Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Qualification

For the swimming competitions at the 2008 Olympics the following qualification systems were in place.

Pool: Individual Events

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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.

The qualifying time standards must be obtained in Continental Championships, National Olympic Trials or International Competitions approved by FINA in the period March 15, 2007 to July 15, 2008.

FINA Qualifying Standards are as follows:[1]

Men's Events Women's Events
Event Men's A Men's B Event Women's A Women's B
Men's 50 metre freestyle 22.35 23.13 Women's 50 metre freestyle 25.43 26.32
Men's 100 metre freestyle 49.23 50.95 Women's 100 metre freestyle 55.24 57.17
Men's 200 metre freestyle 1:48.72 1:52.53 Women's 200 metre freestyle 1:59.30 2:03.50
Men's 400 metre freestyle 3:49.95 3:58.00 Women's 400 metre freestyle 4:11.26 4:20.05
- - - Women's 800 metre freestyle 8:36.00 8:54.04
Men's 1500 metre freestyle 15:13.16 15:45.12 - - -
Men's 100 metre backstroke 55.14 57.07 Women's 100 metre backstroke 1:01.70 1:03.86
Men's 200 metre backstroke 1:59.72 2:03.90 Women's 200 metre backstroke 2:12.73 2:17.40
Men's 100 metre breaststroke 1:01.57 1:03.72 Women's 100 metre breaststroke 1:09.00 1:11.43
Men's 200 metre breaststroke 2:13.70 2:18.37 Women's 200 metre breaststroke 2:28.20 2:33.40
Men's 100 metre butterfly 52.86 54.70 Women's 100 metre butterfly 59.35 1:01.43
Men's 200 metre butterfly 1:57.67 2:01.80 Women's 200 metre butterfly 2:10.84 2:15.42
Men's 200 metre individual medley 2:01.40 2:05.65 Women's 200 metre individual medley 2:15.27 2:20.00
Men's 400 metre individual medley 4:18.40 4:27.45 Women's 400 metre individual medley 4:45.10 4:55.06

Pool: Relays

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The 2008 Olympics relay field consisted of 16 teams per event. These spots were allocated to:

  • the top 12 finishers at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships;
  • the fastest 4 teams not qualified via the 2007 Worlds, based on performances from April 2007-July 2008.

Men's 4×100 m freestyle relay

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Competition Qualifiers (16)
2007
World Championships
[2]
(12)
  Australia   Brazil   Canada   France
  Germany   Great Britain   Italy   Japan
  South Africa   Sweden   Switzerland   United States
World Ranking
(4)
  China   Netherlands   New Zealand   Russia

Men's 4×200 m freestyle relay

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Competition Qualifiers (16)
2007
World Championships
[3]
(12)
  Australia   Brazil   Canada   France
  Germany   Great Britain   Greece   Japan
  Italy   Poland   Russia   United States
World Ranking
(4)
  Austria   South Africa   China   Hungary

Men's 4×100 m medley relay

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Competition Qualifiers (16)
2007
World Championships
[4]
(12)
  Australia   Belarus   Brazil

  France

  Great Britain   Italy   Japan   New Zealand
  Romania   Russia   South Africa

  Ukraine

World Ranking
(4)
  Canada   Croatia   Sweden   United States

Women's 4×100 m freestyle relay

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Competition Qualifiers (16)
2007
World Championships
[5]
(12)
  Australia   Belarus   Canada   China
  France   Germany   Great Britain   Netherlands
  New Zealand   Sweden   Ukraine   United States
World Ranking
(4)
  Belgium   Brazil   Finland   Japan

Women's 4×200 m freestyle relay

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Competition Qualifiers (16)
2007
World Championships
[6]
(12)
  Australia   Canada   China   France
  Germany   Great Britain   Japan   Netherlands
  New Zealand   Spain   Sweden   United States
World Ranking
(4)
  Denmark   Hungary   Italy   Poland

Women's 4×100 m medley relay

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Competition Qualifiers (16)
2007
World Championships
[7]
(12)
  Australia   Canada   China   France
  Germany   Great Britain   Italy   Japan
  Russia   Sweden   Ukraine   United States
World Ranking
(4)
  Brazil   Netherlands   South Africa   Spain

Open Water: Marathon

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The 2008 Olympics mark the debut of an "open water" swimming even at the Olympics; for which a male and female 10-kilometer race was held at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park.

