BEIJING OLYMPIC GAME
Olympic swimming has come a long way, to temperature-controlled 50-metre pools, wave-killing gutters, lane markers designed to reduce turbulence, and status as one of the Games' glamour events. It is far removed from those early days.
Discipline's origin
Swimming is an ancient discipline, as prehistoric man had to learn to swim in order to cross rivers and lakes. There are numerous references in Greek mythology to swimming, the most notable being that of Leander swimming the Hellespont (now the Dardenelle straits) nightly to see his beloved Hero. Swimming as a sport was probably not practised widely until the early 19th century. The National Swimming Society of Great Britain was formed in 1837 and began to conduct competitions. Most early swimmers used the breaststroke or a form of it. In the 1870s, a British swimming instructor named J. Arthur Trudgeon travelled to South America, where he saw natives there using an alternate arm overhand stroke. He brought it back to England as the famous trudgeon stroke a crawl variant with a scissors kick. In the late 1880s an Englishman named Frederick Cavill travelled to the South Seas, where he saw the natives performing a crawl with a flutter kick.. Cavill settled in Australia where he taught the stroke that was to become the famous Australian crawl.
Olympic history
Swimming has been held at every Olympic Games. The early events were usually only conducted in freestyle (crawl) or breaststroke. Backstroke was added as of the 1904 Games. In the 1940s, breaststrokers discovered they could go much faster by bringing both arms overhead together. This was banned in the breaststroke shortly thereafter but became the butterfly stroke, which is now the fourth stroke used in competitive swimming. Women's swimming was first held at the 1912 Olympics. It has since been conducted at all the Olympics. Men and women compete in an almost identical programme. They have the same number of events but the freestyle distance for women is 800 metres while for men it is 1500 metres.
Swimming pool
Length 50.0 meters. When touch panels of Automatic Officiating Equipment are used on the starting end, or additionally on the turning end, the pool must be of such length that ensures the required distance of 50.0 meters between the two panels. 25.0 meters. When touch panels of Automatic Officiating Equipment are used on the starting end, or additionally on the turning end, the pool must be of such length that ensures the required distance of 25.0 meters between the two panels. Dimensional Tolerances Against the nominal length of 50.0 meters, a tolerance of plus 0.03 metre in each lane minus 0.00 metre on both end walls at all points from 0.3 metre above to 0.8 metre below the surface of the water is allowed. These measurements should be certified by a surveyor or other qualified official, appointed or approved by the Member in the country in which the pool is situated. Tolerances cannot be exceeded when touch panels are installed. Against the nominal length of 25.0 meters, a tolerance of plus 0.03 metre in each lane minus 0.00 metre on both end walls at all points from 0.3 metre above to 0.8 metre below the surface of the water is allowed. These measurements should be certified by a surveyor or other qualified official, appointed or approved by the Member in the country, in which the pool is situated. Tolerances cannot be exceeded when touch panels are installed.
Depth
A minimum depth of 1.35 meters, extending from 1.0 metre to at least 6.0 meters from the end wall is required for pools with starting blocks. A minimum depth of 1.0 metre is required elsewhere.
List of events
On the program of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, Beijing 2008 Swimming: (1) 100m backstroke Men (2) 100m breaststroke Men (3) 100m butterfly Men (4) 100m freestyle Men (5) 1500m freestyle Men (6) 200m backstroke Men (7) 200m breaststroke Men (8) 200m butterfly Men (9) 200m freestyle Men (10) 200m individual medley Men (11) 400m freestyle Men (12) 400m individual medley Men (13) 4x100m freestyle relay Men (14) 4x100m medley relay Men (15) 4x200m freestyle relay Men (16) 50m freestyle Men (17) marathon 10km Men (18)100m backstroke Women (19) 100m breaststroke Women (20) 100m butterfly Women (21) 100m freestyle Women (22) 200m backstroke Women (23) 200m breaststroke Women (24) 200m butterfly Women (25) 200m freestyle Women (26) 200m individual medley Women (27) 400m freestyle Women (28) 400m individual medley Women (29) 4x100m freestyle relay Women (30) 4x100m medley relay Women (31) 4x200m freestyle relay Women (32) 50m freestyle Women (33) 800m freestyle Women (34) marathon 10km Women Diving: (1) 3m springboard Men
(2) synchronized diving 10m platform Men (3) synchronized diving 3m springboard Men (4) 10m platform Men (5) 10m platform Women (6) 3m springboard Women (7) synchronized diving 10m platform Women (8) synchronized diving 3m springboard Women Synchronized Swimming: (1) duet Women (2) team Women Water polo: (1) water polo Men (2) water polo Women
Time and venues for the swimming event of the 29th Olympic Games
The swimming event of the 29th Olympic Games will be held at the National Aquatics Center in the Olympic Green, August 9-21, 2008. The 10km-marathon swimming event for men and women will be held at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park.
