| Event: | Swimming |
| Games: | 2020 Summer |
| Venue: | Tokyo Aquatics Centre (pool) Odaiba Marine Park (open water) |
| Dates: | 24 July – 1 August 2021 4–5 August 2021 (Marathon) |
| Competitors: | 1000 |
| Num Events: | 37 |
| Prev: | 2016 |
| Next: | 2024 |
The swimming competitions at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo were due to take place from 25 July to 6 August 2020 at the Olympic Aquatics Centre. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the games were postponed to 2021. However, their official name remained 2020 Summer Olympics with swimming events set for 24 July–1 August 2021[1] and marathon swimming set for 4–5 August 2021.[2]
Swimming featured a record total of 37 events (18 for each gender and 1 mixed), with the addition of the men's 800 m freestyle, women's 1500 m freestyle, and the mixed medley relay.
Swimming at the 2020 Olympics featured a total of 37 events (18 each for men and women and 1 mixed event), including two 10 km open-water marathons. This was a slight increase from the 34 events contested in the previous Olympic Games. The following events were contested (all pool events are long course, and distances are in meters unless stated):
50, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1,500;
100 and 200;
100 and 200;
100 and 200;
200 and 400;
4 × 100 free, 4 × 200 free; 4 × 100 medley (men's, women's, and mixed)
10 kilometres
Unlike the previous Olympics, swimming program schedule occurred in two segments. For the pool events, similar to the case of the 2008 Games, prelims were held in the evening, with semifinals and final in the following morning session, spanning a day between semifinals and finals in those events with semifinals. The shift of the normal morning prelims and evening finals (to evening prelims and morning finals) occurred for these Games due to the prior request made by US broadcaster NBC (due to the substantial fees NBC has paid for rights to the Olympics, the IOC has allowed NBC to have influence on event scheduling to maximize U.S. television ratings when possible; NBC agreed to a $7.75 billion contract extension on May 7, 2014, to air the Olympics through the 2032 games[3] and is also one of the major sources of revenue for the IOC),[4] so that the finals from the event could be shown live in the United States.[5] [6]
| Date → | Jul 24 | Jul 25 | Jul 26 | Jul 27 | Jul 28 | Jul 29 | Jul 30 | Jul 31 | Aug 1 | Aug 5 | |||||||||||
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| Date → | Jul 24 | Jul 25 | Jul 26 | Jul 27 | Jul 28 | Jul 29 | Jul 30 | Jul 31 | Aug 1 | Aug 4 | |||||||||||
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| Event ↓ | M | E | M | E | M | E | M | E | M | E | M | E | M | E | M | E | M | E | M | E | |
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See main article: Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification.
FINA establishes qualifying times for individual events. The time standards consisted of two types: an "Olympic Qualifying Time" (OQT) and an "Olympic Selection time" (OST). Each country was able to enter up to two swimmers per event, provided both swimmers met the (faster) qualifying time. A country was able to enter one swimmer per event that met the invitation standard. Any swimmer who met the "qualifying" time was entered in the event for the Games; a swimmer meeting the "invitation" standard was eligible for entry, and their entry was allotted/filled in by ranking. If a country has no swimmers who meet either of the qualifying standards, it may have entered one male and one female. A country that did not receive an allocation spot but had at least one swimmer who met a qualifying standard might have entered the swimmer with the highest ranking.[10]