A nation could qualify up to two marathon swimmers per event, but only 25 swimmers competed in both the men's and women's 10-kilometer races.[8] Those 25 spots were allocated/awarded as follows:

Men's 10 km

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Event Location Date Vacancies Qualified
2008 Open Water
World Championships
[9]
  Seville May 3–4, 2008 10   Vladimir Dyatchin
  David Davies
  Thomas Lurz
  Maarten van der Weijden
  Evgeny Drattsev
  Ky Hurst
  Mark Warkentin
  Valerio Cleri
  Spyridon Gianniotis
  Brian Ryckeman
Continental
Representation*
5**
  Gilles Rondy
  Luis Escobar
  Mohamed El Zanaty
  Saleh Mohammad
Host Nation= 1   Xin Tong
Olympic Marathon Swim
Qualifier[10]
  Beijing May 31 - Jun 1, 2008 9   Petar Stoychev
  Csaba Gercsák
  Rostislav Vitek
  Chad Ho
  Erwin Maldonado
  Allan do Carmo
  Damián Blaum
  Francisco Jose Hervas
  Arseniy Lavrentyev**
TOTAL 25

* The first eligible finisher from each of the five Continents at the 2008 Open Water World Championship.
** Since Australia was the only Oceanian country at the 2008 OW WC and the country had a qualifier in the top-10, Oceania did not receive any continental berth and the place redistributed to the Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier for allocation.

Women's 10 km

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Event Location Date Vacancies Qualified
2008 Open Water Swimming
World Championships
  Seville May 3–4, 2008 10   Larisa Ilchenko
  Cassandra Patten
  Yurema Requena
  Natalie du Toit
  Jana Pechanová
  Poliana Okimoto
  Angela Maurer
  Keri Anne Payne
  Aurélie Muller
  Ana Marcela Cunha
Continental
Representation*
5**
  Edith van Dijk
  Fang Yanqiao***
  Andreina Pinto
  Melissa Gorman
Host Nation= 1***
Olympic Marathon Swim
Qualifier
  Beijing May 31 - Jun 1, 2008 9   Chloe Sutton
  Martina Grimaldi
  Marianna Lymperta
  Nataliya Samorodina
  Kristel Köbrich
  Imelda Martinez
  Eva Berglund
  Teja Zupan
  Antonella Bogarin**
  Daniela Inacio***
TOTAL 25

* The first eligible finisher from each of the five continents at the 2008 Open Water World Championships. Basically the top finisher from each continent that was outside the top-10 finishers, and from a country who did not have a finisher in the top-10.
**Because South Africa was the only African country at the championships and they had Natalie du Toit qualify for the Olympics via her top-10 finish at the 2008 Open Water World Championships, the Africa continental berth was not allocated to the other South African entrant in the race. The entry allocation instead was added to those available for awarding at the Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier.
***The Host Nation allocated entry was only if China did not have someone qualify in another fashion. China's Fang Yanqiao qualified at the 2008 Open Water World Championships via the Asia Continental Representative allocation, and therefore the Host Nation allocated spot became available at the Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier.
****The Olympic committee of Israel did not approve the participation of Daniel Katzir (men) and Olga Berenseva (women) in the Olympic team, as their results were not good enough to make the national Olympic criteria. Their appeals to court against this decision were denied.

References

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  1. ^ "Olympic Qualifying Procedures for Swimming" (PDF). FINA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-03-04. Retrieved 2007-03-20.
  2. ^ "FINA World Championships Men's 4x100 m Freestyle Qualification Results" (PDF). FINA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-03-25.
  3. ^ "FINA World Championships Men's 4x200 m Freestyle Qualification Results" (PDF). FINA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-01-20. Retrieved 2007-03-30.
  4. ^ "FINA World Championships Men's 4x100 m Medley Qualification Results" (PDF). FINA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-04-06. Retrieved 2007-04-01.
  5. ^ "FINA World Championships Women's 4x100 m Freestyle Qualification Results" (PDF). FINA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-03-25.
  6. ^ "FINA World Championships Women's 4x200 m Freestyle Qualification Results" (PDF). FINA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-04-09. Retrieved 2007-04-01.
  7. ^ "FINA World Championships Women's 4x100 m Medley Qualification Results" (PDF). FINA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-04-06. Retrieved 2007-03-31.
  8. ^ "Olympic Swimming Qualifying Procedures". FINA. Retrieved 2008-04-13.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ Men's 10K results Archived 2008-05-28 at the Wayback Machine from the 2008 Open Water Worlds.
  10. ^ Event page Archived 2009-02-12 at the Wayback Machine from the Open Water "Good Luck Beijing" test-event for the 2008 Olympics.
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