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Swimming
at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Swimming; at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Venue	Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre
Dates	14 – 21 August 2004
Competitors	937 from 152 nations
	← 2000 2008 →

The swimming competitions at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens took place from 14 to 21 August 2004 at the Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre in Marousi.^[1] It featured 32 events (16 male, 16 female), a total of 937 swimmers from 152 nations, and the program's changes instituted in the previous Games, including notably the three-phase format (heats, semifinals, and final) for all short-distance races (200 metres and under).^[2]^[3]

Swimmers from the United States continued to dominate the medal tally with a total of 28, earning twelve golds, nine silver, and seven bronze.^[4] Australia still maintained the second spot from Sydney in 2000, but produced a total of 15 more medals (seven golds, five silver, and three bronze) to its historical hardware in swimming.^[5]^[6] Meanwhile, Japan moved from behind to third overall in the medal board with eight medals after a sterling breaststroke double from Kosuke Kitajima. A total of eight world records and twenty-five Olympic records were set during the competition.

Venue

Swimming events at the 2004 Summer Olympics were held at the Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre, officially known as the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex (OCO) during the games.^[7] Originally built for the 1991 Mediterranean Games,^[8] it was refurbished to host swimming, diving, synchronised swimming, and water polo events; it was the first time in the history of the Olympics that all aquatics disciplines had been held at a single venue.^[7]^[9] Swimming events were held at the main outdoor pool of the complex, which held 10,893 spectators, and was interchangeably used for swimming and water polo events throughout the duration of the games.^[9] A plastic-coated tarpaulin roof covering the two outdoor pools of the complex, designed to protect spectators and swimmers from being exposed to the summer heat, was originally planned to be built as part of the renovations.^[8]^[9] However, due to cost overruns and delays in construction, planners decided to scrap the roof in March 2004,^[10]^[11] which was criticised by FINA, the governing body of water sports.^[8]^[9] The venue would ultimately be approved by FINA weeks before the opening of the games in August.^[8]

Events

The following events were contested (all pool events were long course, and distances are in metres unless stated):

Freestyle : 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 (women) and 1500 (men);
Backstroke : 100 and 200;
Breaststroke : 100 and 200;
Butterfly : 100 and 200;
Individual medley : 200 and 400;
Relays: 4 × 100 free, 4 × 200 free, and 4 × 100 medley.

Schedule

Legend
H	Heats	½	Semi-finals	F	Final

Men^[12]
Date →	Aug 14		Aug 15		Aug 16		Aug 17		Aug 18		Aug 19		Aug 20		Aug 21
Event ↓	M	E	M	E	M	E	M	E	M	E	M	E	M	E	M	E
50 m freestyle											H	½		F
100 m freestyle							H	½		F
200 m freestyle			H	½		F
400 m freestyle	H	F
1500 m freestyle													H			F
100 m backstroke			H	½		F
200 m backstroke									H	½		F
100 m breaststroke	H	½		F
200 m breaststroke							H	½		F
100 m butterfly											H	½		F
200 m butterfly					H	½		F
200 m individual medley									H	½		F
400 m individual medley	H	F
4 × 100 m freestyle relay			H	F
4 × 200 m freestyle relay							H	F
4 × 100 m medley relay													H			F

Women^[12]
Date →	Aug 14		Aug 15		Aug 16		Aug 17		Aug 18		Aug 19		Aug 20		Aug 21
Event ↓	M	E	M	E	M	E	M	E	M	E	M	E	M	E	M	E
50 m freestyle													H	½		F
100 m freestyle									H	½		F
200 m freestyle					H	½		F
400 m freestyle			H	F
800 m freestyle											H			F
100 m backstroke			H	½		F
200 m backstroke											H	½		F
100 m breaststroke			H	½		F
200 m breaststroke									H	½		F
100 m butterfly	H	½		F
200 m butterfly							H	½		F
200 m individual medley					H	½		F
400 m individual medley	H	F
4 × 100 m freestyle relay	H	F
4 × 200 m freestyle relay									H	F
4 × 100 m medley relay													H			F