Each relay event features 16 teams, composed of:
The men's and women's 10 km races featured 25 swimmers:
| 50 m freestyle | 21.07 | 21.55 | 21.57 | ||||
| 100 m freestyle | 47.02 | 47.08 | 47.44 | ||||
| 200 m freestyle | 1:44.22 NR | 1:44.26 | 1:44.66 SA | ||||
| 400 m freestyle | 3:43.36 | 3:43.52 | 3:43.94 | ||||
| 800 m freestyle | 7:41.87 NR | 7:42.11 | 7:42.33 | ||||
| 1500 m freestyle | 14:39.65 | 14:40.66 | 14:40.91 | ||||
| 100 m backstroke | 51.98 ER | 52.00 | 52.19 | ||||
| 200 m backstroke | 1:53.27 | 1:54.15 | 1:54.72 | ||||
| 100 m breaststroke | 57.37 | 58.00 | 58.33 | ||||
| 200 m breaststroke | 2:06.38 | 2:07.01 | 2:07.13 NR | ||||
| 100 m butterfly | 49.45 | 49.68 ER | 50.74 NR | ||||
| 200 m butterfly | 1:51.25 | 1:53.73 | 1:54.45 | ||||
| 200 m individual medley | 1:55.00 AS | 1:55.28 NR | 1:56.17 NR | ||||
| 400 m individual medley | 4:09.42 | 4:10.28 | 4:10.38 | ||||
| 4 × 100 m freestyle relay | 3:08.97 | 3:10.11 NR | 3:10.22 | ||||
| 4 × 200 m freestyle relay | 6:58.58 ER | 7:01.81 | 7:01.84 | ||||
| 4 × 100 m medley relay | 3:26.78 | 3:27.51 ER | Thomas Ceccon (52.52) Nicolò Martinenghi (58.11) Federico Burdisso (51.07) Alessandro Miressi (47.47) | 3:29.17 NR | |||
| 10 km open water | 1:48:33.7 | 1:48:59.0 | 1:49:01.1 | ||||
| 50 m freestyle | 23.81 | 24.07 | 24.21 | ||||
| 100 m freestyle | 51.96, OC | 52.27 AS | 52.52 | ||||
| 200 m freestyle | 1:53.50 | 1:53.92 AS | 1:54.70 | ||||
| 400 m freestyle | 3:56.69 OC | 3:57.36 | 4:01.08 AS | ||||
| 800 m freestyle | 8:12.57 | 8:13.83 OC | 8:18.35 | ||||
| 1500 m freestyle | 15:37.34 | 15:41.41 | 15:42.91 NR | ||||
| 100 m backstroke | 57.47 | 57.72 | 58.05 | ||||
| 200 m backstroke | 2:04.68 | 2:05.42 NR | 2:06.17 | ||||
| 100 m breaststroke | 1:04.95 | 1:05.22 | 1:05.54 | ||||
| 200 m breaststroke | 2:18.95 | 2:19.92 | 2:20.84 | ||||
| 100 m butterfly | 55.59 AM | 55.64 | 55.72 OC | ||||
| 200 m butterfly | 2:03.86 | 2:05.30 | 2:05.65 | ||||
| 200 m individual medley | 2:08.52 | 2:08.65 | 2:09.04 | ||||
| 400 m individual medley | 4:32.08 | 4:32.76 | 4:34.90 | ||||
| 4 × 100 m freestyle relay | 3:29.69 | 3:32.78 | 3:32.81 | ||||
| 4 × 200 m freestyle relay | 7:40.33 | 7:40.73 AM | 7:41.29 OC | ||||
| 4 × 100 m medley relay | 3:51.60, OC | 3:51.73 | 3:52.60 NR | ||||
| 10 km open water | 1:59:30.8 | 1:59:31.7 | 1:59:32.5 | ||||
See also: World and Olympic records set at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
| Event | Round | Swimmer | Team | Time | Date | Record | Day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heat 4 | 7:41.28 | 27 July | 4 | |||||
| Final | 1:51.25 | 28 July | 5 | |||||
| Final | 2:06.38 | 29 July | 6 | |||||
| Final | 47.02 | 29 July | 6 | |||||
| Heat 8 | 50.39 | 29 July | =OR | 6 | ||||
| Semifinal 1 | 50.31 | 30 July | 7 | |||||
| Semifinal 2 | 49.71 | 30 July | 7 | |||||
| Final | 1:53.27 | 30 July | 7 | |||||
| Final | 49.45 | 31 July | 8 | |||||
| Final | 21.07 | 1 August | 9 | |||||
| Final | 3:26.78 | 1 August | 9 |
| Event | Round | Swimmer | Team | Time | Date | Record | Day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final | 52.62 (r) | 25 July | 2 | |||||
| Women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay | Final | Bronte Campbell (53.01) Meg Harris (53.09) Emma McKeon (51.35) Cate Campbell (52.24) | 3:29.69 | 25 July | [11] | 2 | ||
| Women's 100 metre backstroke | Heat 4 | 58.17 | 25 July | 2 | ||||
| Women's 100 metre backstroke | Heat 5 | 57.96 | 25 July | 2 | ||||
| Women's 100 metre backstroke | Heat 6 | 57.88 | 25 July | 2 | ||||
