FACTBOX: Swimming at the Games

Factbox on swimming at the August 8-24 Beijing Olympics:

HISTORY

Swimming has been part of the Olympics since the first modern Games in Athens in 1896 when racing took place in the chilly waters of the Saronic Gulf. The swimmers were taken out in a boat and had to race back to the shore, watched by 40,000 spectators.

The River Seine was the swimming venue at the 1900 Games in Paris.

Butterfly was introduced as a separate discipline at the 1956 Melbourne Games after disputes over new techniques being used by breaststroke swimmers who saved time by moving their arms forward above the surface of the water.

Individual medley was introduced in Mexico City in 1968 with the order of strokes being butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.

In 1972, in Munich, American swimmer Mark Spitz became the first person to win seven gold medals at one Olympics.

EVENTS

34 events - 17 for men and 17 for women.

Of those, 28 are individual races in freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, 10km open water and individual medley. Six are relays (freestyle and medley) swum by teams of four.

All the events are held in a 50-metre pool.

The finals will be held in the mornings, rather than the evenings as at previous Games.

OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION

About 800 athletes are expected to take part. Each country is limited to 92 swimmers.

PROGRAMME (FINALS ONLY)

August 10 - Men's 400 meters individual medley, men's 400 freestyle, women's 400 individual medley, women's 4x100 freestyle relay