Swimming – news reports, Sydney results, ancient origins, Olympic history, Atlanta results, the competition, rules in brief, the taking part and GB squad

THE COMPETITION

WORLD RECORDS: MEN | WOMEN

Olympic swimming takes place in the first week of the Games and is held in a long-course pool; one that is 50 metres long.

There are 16 races for men and 16 for women. Freestyle is swum over 50, 100, 200, 400 and either 800 (women) or 1,500 metres (men); backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly over 100 and 200 metres and medley over 200 and 400 metres, the order of which is butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle (50 metres each stroke for 200 metres and 100 metres each stroke for 400 metres).

The three relays races are 4 by 100 and 4 by 200 metres freestyle, and 4 by 100 metres medley, the order of which is backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle - the backstroke is first because backstroke starts in the water and therefore cannot follow another stroke without causing an obstacle between the swimmer racing home and the wall he is racing to.

Qualifying heats are held in the morning, semi-finals and finals in the evening. Semi-finals are being reintroduced to the Games swimming programme for all distances up to 200 metres in Sydney.

Fina wanted the programme extended by just a day to seven days but Australia won the debate and the swimming events will be extended by two days to eight days in Sydney, lest competitors should need to be treated for exhaustion. In most events the heats and semi-finals of a single race are held one day and the final the next.

As many swimmers as make the time standards set by Fina may enter the heats, with two entries allowed per nation per event. Unlike athletics, the fastest 16 times, regardless of which heat they are swum in, qualify for the semi-finals in races up to 200 metres.

The semi-finals are made up of two races of eight swimmers. There are no semi-finals for longer races, in which the fastest eight times set in the heats go through to the final. All finals have eight swimmers, one in each lane. There are two outside lanes that are not used for races.

WORLD RECORDS

MEN

Freestyle

50m: 21.64 Alexander Popov (Russ)
Moscow, June 16, 2000
100m: 48.21 Alexander Popov (Russ)
Monte Carlo, June 18, 1994
200m: 1:45.51 Ian Thorpe (Aus)
Sydney, May 15, 2000
400m: 3:41.33 Ian Thorpe (Aus)
Sydney, May 15, 2000
1500m: 14:41.66 Kieren Perkins (Aus)
Victoria, Aug. 24, 1994