| Heat 5 | 1:04.82 | 25 July | [12] | 2 | ||||
| Women's 100 metre backstroke | Semifinal 1 | 57.86 | 26 July | 3 | ||||
| Heat 5 | 15:35.35 | 26 July | 3 | |||||
| Final | 57.47 | 27 July | 4 | |||||
| Final | 1:53.50 | 28 July | 5 | |||||
| Heat 6 | 52.13 | 28 July | 5 | |||||
| Heat 4 | 2:19.16 | 28 July | 5 | |||||
| Final | 2:03.86 | 29 July | 6 | |||||
| Final | 7:40.33 | 29 July | 6 | |||||
| Final | 2:18.95 | 30 July | 7 | |||||
| Final | 51.96 | 30 July | 7 | |||||
| Heat 10 | 24.02 | 30 July | 7 | |||||
| Semifinal 2 | 24.00 | 31 July | 8 | |||||
| Final | 23.81 | 1 August | 9 | |||||
| Final | 3:51.60 | 1 August | 9 |
| Event | Round | Swimmer | Team | Time | Date | Record | Day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heat 1 | 3:38.75 | 29 July | 6 | |||||
| Final | 3:37.58 | 31 July | 8 |
On 20 April 2024, The New York Times revealed that 23 members of the Chinese swimming team tested positive for a performance enhancing drug called Trimetazidine seven months prior to the start of the games and were allowed to participate in the games with some of the swimmers winning medals. Following the publication of the report, Travis Tygart, CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, accused the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) of covering up doping by Chinese swimmers.[13]
In response to Tygart's comments, WADA stated that it “stands by the results of its rigorous scientific investigation” into the case and was “astonished by the outrageous, completely false and defamatory remarks while CHINADA stated that the reports were misleading and that the doping tests they conducted only found that the swimmers had only tested extremely low concentration of Trimetazidine which was due to contamination at the hotel they were residing at that time," although any amount of the substance constitutes a ban.
In a second statement, Tygart accused both World Anti-Doping Agency and the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency for not being transparent about the findings and keeping "clean athletes in the dark". WADA was alleged of having a double-standard as Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for TMZ and used the same excuse, but was banned for four years following a two-year long investigation. However, WADA argued that contamination was not possible in Valieva's case based on the pharmacokinetic data. In contrast, according to WADA, in the case of the Chinese swimmers, several factors pointed towards contamination rather than deliberate doping. These include the lack of international competition at the time, only athletes from one hotel testing positive, inconsistencies in test results for the same athletes over short periods (some testing negative, then positive, then negative again), and the very low levels of the substance detected.[14]
On 25 April 2024, WADA announced that Eric Cottier, a Swiss attorney, would launch an independent investigation into the matter, which also drew criticism since he was hand-picked by WADA.[15] In May 2024, WADA announced that it hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss the doping case of the Chinese swimmers.[16] [17] On 9 July 2024, Cottier published his report concluding that WADA had showed no bias towards China. He found the decision not to appeal was "reasonable, both from the point of view of the facts and the applicable rules". WADA President Witold Bańka welcomed the report, stating that it confirmed WADA's actions were fair and justified, highlighting the importance of clarifying these issues before the Paris 2024 Olympics.[18]