Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics

Dates 6 – 13 August 2016
Medal Events 32

The swimming events took place mostly in the newly built Olympic Aquatics Stadium in the Olympic Park. The open water swims were held at Fort Copacabana Bay, and in the lead-up to the Rio Olympics, there was controversy about the water quality and concerns for safety of the swimmers. This turned out to be a non-factor as the water was cleaned up prior to the Olympics, and the swimmers who competed had no significant complaints.

The United States was the dominant nation, winning 33 medals and 16 gold medals, from the 34 available events. It led both the men’s and women’s tables, as the men won 17 medals and 8 golds, and the women won 16 medals and 8 golds. In a measure of absolute dominance the Americans also won the most silver medals and the most bronze medals in both genders. Australia was the next best nation, winning 10 medals and 3 golds, while Hungary, led by Katinka Hosszú, won 7 medals and 3 golds. Japan also won 7 medals, with 2 golds.

Eight world records were set in swimming at Rio de Janeiro, two by Adam Peaty in the heats and final of the 100 breaststroke, and two by Katie Ledecky, in the 400 and 800 metre freestyles. The other world records were by Sarah Sjoström in the 100 fly, by Katinka Hosszú in the 400IM, by the Australian women in the 4x100 freestyle relay, and by Ryan Murphy in the 100 backstroke, set on the opening leg of the medley relay final.