Participating nations

A total of 937 swimmers (544 men and 393 women) from 152 nations would compete in swimming events at these Olympic Games.^[13] Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Guyana, and Turkmenistan made their official debut in swimming. Meanwhile, Albania, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Norway returned to the sport after long years of absence. Nations with swimmers at the Games are (team size in parentheses):

Albania (2)
Algeria (6)
Andorra (2)
Angola (1)
Antigua and Barbuda (2)
Argentina (10)
Armenia (1)
Aruba (2)
Australia (41)
Austria (6)
Azerbaijan (2)
Bahamas (4)
Bahrain (2)
Bangladesh (2)
Barbados (4)
Belarus (9)
Benin (2)
Bermuda (1)
Bolivia (2)
Bosnia and Herzegovina (1)
Brazil (23)
Bulgaria (6)
Burkina Faso (1)
Burundi (2)
Cambodia (2)
Cameroon (1)
Canada (20)
Cayman Islands (3)
Chile (3)
China (28)
Colombia (3)
Republic of the Congo (2)
Costa Rica (1)
Ivory Coast (2)
Croatia (13)
Cuba (2)
Cyprus (5)
Czech Republic (12)
Denmark (6)
Ecuador (1)
Egypt (2)
El Salvador (1)
Estonia (6)
Fiji (1)
Finland (7)
France (21)
Germany (35)
Georgia (1)
Great Britain (33)
Greece (28)
Grenada (2)
Guam (1)
Guatemala (4)
Guinea (1)
Guyana (1)
Honduras (2)
Hong Kong (7)
Hungary (25)
Iceland (7)
India (1)
Indonesia (3)
Iran (1)
Iraq (1)
Ireland (2)
Israel (2)
Italy (29)
Jamaica (4)
Japan (20)
Jordan (2)
Kazakhstan (11)
Kenya (2)
South Korea (19)
Kyrgyzstan (6)
Laos (2)
Latvia (5)
Lebanon (2)
Libya (2)
Lithuania (10)
Luxembourg (2)
Macedonia (4)
Madagascar (2)
Malawi (2)
Malaysia (4)
Maldives (2)
Mali (2)
Malta (2)
Mauritius (2)
Mexico (6)
Federated States of Micronesia (2)
Moldova (10)
Monaco (1)
Mongolia (1)
Morocco (1)
Mozambique (2)
Nepal (2)
Netherlands (16)
New Zealand (13)
Nicaragua (2)
Niger (1)
Nigeria (2)
Norway (1)
Pakistan (2)
Palau (1)
Palestine (1)
Panama (2)
Papua New Guinea (1)
Paraguay (1)
Peru (2)
Philippines (5)
Poland (7)
Portugal (11)
Puerto Rico (6)
Qatar (1)
Romania (7)
Russia (30)
Rwanda (2)
Saint Lucia (1)
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (1)
San Marino (2)
Saudi Arabia (1)
Senegal (2)
Serbia and Montenegro (7)
Seychelles (2)
Singapore (5)
Slovakia (2)
Slovenia (11)
South Africa (8)
Spain (16)
Sri Lanka (2)
Suriname (2)
Swaziland (1)
Sweden (15)
Switzerland (13)
Syria (1)
Chinese Taipei (13)
Thailand (6)
Trinidad and Tobago (3)
Tunisia (2)
Turkey (9)
Turkmenistan (2)
Uganda (1)
Ukraine (27)
United Arab Emirates (1)
United States (43)
Uruguay (4)
Uzbekistan (15)
Venezuela (4)
Vietnam (1)
Virgin Islands (2)
Yemen (1)
Zambia (2)
Zimbabwe (2)

