List of Olympic records in swimming

Michael Phelps holds four individual and three team Olympic swimming records.

The International Olympic Committee recognises the fastest performances in pool-based swimming events at the Olympic Games. Men's swimming has been part of the Summer Olympics since the Games' modern inception in 1896; it was not until 1912 that women competed against each other. The swimming events at the 1896 Olympic Games were held in a bay in the Aegean Sea with swimmers being required to swim to the shore—Hungarian swimmer Alfréd Hajós won two gold medals that year, saying "My will to live completely overcame my desire to win."^[1] The 1900 Games in Paris saw the swimming events take place in the River Seine while the events at the 1908 Summer Olympics were hosted in a 100-metre pool located within an athletics track in the White City Stadium in London.^[2]

Races are held in four swimming categories: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly, over varying distances and in either individual or relay race events. Medley swimming races are also held, both individually and in relays, in which all four swimming categories are used. In the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, both men and women competed in sixteen events in the pool, each sex in the same events with the exceptions of the 800 m freestyle (women-only) and the 1500 m freestyle (men-only).^[2] Of the 32 pool-based events, swimmers from the United States hold eighteen records, including one tied with a swimmer from Canada, Australia and China three each, Hungary two, and one each to the Netherlands, Brazil, Japan, Great Britain, Singapore and Sweden. Thirteen of the current Olympic records were set at the 2016 Games.^[3]

Men's records

César Cielo set the Olympic record for the 50 m freestyle at the Beijing games.

Sun Yang set Olympic records in two events at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

♦ denotes a performance that is also a current world record. Statistics are correct as of 13 August 2016 and include only those events which are currently recognised by the IOC as Olympic events.

Event	Record	Name	Nation	Games	Date	Ref
50 m freestyle	21.30	Cielo, CésarCésar Cielo	Brazil (BRA)	2008 Beijing	16 August 2008	[4]
100 m freestyle	47.05	Sullivan, EamonEamon Sullivan	Australia (AUS)	2008 Beijing	13 August 2008	[5]^[A]
200 m freestyle	1:42.96	Phelps, MichaelMichael Phelps	United States (USA)	2008 Beijing	12 August 2008	[6]
400 m freestyle	3:40.14	Yang, SunSun Yang	China (CHN)	2012 London	28 July 2012	[7]
1500 m freestyle	♦14:31.02	Yang, SunSun Yang	China (CHN)	2012 London	4 August 2012	[8]
100 m backstroke	♦51.85	Murphy, RyanRyan Murphy	United States (USA)	2016 Rio de Janeiro	13 August 2016	[9]^[B]
200 m backstroke	1:53.41	Clary, TylerTyler Clary	United States (USA)	2012 London	2 August 2012	[10]
100 m breaststroke	♦57.13	Peaty, AdamAdam Peaty	Great Britain (GBR)	2016 Rio de Janeiro	7 August 2016	[11]
200 m breaststroke	2:07.22	Watanabe, IppeiIppei Watanabe	Japan (JPN)	2016 Rio de Janeiro	9 August 2016	[12]^[C]
100 m butterfly	50.39	Schooling, JosephJoseph Schooling	Singapore (SIN)	2016 Rio de Janeiro	12 August 2016	[13]
200 m butterfly	1:52.03	Phelps, MichaelMichael Phelps	United States (USA)	2008 Beijing	13 August 2008	[14]
200 m individual medley	1:54.23	Phelps, MichaelMichael Phelps	United States (USA)	2008 Beijing	15 August 2008	[15]
400 m individual medley	♦4:03.84	Phelps, MichaelMichael Phelps	United States (USA)	2008 Beijing	10 August 2008	[16]
4×100 m freestyle relay	♦3:08.24	Phelps, MichaelMichael Phelps (47.51) Garrett Weber-Gale (47.02) Cullen Jones (47.65) Jason Lezak (46.06)	United States (USA)	2008 Beijing	11 August 2008	[17]
4×200 m freestyle relay	6:58.56	Phelps, MichaelMichael Phelps (1:43.31) Ryan Lochte (1:44.28) Ricky Berens (1:46.29) Peter Vanderkaay (1:44.68)	United States (USA)	2008 Beijing	13 August 2008	[18]
4×100 m medley relay	3:27.95	Murphy, RyanRyan Murphy (51.85) Cody Miller (59.03) Michael Phelps (50.33) Nathan Adrian (46.74)	United States (USA)	2016 Rio de Jainero	13 August 2016	[19]

Women's records

Ranomi Kromowidjojo holds the Olympic record in the 50 m freestyle.