Michael Phelps came out of retirement in 2015 with an eye towards competing in Rio, and he was successful again, winning 6 medals with 5 golds, bringing his career totals to 23 gold medals and 28 medals in all. American female distance star Katie Ledecky won 4 gold medals, and 5 medals in all, while Hungary’s Hosszú won 3 gold medals and a silver. Surprising Canadian Penny Oleksiak, who had just turned 16-years-old shortly before Rio and was relatively unknown prior to 2016, won 1 gold and 4 medals.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
50 metres Freestyle, Men Olympic 11 – 12 August 2016 85 72
100 metres Freestyle, Men Olympic 9 – 10 August 2016 59 46
200 metres Freestyle, Men Olympic 7 – 8 August 2016 47 36
400 metres Freestyle, Men Olympic 6 August 2016 50 39
1,500 metres Freestyle, Men Olympic 12 – 13 August 2016 45 32
4 x 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Men Olympic 7 August 2016 73 16
4 x 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men Olympic 9 August 2016 73 16
100 metres Backstroke, Men Olympic 7 – 8 August 2016 39 32
200 metres Backstroke, Men Olympic 10 – 11 August 2016 26 19
100 metres Breaststroke, Men Olympic 6 – 7 August 2016 46 38
200 metres Breaststroke, Men Olympic 9 – 10 August 2016 39 30
100 metres Butterfly, Men Olympic 11 – 12 August 2016 43 32
200 metres Butterfly, Men Olympic 8 – 9 August 2016 29 21
200 metres Individual Medley, Men Olympic 10 – 11 August 2016 27 21
400 metres Individual Medley, Men Olympic 6 August 2016 27 20
4 x 100 metres Medley Relay, Men Olympic 12 – 13 August 2016 74 16
50 metres Freestyle, Women Olympic 12 – 13 August 2016 89 75
100 metres Freestyle, Women Olympic 10 – 11 August 2016 46 36
200 metres Freestyle, Women Olympic 8 – 9 August 2016 42 27
400 metres Freestyle, Women Olympic 7 August 2016 32 25
800 metres Freestyle, Women Olympic 11 – 12 August 2016 27 19
4 x 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Women Olympic 6 August 2016 71 16
4 x 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Women Olympic 10 August 2016 73 16
100 metres Backstroke, Women Olympic 7 – 8 August 2016 34 29
200 metres Backstroke, Women Olympic 11 – 12 August 2016 28 20
100 metres Breaststroke, Women Olympic 7 – 8 August 2016 44 35
200 metres Breaststroke, Women Olympic 10 – 11 August 2016 29 21
100 metres Butterfly, Women Olympic 6 – 7 August 2016 45 35
200 metres Butterfly, Women Olympic 9 – 10 August 2016 27 20
200 metres Individual Medley, Women Olympic 8 – 9 August 2016 39 26
400 metres Individual Medley, Women Olympic 6 August 2016 33 23
4 x 100 metres Medley Relay, Women Olympic 12 – 13 August 2016 76 16
897 (483/414) 173 (169/160)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
50 metres Freestyle, Men Anthony ErvinUSA Florent ManaudouFRA Nathan AdrianUSA
100 metres Freestyle, Men Kyle ChalmersAUS Pieter TimmersBEL Nathan AdrianUSA
200 metres Freestyle, Men Sun YangCHN Chad le ClosRSA Conor DwyerUSA
400 metres Freestyle, Men Mack HortonAUS Sun YangCHN Gabriele DettiITA
1,500 metres Freestyle, Men Gregorio PaltrinieriITA Connor JaegerUSA Gabriele DettiITA
4 × 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Men United StatesUSA FranceFRA AustraliaAUS
4 × 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men United StatesUSA Great BritainGBR JapanJPN
100 metres Backstroke, Men Ryan MurphyUSA Xu JiayuCHN David PlummerUSA
200 metres Backstroke, Men Ryan MurphyUSA Mitch LarkinAUS Yevgeny RylovRUS
100 metres Breaststroke, Men Adam PeatyGBR Cameron van der BurghRSA Cody MillerUSA
200 metres Breaststroke, Men Dmitry BalandinKAZ Josh PrenotUSA Anton ChupkovRUS
100 metres Butterfly, Men Joseph SchoolingSGP László Cseh, Jr.
Chad le Clos
Michael Phelps
HUN
RSA
USA
200 metres Butterfly, Men Michael PhelpsUSA Masato SakaiJPN Tamás KenderesiHUN
200 metres Individual Medley, Men Michael PhelpsUSA Kosuke HaginoJPN Wang ShunCHN
400 metres Individual Medley, Men Kosuke HaginoJPN Chase KaliszUSA Daiya SetoJPN
4 × 100 metres Medley Relay, Men United StatesUSA Great BritainGBR AustraliaAUS
50 metres Freestyle, Women Pernille BlumeDEN Simone ManuelUSA Aliaksandra HerasimeniaBLR
100 metres Freestyle, Women Penny Oleksiak
Simone Manuel
CAN
USA
Sarah SjöströmSWE
200 metres Freestyle, Women Katie LedeckyUSA Sarah SjöströmSWE Emma McKeonAUS
400 metres Freestyle, Women Katie LedeckyUSA Jazz CarlinGBR Leah SmithUSA
800 metres Freestyle, Women Katie LedeckyUSA Jazz CarlinGBR Boglárka KapásHUN
4 × 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Women AustraliaAUS United StatesUSA CanadaCAN
4 × 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Women United StatesUSA AustraliaAUS CanadaCAN
100 metres Backstroke, Women Katinka HosszúHUN Kathleen BakerUSA Kylie Masse
Fu Yuanhui
CAN
CHN
200 metres Backstroke, Women Maya DiRadoUSA Katinka HosszúHUN Hilary CaldwellCAN
100 metres Breaststroke, Women Lilly KingUSA Yuliya YefimovaRUS Katie MeiliUSA
200 metres Breaststroke, Women Rie KanetoJPN Yuliya YefimovaRUS Shi JinglinCHN
100 metres Butterfly, Women Sarah SjöströmSWE Penny OleksiakCAN Dana VollmerUSA
200 metres Butterfly, Women Mireia BelmonteESP Madeline GrovesAUS Natsumi HoshiJPN
200 metres Individual Medley, Women Katinka HosszúHUN Siobhan-Marie O'ConnorGBR Maya DiRadoUSA
400 metres Individual Medley, Women Katinka HosszúHUN Maya DiRadoUSA Mireia BelmonteESP
4 × 100 metres Medley Relay, Women United StatesUSA AustraliaAUS DenmarkDEN

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
United States USA 16 8 9 33
Australia AUS 3 4 3 10
Hungary HUN 3 2 2 7
Japan JPN 2 2 3 7
Great Britain GBR 1 5 0 6
People's Republic of China CHN 1 2 3 6
Canada CAN 1 1 4 6
Sweden SWE 1 1 1 3
Italy ITA 1 0 2 3
Denmark DEN 1 0 1 2
Spain ESP 1 0 1 2
Kazakhstan KAZ 1 0 0 1
Singapore SGP 1 0 0 1
South Africa RSA 0 3 0 3
Russian Federation RUS 0 2 2 4
France FRA 0 2 0 2
Belgium BEL 0 1 0 1
Belarus BLR 0 0 1 1