Medal summary


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	12	9	7	28
2	Australia (AUS)	7	5	3	15
3	Japan (JPN)	3	1	4	8
4	Netherlands (NED)	2	3	2	7
5	Ukraine (UKR)	2	0	1	3
6	France (FRA)	1	2	3	6
7	Poland (POL)	1	2	0	3
8	South Africa (RSA)	1	1	1	3
8	Zimbabwe (ZIM)	1	1	1	3
10	China (CHN)	1	1	0	2
11	Romania (ROM)	1	0	1	2
12	Austria (AUT)	0	2	0	2
13	Germany (GER)	0	1	4	5
14	Hungary (HUN)	0	1	1	2
14	Italy (ITA)	0	1	1	2
16	Croatia (CRO)	0	1	0	1
16	Russia (RUS)	0	1	0	1
18	Great Britain (GBR)	0	0	2	2
19	Argentina (ARG)	0	0	1	1
19	Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)	0	0	1	1
Totals (20 entries)		32	32	33	97

Results

Men's events

Games	Gold		Silver		Bronze
50 m freestyle details	Gary Hall, Jr. United States	21.93	Duje Draganja Croatia	21.94 NR	Roland Mark Schoeman South Africa	22.02
100 m freestyle details	Pieter van den Hoogenband Netherlands	48.17	Roland Mark Schoeman South Africa	48.23	Ian Thorpe Australia	48.56
200 m freestyle details	Ian Thorpe Australia	1:44.71 OR	Pieter van den Hoogenband Netherlands	1:45.23	Michael Phelps United States	1:45.32 AM
400 m freestyle details	Ian Thorpe Australia	3:43.10	Grant Hackett Australia	3:43.36	Klete Keller United States	3:44.11 AM
1500 m freestyle details	Grant Hackett Australia	14:43.40 OR	Larsen Jensen United States	14:45.29 AM	David Davies Great Britain	14:45.95 ER

100 m backstroke details	Aaron Peirsol United States	54.06	Markus Rogan Austria	54.35	Tomomi Morita Japan	54.36 AS
200 m backstroke details	Aaron Peirsol United States	1:54.95 OR	Markus Rogan Austria	1:57.35	Răzvan Florea Romania	1:57.56 NR

100 m breaststroke details	Kosuke Kitajima Japan	1:00.08	Brendan Hansen United States	1:00.25	Hugues Duboscq France	1:00.88
200 m breaststroke details	Kosuke Kitajima Japan	2:09.44 OR	Dániel Gyurta Hungary	2:10.80	Brendan Hansen United States	2:10.87

100 m butterfly details	Michael Phelps United States	51.25 OR	Ian Crocker United States	51.29	Andriy Serdinov Ukraine	51.36 ER
200 m butterfly details	Michael Phelps United States	1:54.04 OR	Takashi Yamamoto Japan	1:54.56 AS	Stephen Parry Great Britain	1:55.52 NR

200 m individual medley details	Michael Phelps United States	1:57.14 OR	Ryan Lochte United States	1:58.78	George Bovell Trinidad and Tobago	1:58.80 NR
400 m individual medley details	Michael Phelps United States	4:08.26 WR	Erik Vendt United States	4:11.81	László Cseh Hungary	4:12.15