Competition Rules
The Swimming competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will be held in accordance with the rules of Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) Handbook 2005-2009 and the Olympic Charter, in force at the time of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Pursuant to the Olympic Charter, FINA assumes the responsibility for the technical control and direction of Swimming at the Olympic Games. A Commission shall be appointed, consisting of the Swimming Technical Delegates and the Chairman and Honorary Secretary of the Technical Swimming
Committee and the Chairman and Honorary Secretary of the Technical Open Water Swimming Committee. Protests and Appeals Protests are possible and shall be resolved under FINA rule GR 9.2.2 and GR 9.2.3. Protests must be submitted to the referee in writing by the team leader with a deposit of 100 Swiss Francs or its equivalent, within 30 minutes following the conclusion of the respective competition. The referee shall consider all protests. If he rejects the protest, he must state the reasons for his decision. The team leader may appeal the rejection to the Jury of Appeal whose decision shall be final. The Commission shall consider appeals against decision by the referee and recommendations to the Jury of Appeal. Draw There will be no draw for Pool Swimming competition and lanes will be assigned based on entry times. For Marathon Swimming the standard draw for starting positions will be used. Appointment of the International Technical Officials Swimming Each FINA Member Federation is entitled to send Applications for one (1) Starter and one (1) Judge included on the FINA Swimming Officials Lists No.13 and No.14. The FINA TSC will nominate: Host Federation: twelve (12) Deck Officials, one (1) Starter Other NFs: twenty-one (21) Judges, one (1) Starter Marathon Swimming Each FINA Member Federation is entitled to send Applications for one (1) Judge included on the FINA Open Water Swimming Officials Lists No.6 and No. 7. The FINA TOWSC will nominate: Host Federation: eight (8) Judges Other NFs: five (5) Judges
Competition Format
There will be preliminaries in the evening sessions, except Day 8 and Day 9. From the preliminaries in 50m, 100m and 200m individual events, the sixteen (16)fastest competitors will compete in the semifinals in the next morning session. From the semifinals, the eight (8) fastest competitors will proceed to the final in the following morning session. From preliminaries in 400m Individual Medley events and Freestyle Relay events, the eight (8) fastest competitors will proceed to the final in the following morning session. For the women's 800m Freestyle, the men's 1,500m Freestyle, the men's and women's 4x100m Medley Relay events, the men's and women's 4x100m Freestyle events and the men's and women's 4 x 200m Freestyle events, the eight (8) fastest competitors or teams will proceed to the final, which will be held in the following morning session following the preliminaries.
The National Aquatics Center
The "Water Cube" Olympic events: Swimming, Diving, Synchronized Swimming Seating: 17,000 Paralympics events: Swimming Olympic dates: August 9-23 Opening hours: Two hours prior to the start of competition Walking distances: Located in the south-western part of Olympic Green's Central Zone, the National Aquatic Center can be reached from all four main entries of Olympic Green. Distances from the main entries to the Center are as follows: From the Southwest Entry: approximately 200 meters From the South Entry: approximately 900 meters From the East Entry: approximately 1,000 meters From Subway Line 8 "Olympic Green" station: approximately 300 meters
The interior
A night shot
The exterior
Michael Phelps
The center in the rain
A day shot
A night shot
The interior
Michael Fred Phelps (born June 30, 1985) is an American swimmer. He has won 14 career Olympic gold medals, the most by any Olympian. As of August 2008, he also holds seven world records in swimming. Phelps holds the record for the most gold medals won at a single Olympics with the eight gold’s he won at the 2008 Olympic Games. With this record, he surpassed Mark Spitz, who was also a swimmer and had held the previous gold medal total with the seven that he won at the 1972 Olympic Games. Overall, Phelps has won 16 Olympic medals: six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at in Beijing in 2008. In winning these medals, he has twice equaled Soviet gymnast Alexander Dityatin's record of eight medals (of any type) at a single Olympics; Dityatin garnered eight at the 1980 Summer Olympics, while Phelps won eight medals at both the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics. Out of his eight gold medals from Beijing, five were won in individual events, tying the record for individual gold medals at a single Games originally set by Eric Heiden in the 1980 Winter Olympics and equaled by Vitaly Scherbo at the 1992 Summer Games. Phelps ranks second in total career Olympic medals, after Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina, who won a total of 18 medals (nine gold) spanning three Olympic Games. Phelps's international titles, along with his various world records, have resulted in him being awarded the World Swimmer of the Year Award in 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2007 and American Swimmer of the Year Award in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2007. Phelps has won a total of 48 career medals thus far: 40 gold , six silvers and two bronze. This includes all of the Championships in which he has competed: The Olympics, the World Championships, and the Pan Pacific Championships.
Michael Phelps poses for a photo with U.S. President George W. Bush after Phelps won his first Olympic gold medal in the men's 400 meter individual medley at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Date (in Beijing) Event Results Time August 10 400 m individual medley Gold Medal, World Record 4:03.84 August 11 4 x 100 m freestyle relay Gold Medal, World Record 3:08.24 August 12 200 m freestyle Gold Medal, World Record 1:42.96 August 13 200 m butterfly Gold Medal, World Record 1:52.03 August 13 4 x 200 m freestyle relay Gold Medal, World Record 6:58.56 August 15 200 m individual medley Gold Medal, World Record 1:54.23 August 16 100 m butterfly Gold Medal, Olympic Record 50.58 August 17 4 x 100 m medley relay Gold Medal, World Record 3:29.34