Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics

The swimming competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place from 9 to 17 August 2008 at the Beijing National Aquatics Centre.[1] The newly introduced open water marathon events (10 km) were held on 20 and 21 August 2008 at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park.[2]

Swimming
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Pictogram for swimming at the 2008 Games
VenueBeijing National Aquatics Centre (pool)
Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park (open water)
Dates9–17 August 2008 (pool)
20–21 August 2008 (open water)
Competitors1,026 from 162 nations
← 2004
2012 →

Swimming featured 34 events (17 male, 17 female), including two 10 km open-water marathons. The remaining 32 were contested in a 50 m long course pool within the Olympic Park.

The United States claimed a total of 31 medals (12 golds, 9 silver, and 10 bronze) in the leaderboard to maintain its standings as the most successful nation in swimming.[3] A stellar performance in the pool also made an Olympic history for Michael Phelps, who captured eight gold medals to break Mark Spitz's 1972 record, a total of seven, at a single Games.[4][5] Despite the male swimmers failing to attain a single gold in swimming, Australia managed to repeat a second-place effort on its third consecutive Olympics with 20 medals (six golds, six silver, and eight bronze).[3] Meanwhile, Great Britain finished third with a total of six medals by the benefit of a sterling long-distance freestyle double from Rebecca Adlington.[5]

A total of 25 world records and 65 Olympic records were set during the competition.

Venue

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All the swimming, synchronized swimming, and diving events of the 2008 Olympics were held at the Beijing National Aquatics Center (better known as the "Water Cube"), which was claimed to be built to increase the speed of the swimmers.[6] The main pool is about 10 feet (3.0 m) deep, 3 feet (0.91 m) deeper than any other Olympic pool.[6] The lane lines, nicknamed "wave eaters", buffer the waves produced by swimmers while they stroke.[6] The technological advances of the pool were enhanced by several advantages inherent to an indoor swimming venue, namely: temperature, humidity and lighting control. Even the wide decks were built to help give the swimmers a sense of space.[6]

Events

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The swimming program for 2008 was 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 were contested (all pool events were long course, and distances are in metres unless stated):[7]

Schedule

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Unlike the previous Olympics, swimming program schedule occurred in two segments. For the pool events, prelims were held in the evening, with semifinals and final in the following morning session, spanning a day between semifinals and finals in those events with semifinals. The shift of the normal morning prelims and evening finals (to evening prelims and morning finals) occurred for these Games because of the prior request made by US broadcaster NBC (due to the substantial fees NBC has paid for rights to the Olympics, the IOC has allowed NBC to have influence on event scheduling to maximize U.S. television ratings when possible; NBC agreed to a $7.75 billion contract extension on May 7, 2014, to air the Olympics through the 2032 games[8] and is also one of the major sources of revenue for the IOC),[9] so that the finals from the event could be shown live in the United States.[10][11]

Legend
H Heats ½ Semi-finals F Final
Men[11]
Date → Aug 9 Aug 10 Aug 11 Aug 12 Aug 13 Aug 14 Aug 15 Aug 16 Aug 17 Aug 21
Event ↓ M E M E M E M E M E M E M E M E M E M E
50 m freestyle H ½ F
100 m freestyle H ½ F
200 m freestyle H ½ F
400 m freestyle H F
1500 m freestyle H F
100 m backstroke H ½ F
200 m backstroke H ½ F
100 m breaststroke H ½ F
200 m breaststroke H ½ F
100 m butterfly H ½ F
200 m butterfly H ½ F
200 m individual medley H ½ F
400 m individual medley H F
4 × 100 m freestyle relay H F
4 × 200 m freestyle relay H F
4 × 100 m medley relay H F
10 km open water F
Women[11]
Date → Aug 9 Aug 10 Aug 11 Aug 12 Aug 13 Aug 14 Aug 15 Aug 16 Aug 17 Aug 20
Event ↓ M E M E M E M E M E M E M E M E M E M E
50 m freestyle H ½ F
100 m freestyle H ½ F
200 m freestyle H ½ F
400 m freestyle H F
800 m freestyle H F
100 m backstroke H ½ F
200 m backstroke H ½ F
100 m breaststroke H ½ F
200 m breaststroke H ½ F
100 m butterfly H ½ F
200 m butterfly H ½ F
200 m individual medley H ½ F
400 m individual medley H F
4 × 100 m freestyle relay H F
4 × 200 m freestyle relay H F
4 × 100 m medley relay H F
10 km open water F