Katie Ledecky set the Olympic records in the 400 and 800 m freestyle in 2016.

♦ denotes a performance that is also a current world record. Statistics are correct as of 13 August 2016 and include only those events which are currently recognised by the IOC as Olympic events.

Event	Record	Name	Nation	Games	Date	Ref
50 m freestyle	24.05	Kromowidjojo, RanomiRanomi Kromowidjojo	Netherlands (NED)	2012 London	4 August 2012	[20]
100 m freestyle	52.70	Manuel, SimoneSimone Manuel Oleksiak, PennyPenny Oleksiak	United States (USA)  Canada (CAN)	2016 Rio de Janeiro	11 August 2016	[21]
200 m freestyle	1:53.61	Schmitt, AllisonAllison Schmitt	United States (USA)	2012 London	31 July 2012	[22]
400 m freestyle	♦3:56.46	Ledecky, KatieKatie Ledecky	United States (USA)	2016 Rio de Janeiro	7 August 2016	[23]
800 m freestyle	♦8:04.79	Ledecky, KatieKatie Ledecky	United States (USA)	2016 Rio de Janeiro	12 August 2016	[24]
100 m backstroke	58.23	Seebohm, EmilyEmily Seebohm	Australia (AUS)	2012 London	29 July 2012	[25]^[D]
200 m backstroke	♦2:04.06	Franklin, MissyMissy Franklin	United States (USA)	2012 London	3 August 2012	[26]
100 m breaststroke	1:04.93	King, LillyLilly King	United States (USA)	2016 Rio de Janeiro	8 August 2016	[27]
200 m breaststroke	2:19.59	Soni, RebeccaRebecca Soni	United States (USA)	2012 London	2 August 2012	[28]
100 m butterfly	♦55.48	Sjöström, SarahSarah Sjöström	Sweden (SWE)	2016 Rio de Janeiro	7 August 2016	[29]
200 m butterfly	2:04.06	Liuyang, JiaoJiao Liuyang	China (CHN)	2012 London	1 August 2012	[30]
200 m individual medley	2:06.58	Hosszú, KatinkaKatinka Hosszú	Hungary (HUN)	2016 Rio de Janeiro	9 August 2016	[31]
400 m individual medley	♦4:26.36	Hosszú, KatinkaKatinka Hosszú	Hungary (HUN)	2016 Rio de Janeiro	6 August 2016	[32]
4×100 m freestyle relay	♦3:30.65	McKeon, EmmaEmma McKeon (53.47) Brittany Elmslie (53.12) Bronte Campbell (52.15) Cate Campbell (51.97)	Australia (AUS)	2016 Rio de Janeiro	6 August 2016	[33]
4×200 m freestyle relay	7:42.92	Franklin, MissyMissy Franklin (1:55.96) Dana Vollmer (1:56.02) Shannon Vreeland (1:56.85) Allison Schmitt (1:54.09)	United States (USA)	2012 London	1 August 2012	[34]
4×100 m medley relay	♦3:52.05	Franklin, MissyMissy Franklin (58.50) Rebecca Soni (1:04.82) Dana Vollmer (55.48) Allison Schmitt (53.25)	United States (USA)	2012 London	4 August 2012	[35]

Footnotes

1. ^ Sullivan broke the Olympic and world record for the men's 100 m freestyle in the second semi-final of the 2008 Summer Olympics.
2. ^ Murphy broke the Olympic and world record for the men's 100 m backstroke in the men's 4×100 m medley relay final of the 2016 Summer Olympics.
3. ^ Watanabe broke the Olympic record for the men's 200 m breaststroke in the first semi-final of the 2016 Summer Olympics.
4. ^ Seebohm broke the Olympic record for the women's 100 m backstroke in the fourth heat of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

References

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External links