Overview

Swimming has been present at every Olympic Games of the modern era. Although the first Olympic races took place in a natural environment (swimmers competed in the Bay of Zea at the Athens 1896 Olympic Games), since the 1908 Games in London the events have taken place in a pool, leading to the creation of the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA - now known as World Aquatics) that same year.

Freestyle events were the only ones contested at the Games in 1896, with dedicated breaststroke and backstroke competitions then added at the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis and butterfly following 52 years later at the Melbourne Games in 1956. Women’s swimming joined the Olympic programme in 1912 with two events, but today the events of the women’s and men’s swimming competitions at the Games are identical. Olympic swimming has been dominated by athletes representing the United States, who have won over 250 gold medals.