Qualification

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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.[12]

Participating nations

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A total of 1,026 swimmers (571 men and 455 women) from 162 nations would compete in swimming events at these Olympic Games. American Samoa, Botswana, Comoros, Congo Democratic Republic, Cook Islands, Marshall Islands, and Tanzania made their official debut in swimming. Meanwhile, Belgium, Dominican Republic, Kuwait, Netherlands Antilles, and Tajikistan returned to the sport after an eight-year absence. Nations with swimmers at the Games are (team size in parentheses):

Medal summary

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Medal table

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Michael Phelps holding his gold medal from the 4 × 100 relay

Retrieved from 2008 NBC Olympics website.[13]

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  United States (USA)1291031
2  Australia (AUS)66820
3  Great Britain (GBR)2226
4  Japan (JPN)2035
5  Germany (GER)2013
6  Netherlands (NED)2002
7  China (CHN)1326
8  Zimbabwe (ZIM)1304
9  France (FRA)1236
10  Russia (RUS)1124
11  Italy (ITA)1102
  South Korea (KOR)1102
13  Brazil (BRA)1012
14  Tunisia (TUN)1001
15  Hungary (HUN)0303
16  Norway (NOR)0112
17  Serbia (SRB)0101
  Slovenia (SLO)0101
19  Austria (AUT)0011
  Canada (CAN)0011
  Denmark (DEN)0011
Totals (21 entries)343436104

Men's events

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Games Gold Silver Bronze
50 m freestyle
details
César Cielo
  Brazil
21.30 OR, AM Amaury Leveaux
  France
21.45 Alain Bernard
  France
21.49
100 m freestyle
details
Alain Bernard
  France
47.21 Eamon Sullivan
  Australia
47.32 Jason Lezak
  United States
César Cielo
  Brazil
47.67
47.67 NR
200 m freestyle
details
Michael Phelps
  United States
1:42.96 WR Park Tae-hwan
  South Korea
1:44.85 AS Peter Vanderkaay
  United States
1:45.14
400 m freestyle
details
Park Tae-hwan
  South Korea
3:41.86 AS Zhang Lin
  China
3:42.44 NR Larsen Jensen
  United States
3:42.78 AM
1500 m freestyle
details
Oussama Mellouli
  Tunisia
14:40.84 AF Grant Hackett
  Australia
14:41.53 Ryan Cochrane
  Canada
14.42.69
100 m backstroke
details
Aaron Peirsol
  United States
52.54 WR Matt Grevers
  United States
53.11 Arkady Vyatchanin
  Russia
Hayden Stoeckel
  Australia
53.18
200 m backstroke
details
Ryan Lochte
  United States
1:53.94 WR Aaron Peirsol
  United States