4 × 100 m freestyle relay details	South Africa Roland Schoeman (48.17) AF Lyndon Ferns (48.13) Darian Townsend (48.96) Ryk Neethling (47.91)	3:13.17 WR	Netherlands Johan Kenkhuis (49.81) Mitja Zastrow (49.25) Klaas-Erik Zwering (48.51) Pieter van den Hoogenband (46.79) Mark Veens*	3:14.36 NR	United States Ian Crocker (50.05) Michael Phelps (48.74) Neil Walker 47.97) Jason Lezak (47.86) Nate Dusing* Gary Hall, Jr.* Gabe Woodward*	3:14.62
4 × 200 m freestyle relay details	United States Michael Phelps (1:46.49) Ryan Lochte (1:47.52) Peter Vanderkaay (1:47.79) Klete Keller (1:45.53) Scott Goldblatt* Dan Ketchum*	7:07.33 AM	Australia Grant Hackett (1:47.50) Michael Klim (1:47.62) Nicholas Sprenger (1:48.16) Ian Thorpe (1:44.18) Antony Matkovich* Todd Pearson* Craig Stevens*	7:07.46	Italy Emiliano Brembilla (1:48.16) Massimiliano Rosolino (1:46.24) Simone Cercato (1:49.85) Filippo Magnini (1:47.58) Federico Cappellazzo* Matteo Pelliciari*	7:11.83
4 × 100 m medley relay details	United States Aaron Peirsol (53.45) WR Brendan Hansen (59.37) Ian Crocker (50.28) Jason Lezak (47.58) Lenny Krayzelburg* Mark Gangloff* Michael Phelps* Neil Walker*	3:30.68 WR	Germany Steffen Driesen (54.26) Jens Kruppa (1:00.50) Thomas Rupprath (51.40) Lars Conrad (47.46) Helge Meeuw*	3:33.62 ER	Japan Tomomi Morita (54.25) AS Kosuke Kitajima (59.35) Takashi Yamamoto (51.87) Yoshihiro Okumura (49.75)	3:35.22 AS

* Swimmers who participated in the heats only and received medals.

Women's events

Games	Gold		Silver		Bronze
50 m freestyle details	Inge de Bruijn Netherlands	24.58	Malia Metella France	24.89 NR	Lisbeth Lenton Australia	24.91
100 m freestyle details	Jodie Henry Australia	53.84	Inge de Bruijn Netherlands	54.16	Natalie Coughlin United States	54.40
200 m freestyle details	Camelia Potec Romania	1:58.03	Federica Pellegrini Italy	1:58.22	Solenne Figuès France	1:58.45
400 m freestyle details	Laure Manaudou France	4:05.34 ER	Otylia Jędrzejczak Poland	4:05.84	Kaitlin Sandeno United States	4:06.19
800 m freestyle details	Ai Shibata Japan	8:24.54	Laure Manaudou France	8:24.96	Diana Munz United States	8:26.61

100 m backstroke details	Natalie Coughlin United States	1:00.37	Kirsty Coventry Zimbabwe	1:00.50	Laure Manaudou France	1:00.88
200 m backstroke details	Kirsty Coventry Zimbabwe	2:09.19 AF	Stanislava Komarova Russia	2:09.72	Antje Buschschulte Germany Reiko Nakamura Japan	2:09.88

100 m breaststroke details	Luo Xuejuan China	1:06.64 OR	Brooke Hanson Australia	1:07.15	Leisel Jones Australia	1:07.16
200 m breaststroke details	Amanda Beard United States	2:23.37 OR	Leisel Jones Australia	2:23.60	Anne Poleska Germany	2:25.82

100 m butterfly details	Petria Thomas Australia	57.72	Otylia Jędrzejczak Poland	57.84	Inge de Bruijn Netherlands	57.99
200 m butterfly details	Otylia Jędrzejczak Poland	2:06.05	Petria Thomas Australia	2:06.36	Yuko Nakanishi Japan	2:08.04

200 m individual medley details	Yana Klochkova Ukraine	2:11.14	Amanda Beard United States	2:11.70 AM	Kirsty Coventry Zimbabwe	2:12.72 AF
400 m individual medley details	Yana Klochkova Ukraine	4:34.83	Kaitlin Sandeno United States	4:34.95 AM	Georgina Bardach Argentina	4:37.51 SA

