has more combined Olympic and World Aquatic Championship titles (9) than any other female player. She was named Female Swimmer of the Year in 2000 and 2001 by Swimming World.

Mary T. Meagher

Date of Birth: October 27, 1964
Nationality: American
Olympic Participation: Los Angeles 1984 (3 Gold), Seoul 1988 (1 Bronze)

Named ‘Madame Butterfly’, she set a record in 1981 in the 100 m and 200 m butterfly event. Later, she won gold medals in the Summer Olympics in 1984 in the 200-meter and the 100-meter butterfly events, plus another gold for the butterfly leg of the medley relay for women. Then, in 1988 Olympics, held in Seoul, she won a bronze in the 200-meter butterfly. Meagher, unfortunately, missed the 1980 Moscow Olympics due to a US-led boycott.

Krisztina Egerszegi

Date of Birth: August 16, 1974
Nationality: Hungarian
Olympic Participation: Seoul (1 Gold, 1 Silver), Barcelona 1992 (3 Gold), Atalanta 1996 (1 Gold, 1 Bronze)

Egerszegi became one of the youngest Olympic champions in history when she won the 200 m backstroke discipline in the 1988 games. She remained the youngest female swimming champion until the 1992 Olympics. As mentioned earlier, she is, along with Dawn Fraser and Michael Phelps, one of only three swimmers to win the same event in 3 successive Olympic tournaments. She was the Hungarian Sportswoman of the Year from 1988 to 1993, and then again in 1996. She was World Swimmer of the Year 3 times, and was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2001. Weirdly, she retired from the sport after the Atlanta Games, aged just 22.

Natalie Coughlin

Date of Birth: August 23, 1982
Nationality: American
Olympic Participation: Athens 2004 (2 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze), Beijing 2008 (1 Gold, 2 Silver, 3 Bronze), London 2012 (1 Bronze)

Coughlin became the first female American athlete to win 6 medals in one Olympics tournament in 2008. She is also the most decorated female American athlete, with 12 medals, an honor shared with Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres.

Kirsty Coventry

Date of Birth: September 16, 1983
Nationality: Zimbabwean
Olympic Participation: Athens 2004 (1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze), Beijing 2008 (1 Gold, 3 Silver), London 2012

These were some champions of the water. Countless others have, no doubt, been left out, but that doesn’t make their achievements any less special. As any Olympian will tell you, you have to be a champion to just compete in the Olympics, let alone win.