1:54.33 Arkady Vyatchanin
  Russia
1:54.93 ER
100 m breaststroke
details
Kosuke Kitajima
  Japan
58.91 WR Alexander Dale Oen
  Norway
59.20 Hugues Duboscq
  France
59.37 NR
200 m breaststroke
details
Kosuke Kitajima
  Japan
2:07.64 OR Brenton Rickard
  Australia
2:08.88 OC Hugues Duboscq
  France
2:08.94 NR
100 m butterfly
details
Michael Phelps
  United States
50.58 OR Milorad Čavić
  Serbia
50.59 ER Andrew Lauterstein
  Australia
51.12 OC
200 m butterfly
details
Michael Phelps
  United States
1:52.03 WR László Cseh
  Hungary
1:52.70 ER Takeshi Matsuda
  Japan
1:52.97 AS
200 m individual medley
details
Michael Phelps
  United States
1:54.23 WR László Cseh
  Hungary
1:56.52 ER Ryan Lochte
  United States
1:56.53
400 m individual medley
details
Michael Phelps
  United States
4:03.84 WR László Cseh
  Hungary
4:06.16 ER Ryan Lochte
  United States
4:08.09
4 × 100 m freestyle relay
details
  United States
Michael Phelps (47.51) AM
Garrett Weber-Gale (47.02)
Cullen Jones (47.65)
Jason Lezak (46.06)
Nathan Adrian*
Ben Wildman-Tobriner*
Matt Grevers*
3:08.24 WR   France
Amaury Leveaux (47.91)
Fabien Gilot (47.05)
Frédérick Bousquet (46.63)
Alain Bernard(46.73)
Grégory Mallet*
Boris Steimetz*
3:08.32 ER   Australia
Eamon Sullivan (47.24) WR
Andrew Lauterstein (47.87)
Ashley Callus (47.55)
Matt Targett (47.25)
Leith Brodie*
Patrick Murphy*
3:09.91 OC
4 × 200 m freestyle relay
details
  United States
Michael Phelps (1:43.31)
Ryan Lochte (1:44.28)
Ricky Berens (1:46.29)
Peter Vanderkaay (1:44.68)
Klete Keller*
Erik Vendt*
David Walters*
6:58.56 WR   Russia
Nikita Lobintsev (1:46.64) NR
Yevgeny Lagunov (1:46.56)
Danila Izotov (1:45.85)
Alexander Sukhorukov (1:44.65)
Mikhail Polishchuk*
7:03.70 ER   Australia
Patrick Murphy (1:45.95)
Grant Hackett (1:45.87)
Grant Brits (1:47.13)
Nic Ffrost (1:46.03)
Leith Brodie*
Kirk Palmer*
7:04.98
4 × 100 m medley relay
details
  United States
Aaron Peirsol (53.16)
Brendan Hansen (59.27)
Michael Phelps (50.15)
Jason Lezak (46.76)
Matt Grevers*
Mark Gangloff*
Ian Crocker*
Garrett Weber-Gale*
3:29.34 WR   Australia
Hayden Stoeckel (53.80)
Brenton Rickard (58.56)
Andrew Lauterstein (51.03)
Eamon Sullivan (46.65)
Ashley Delaney*
Christian Sprenger*
Adam Pine*
Matt Targett*
3:30.04 OC   Japan
Junichi Miyashita (53.87)
Kosuke Kitajima (58.07)
Takuro Fujii (50.89)
Hisayoshi Sato (48.35)
3:31.18 AS
10 km open water
details
Maarten van der Weijden
  Netherlands
1:51:51.6 David Davies
  Great Britain
1:51:53.1 Thomas Lurz
  Germany
1:51:53.6

