Swimming at the 2024 Paris Olympics
Legends are made in the Olympic-sized swimming pool
11 action-packed days of swimming gets underway in Paris on day one, with a whopping 37 gold medals to give out. This is the second busiest sport of the Olympics after Track & Field.
The Basics
At the Olympic Games, swimming events are held in a pool measuring 50 meters in length. So, a 100m race is one lap in the pool. The four strokes of Olympic swimming events—for both individual and relay races—are breaststroke, butterfly, backstroke and front crawl; the front crawl is predominantly used in freestyle races, and as such the term freestyle is often used as a synonym for front crawl. A fifth race, the mixed medley, involves all four strokes, with swimmers switching between them. The distances also vary, with different skills needed for a 50m race to a 1500m event. Explosivity, endurance, strength and technique are all essential qualities for swimmers. There’s a handy explainer video on the Olympics website as well.
The Format
Let’s start with the only race that happens outside, away from the indoor pool. The 10km marathon features 33 swimmers in the men’s race and 24 in the women’s race. The race takes just under two hours. It’s the only swimming event without a semifinal. Here are the 34 individual races, along with how many rounds the swimmers go through. Everything is the same for both men and women, just different dates. The medley requires each swimmer to use all 4 strokes during the race, either for 50m or 100m each.
50m Freestyle (Heats & Semis on same day, Finals the next day)
100m Freestyle (Heats & Semis on same day, Finals the next day)
200m Freestyle (Heats & Semis on same day, Finals the next day)
400m Freestyle (Semis in the morning, Finals later the same day)
800m Freestyle (Semis one day then Finals the next day)
1500m Freestyle (Semis one day then Finals the next day)
10km Open Water (Just one round)
100m Backstroke (Heats & Semis on same day, Finals the next day)
200m Backstroke (Heats & Semis on same day, Finals the next day)
100m Breaststroke (Heats & Semis on same day, Finals the next day)
200m Breaststroke (Heats & Semis on same day, Finals the next day)
100m Butterfly (Heats & Semis on same day, Finals the next day)
200m Butterfly (Heats & Semis on same day, Finals the next day)
200m Individual Medley (Heats & Semis on same day, Finals the next day)
400m Individual Medley (Semis one day then Finals the next day)
That covers the 30 individual events, now let’s tackle the 7 relay events. Each race features a team of 4 swimmers. Every race has 16 total teams invited. A semifinal narrows the field from 16 to 8 teams. For all 7 races, the semi and final take place on different days.
Men’s & Women’s 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay
Men’s & Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay
Men’s & Women’s 4 x 100m Medley Relay (1 swimmer for each of the 4 strokes)
Mixed 4 x 100m Medley Relay (2 women & 2 men; 1 swimmer for each of the 4 strokes)
What Nations are Historically Dominant?
Here’s what the medal table looks like going back to 2008:
#1 United States (55 golds, 36 silvers, 34 bronzes)
#2 Australia (19 golds, 19 silvers, 23 bronzes)
#3 China (10 golds, 9 silvers, 9 bronzes)
#4 Great Britain (7 golds, 11 silvers, 5 bronzes)
#5 Japan (6 golds, 6 silvers, 14 bronzes)
65% of the total medal points belong to these 5 countries. The rest of the top-10 includes Hungary, France, Russia, Netherlands, and Canada.
Schedule
Just the finals are listed on this schedule
July 27th: Men’s & Women’s 400m Freestyle + Men’s & Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relays (4 events)
July 28th: Men’s 400m Medley, Women’s 100m Butterfly, Men’s 100m Breaststroke (3 events)
July 29th: Women’s 400m Medley, Men’s 200m Freestyle, Men’s 100m Backstroke, Women’s 100m Breaststroke, Women’s 200m Freestyle (5 events)
July 30th: Women’s 100m Backstroke, Men’s 800m Freestyle, Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay (3 events)
July 31st: Men’s & Women’s 100m Freestyle, Men’s 200m Butterfly, Women’s 1500m Freestyle, Men’s 200m Breaststroke (5 events)
August 1st: Women’s 200m Butterfly, Women’s 200m Breaststroke, Men’s 200m Backstroke, Women’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay (4 events)
August 2nd: Men’s 50m Freestyle, Men’s 200m Medley, Women’s 200m Backstroke (3 events)
August 3rd: Men’s 100m Butterfly, Women’s 200m Medley, Women’s 800m Freestyle, Mixed 4x100m Medley Relay (4 events)
August 4th: Men’s & Women’s 4x100m Medley Relays, Women’s 50m Freestyle, Men’s 1500m Freestyle (4 events)
August 8th: Women’s 10km open swim marathon
August 9th: Men’s 10km open swim marathon