* Swimmers who participated in the heats only and received medals.

Women's events

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Games Gold Silver Bronze
50 m freestyle
details
Britta Steffen
  Germany
24.06 OR, ER Dara Torres
  United States
24.07 AM Cate Campbell
  Australia
24.17
100 m freestyle
details
Britta Steffen
  Germany
53.12 OR Lisbeth Trickett
  Australia
53.16 Natalie Coughlin
  United States
53.39 =AM
200 m freestyle
details
Federica Pellegrini
  Italy
1:54.82 WR Sara Isaković
  Slovenia
1:54.97 NR Pang Jiaying
  China
1:55.05 AS
400 m freestyle
details
Rebecca Adlington
  Great Britain
4:03.22 Katie Hoff
  United States
4:03.29 Joanne Jackson
  Great Britain
4:03.52
800 m freestyle
details
Rebecca Adlington
  Great Britain
8:14.10 WR Alessia Filippi
  Italy
8:20.23 NR Lotte Friis
  Denmark
8:23.03
100 m backstroke
details
Natalie Coughlin
  United States
58.96 AM Kirsty Coventry
  Zimbabwe
59.19 Margaret Hoelzer
  United States
59.34
200 m backstroke
details
Kirsty Coventry
  Zimbabwe
2:05.24 WR Margaret Hoelzer
  United States
2:06.23 Reiko Nakamura
  Japan
2:07.13 AS
100 m breaststroke
details
Leisel Jones
  Australia
1:05.17 OR Rebecca Soni
  United States
1:06.73 Mirna Jukić
  Austria
1:07.34
200 m breaststroke
details
Rebecca Soni
  United States
2:20.22 WR Leisel Jones
  Australia
2:22.05 Sara Nordenstam
  Norway
2:23.02 ER
100 m butterfly
details
Lisbeth Trickett
  Australia
56.73 OC Christine Magnuson
  United States
57.10 Jessicah Schipper
  Australia
57.25
200 m butterfly
details
Liu Zige
  China
2:04.18 WR Jiao Liuyang
  China
2:04.72 Jessicah Schipper
  Australia
2:06.26
200 m individual medley
details
Stephanie Rice
  Australia
2:08.45 WR Kirsty Coventry
  Zimbabwe
2:08.59 AF Natalie Coughlin
  United States
2:10.34
400 m individual medley
details
Stephanie Rice
  Australia
4:29.45 WR Kirsty Coventry
  Zimbabwe
4:29.89 AF Katie Hoff
  United States
4:31.71
4 × 100 m freestyle relay
details
  Netherlands
Inge Dekker (54.37)
Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.39)
Femke Heemskerk (53.42)
Marleen Veldhuis (52.58)
Hinkelien Schreuder*
Manon van Rooijen*
3:33.76 OR   United States
Natalie Coughlin (54.00)
Lacey Nymeyer (53.91)
Kara Lynn Joyce (53.98)
Dara Torres (52.44)
Emily Silver*
Julia Smit*
3:34.33 AM   Australia
Cate Campbell (54.40)
Alice Mills (54.43)
Melanie Schlanger (53.85)
Lisbeth Trickett (52.34)
Shayne Reese*
3:35.05 OC
4 × 200 m freestyle relay
details
  Australia
Stephanie Rice (1:56.60) =OC
Bronte Barratt 1:56.58)
Kylie Palmer (1:55.22)
Linda Mackenzie (1:55.91)
Lara Davenport*
Felicity Galvez*
Angie Bainbridge*
Melanie Schlanger*
7:44.31 WR   China
Yang Yu (1:56.79)
Zhu Qianwei (1:56.64)
Tan Miao (1:58.11)
Pang Jiaying (1:54.39)
Tang Jingzhi*
7:45.93 AS   United States
Allison Schmitt (1:57.71)
Natalie Coughlin (1:57.19)
Caroline Burckle (1:56.70)
Katie Hoff (1:54.73)
Christine Marshall*
Kim Vandenberg*
Julia Smit*
7:46.33 AM
4 × 100 m medley relay
details
  Australia
Emily Seebohm (59.33) OC
Leisel Jones (1:04.58)
Jessicah Schipper (56.25)
Lisbeth Trickett (52.53)
Tarnee White*
Felicity Galvez*
Shayne Reese*
3:52.69 WR   United States
Natalie Coughlin (58.94) AM
Rebecca Soni (1:05.95)
Christine Magnuson (56.14)
Dara Torres (52.27)
Margaret Hoelzer*
Megan Jendrick*
Elaine Breeden*
Kara Lynn Joyce*
3:53.30 AM   China
Zhao Jing (59.56) NR
Sun Ye (1:06.76)
Zhou Yafei (57.40)
Pang Jiaying (52.40)
Xu Tianlongzi*
3:56.11 AS
10 km open water
details
Larisa Ilchenko
  Russia
1:59:27.7 Keri-Anne Payne
  Great Britain
1:59:29.2 Cassandra Patten
  Great Britain
1:59:31.0

* Swimmers who participated in the heats only and received medals.

Olympic and world records broken

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At the 2008 Summer Olympics, new world records were set 25 times (affecting 21 distinct world records) and new Olympic records were set 65 times and one other was equalled (affecting 30 distinct Olympic records).[14] Only Ian Thorpe's 3:40.59 in the 400 metres freestyle and Inge de Bruijn's 56.61 in the 100 metres butterfly, both set in Sydney, remained Olympic records. Michael Phelps of the United States also broke the record for the most gold medals ever won by an Olympian with a total of 14; 8 of which were won during the 2008 Summer Olympics - this was also a world record.

Event Date Round Name Nationality Time Record Day
Men's 100 m breaststroke August 9 Heat 7 Alexander Dale Oen   Norway 59.41 OR 1
Men's 400 m individual medley August 9 Heat 4 Michael Phelps   United States 4:07.82 OR 1
Men's 100 m backstroke August 10 Heat 4 Matt Grevers   United States 53.41 OR 2
Men's 100 m breaststroke August 10 Semifinal 2 Alexander Dale Oen   Norway 59.16 OR 2
Men's 400 m individual medley August 10 Final Michael Phelps   United States 4:03.84 WR 2
Men's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay August 10 Heat 1 Nathan Adrian (48.82)
Cullen Jones (47.61)
Ben Wildman-Tobriner (48.03)
Matt Grevers (47.77)
  United States 3:12.23 WR 2
Men's 100 m freestyle August 10 Heat 1 leadoff* Amaury Leveaux   France 47.76 OR 2
Men's 100 m backstroke August 11 Semifinal 1 Arkady Vyatchanin   Russia 53.06 OR 3
Men's 100 m backstroke August 11 Semifinal 2 Hayden Stoeckel   Australia 52.97 OR 3
Men's 100 m breaststroke August 11 Final Kosuke Kitajima   Japan 58.91 WR 3
Men's 200 m butterfly August 11 Heat 6 Michael Phelps   United States 1:53.70 OR 3
Men's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay August 11 Final Michael Phelps (47.51)
Garrett Weber-Gale (47.02)
Cullen Jones (47.65)
Jason Lezak (46.06)
  United States 3:08.24 WR 3
Men's 100 m freestyle August 11 Final leadoff* Eamon Sullivan   Australia 47.24 WR 3
Men's 200 m freestyle August 12 Final Michael Phelps   United States 1:42.96 WR 4
Men's 100 m backstroke August 12 Final Aaron Peirsol   United States 52.54 WR 4
Men's 200 m breaststroke August 12 Heat 5 Paolo Bossini   Italy 2:08.98 OR 4
Men's 200 m breaststroke August 12 Heat 7 Dániel Gyurta   Hungary 2:08.68 OR 4
Men's 200 m butterfly August 12 Semifinal 2 Michael Phelps   United States 1:53.70 OR 4
Men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay August 12 Heat 2 David Walters (1:46.57)
Ricky Berens (1:45.47)
Erik Vendt (1:47.11)
Klete Keller (1:45.51)
  United States 7:04.66 OR 4
Men's 100 m freestyle August 13 Semifinal 1 Alain Bernard   France 47.20 WR 5
Men's 100 m freestyle August 13 Semifinal 2 Eamon Sullivan   Australia 47.05 WR 5
Men's 200 m breaststroke August 13 Semifinal 1 Kosuke Kitajima   Japan 2:08.61 OR 5
Men's 200 m butterfly August 13 Final Michael Phelps   United States 1:52.03 WR 5
Men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay August 13 Final Michael Phelps (1:43.31)
Ryan Lochte (1:44.28)
Ricky Berens (1:46.29)
Peter Vanderkaay (1:44.68)
  United States 6:58.56 WR 5
Men's 50 m freestyle August 14 Heat 11 César Cielo   Brazil 21.47 OR 6
Men's 50 m freestyle August 14 Heat 12 Amaury Leveaux   France 21.46 OR 6
Men's 100 m butterfly August 14 Heat 7 Jason Dunford   Kenya 51.14 OR 6
Men's 100 m butterfly August 14 Heat 9 Milorad Čavić   Serbia 50.76 OR 6
Men's 50 m freestyle August 15 Semifinal 1 César Cielo   Brazil 21.34 OR 7
Men's 1500 m freestyle August 15 Heat 3 Ryan Cochrane   Canada 14:40.84 OR 7
Men's 1500 m freestyle August 15 Heat 5 Grant Hackett   Australia 14:38.92 OR 7
Men's 200 m backstroke August 15 Final Ryan Lochte   United States 1:53.94 WR 7
Men's 200 m individual medley August 15 Final Michael Phelps   United States 1:54.23 WR 7
Men's 50 m freestyle August 16 Final César Cielo   Brazil 21.30 OR 8
Men's 100 m butterfly August 16 Final Michael Phelps   United States 50.58 OR 8
Men's 4 × 100 m medley relay August 17 Final Aaron Peirsol (53.16)
Brendan Hansen (59.27)
Michael Phelps (50.15)
Jason Lezak (46.76)
  United States 3:29.34 WR 9

* World record split from the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay

Note: At the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay final, anchor Jason Lezak swam the fastest 100 m split (46.06); however, this is not considered an official FINA record, as he did not swim the first leg.

Women

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Event Date Round Name Nationality Time Record Day
Women's 400 m freestyle August 10 Heat 5 Katie Hoff   United States 4:03.71 OR 2
Women's 400 m freestyle August 10 Heat 6 Federica Pellegrini   Italy 4:02.19 OR 2
Women's 100 m backstroke August 10 Heat 5 Anastasia Zuyeva   Russia 59.61 OR 2
Women's 100 m backstroke August 10 Heat 6 Reiko Nakamura   Japan 59.36 OR 2
Women's 100 m backstroke August 10 Heat 7 Kirsty Coventry   Zimbabwe 59.00 OR 2
Women's 100 m breaststroke August 10 Heat 7 Leisel Jones   Australia 1:05.64 OR 2
Women's 400 m individual medley August 10 Final Stephanie Rice   Australia 4:29.45 WR 2
Women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay August 10 Final Inge Dekker (54.37)
Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.39)
Femke Heemskerk (53.42)
Marleen Veldhuis (52.58)
  Netherlands 3:33.76 OR 2
Women's 100 m freestyle August 10 Final leadoff* Britta Steffen   Germany 53.38 OR 2
Women's 200 m freestyle August 11 Heat 4 Pang Jiaying   China 1:57.37 OR 3
Women's 200 m freestyle August 11 Heat 5 Sara Isaković   Slovenia 1:55.86 OR 3
Women's 200 m freestyle August 11 Heat 6 Federica Pellegrini   Italy 1:55.45 WR 3
Women's 100 m backstroke August 11 Semifinal 2 Kirsty Coventry   Zimbabwe 58.77 WR 3
Women's 100 m breaststroke August 12 Final Leisel Jones   Australia 1:05.17 OR 4
Women's 200 m individual medley August 12 Semifinal 1 Kirsty Coventry   Zimbabwe 2:09.53 OR 4
Women's 200 m freestyle August 13 Final Federica Pellegrini   Italy 1:54.82 WR 5
Women's 200 m breaststroke August 13 Heat 5 Rebecca Soni   United States 2:22.17 OR 5
Women's 200 m individual medley August 13 Final Stephanie Rice   Australia 2:08.45 OR 5
Women's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay August 13 Heat 1 Alena Popchanka (1:58.27)
Céline Couderc (1:58.92)
Camille Muffat (1:57.32)
Coralie Balmy (1:55.86)
  France 7:50.37 OR 5
Women's 800 m freestyle August 14 Heat 4 Rebecca Adlington   Great Britain 8:18.06 OR 6
Women's 200 m backstroke August 14 Heat 4 Kirsty Coventry   Zimbabwe 2:06.76 OR 6
Women's 200 m butterfly August 14 Final Liu Zige   China 2:04.18 WR 6
Women's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay August 14 Final Stephanie Rice (1:56.60)
Bronte Barratt (1:56.58)
Kylie Palmer (1:55.22)
Linda Mackenzie (1:55.91)
  Australia 7:44.31 WR 6
Women's 100 m freestyle August 15 Final Britta Steffen   Germany 53.12 OR 7
Women's 200 m breaststroke August 15 Final Rebecca Soni   United States 2:20.22 WR 7
Women's 800 m freestyle August 16 Final Rebecca Adlington   Great Britain 8:14.10 WR 8
Women's 200 m backstroke August 16 Final Kirsty Coventry   Zimbabwe 2:05.24 WR 8
Women's 50 m freestyle August 17 Final Britta Steffen   Germany 24.06 OR 9
Women's 4 × 100 m medley relay August 17 Final Emily Seebohm (59.33)
Leisel Jones (1:04.58)
Jessicah Schipper (56.25)
Lisbeth Trickett (52.53)
  Australia 3:52.69 WR 9

LZR Racer suits

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Another big change to swimming occurred when Speedo launched the LZR Racer swim suits on February 13, 2008. The suits, developed by the Australian Institute of Sport,[15] were designed to repel water, allow oxygen to flow to the muscles, and hold the body in a more hydrodynamic position.[16][17] The suits had been proven to give the swimmer a lower time by 1.9 to 2.2%.[18] Due to the advantage provided by the suits, some swimmers complained about the fairness in its use, because some people used multiple swimsuits to improve buoyancy and compressing of body;[19] the official blog for the National Collegiate Athletic Association pondered whether they were "technology doping" and what was the difference between gaining advantage from a swimsuit and gaining advantage from performance-enhancing drugs.[18] In response to these complaints, the International Swimming Federation (FINA) scheduled a meeting with Speedo to discuss the suits.[19] After the meeting, FINA dismissed the claims of cheating, and endorsed the suits for future swimming meets.[19] By August 14, 2008, 62 world records had been broken by swimmers wearing the LZR Racer.[20][17]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Olympedia – Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  2. ^ "BBC 2008 Olympic Coverage: Swimming". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  3. ^ a b Staff (18 August 2008). "Recap: Phelps eight golds more than any other country". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Archived from the original on 5 January 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  4. ^ "Phelps claims Olympic-record eighth gold medal with relay win". Sports Illustrated. CNN. 17 August 2008. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2008.
  5. ^ a b "Phelps wins historic eighth gold". BBC Sport. 17 August 2008. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  6. ^ a b c d "China's Olympic Swimming Pool: Redefining Fast". National Public Radio. 10 August 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
  7. ^ "Olympic Swimming Schedule". FINA. Archived from the original on 16 May 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  8. ^ "Olympics on NBC through 2032". USA Today. Gannett Company. May 7, 2014. Archived from the original on May 7, 2014. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  9. ^ "Fewer Russians Could Be a Windfall for U.S. Olympic Business". The New York Times. 7 December 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
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