4 × 100 m freestyle relay details	Australia Alice Mills Lisbeth Lenton Petria Thomas Jodie Henry Sarah Ryan*	3:35.94 WR	United States Kara Lynn Joyce Natalie Coughlin Amanda Weir Jenny Thompson Lindsay Benko* Maritza Correia* Colleen Lanne*	3:36.39 AM	Netherlands Chantal Groot Inge Dekker Marleen Veldhuis Inge de Bruijn Annabel Kosten*	3:37.59 NR
4 × 200 m freestyle relay details	United States Natalie Coughlin Carly Piper Dana Vollmer Kaitlin Sandeno Lindsay Benko* Rhi Jeffrey* Rachel Komisarz*	7:53.42 WR	China Zhu Yingwen Xu Yanwei Yang Yu Pang Jiaying Li Ji*	7:55.97 AS	Germany Franziska van Almsick Petra Dallmann Antje Buschschulte Hannah Stockbauer Janina Götz* Sara Harstick*	7:57.37
4 × 100 m medley relay details	Australia Giaan Rooney (1:01.18) OC Leisel Jones (1:06.50) Petria Thomas (56.67) Jodie Henry (52.97) Brooke Hanson* Alice Mills* Jessicah Schipper*	3:57.32 WR	United States Natalie Coughlin (59.68) OR Amanda Beard (1:06.32) Jenny Thompson (58.81) Kara Lynn Joyce (54.31) Haley Cope* Tara Kirk* Rachel Komisarz* Amanda Weir*	3:59.12	Germany Antje Buschschulte (1:00.72) Sarah Poewe (1:07.08) Franziska van Almsick (58.54) Daniela Götz (54.38)	4:00.72 ER

* Swimmers who participated in the heats only and received medals.

References

^ "Olympedia – Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
^ "USA Today 2004 Olympic Coverage: Swimming Format and Schedule". USA Today. 20 May 2005. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
^ "Athens 2004: Volume Two – Aquatics (Swimming)" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. pp. 9–27. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
^ "U.S. adds another relay gold". ESPN. 22 August 2004. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
^ Gordos, Phil (21 August 2004). "Phelps causes biggest splash". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
^ "Australian team expects world swimming titles to close door on culture of drug abuse, bullying and bad behaviour". The Australian. 29 June 2013. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
^ ^a ^b Olympic Games staff (11 February 2004). "ATHENS 2004: 12 water polo teams qualified". Olympic Games. International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 6 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018. For the first time in Olympic Games history, all aquatics events will take place in a single venue, the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex (OCO).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Commings, Jeff (27 July 2012). "Olympic Pools: Where Are They Now? (Part Five)". Swimming World. Sports Publications International. Archived from the original on 6 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018. Like the Sydney pool, the Athens competition pool was not built for the Games. It had been around for more than a decade, hosting the 1991 Mediterranean Games. But the heat was a concern, and organizers had planned to put a roof on the building as part of the renovation plans. Money fell through, and the roof was not built, much to the initial chagrin of FINA, which would later approve the facility mere weeks before Michael Phelps and others claimed gold.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d BBC Sport staff (15 July 2004). "Olympics 2004 - Venues Guide - Aquatic Center". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 6 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018. For the first time in Olympic history, all the aquatics events [...] will take place at one venue. [...] Progress on its construction fell way behind schedule. Organisers finally decided in March to scrap a planned plastic-coated tarpaulin roof over the main pool. That decision will leave swimmers exposed to searing August temperatures, to the dismay of swimming's ruling body Fina. [...] Spectators: Main pool 10,893
^ Stevens, Richard (31 March 2004). "Athens costs set to soar over budget". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Archived from the original on 6 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018. Earlier this month officials cancelled a much delayed plastic roof for the swimming venue.
^ Muriel, Diana (6 May 2004). "Athens in race against time". CNN. Time Warner Inc. Archived from the original on 6 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018. The roof of the Olympic swimming pool had to be abandoned.
^ ^a ^b "BBC 2004 Olympic Coverage: Swimming Schedule". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
^ "Athens 2004: Swimming – Entry List by NOC" (PDF). Athens 2004. LA84 Foundation. pp. 2–23. Retrieved 30 June 2013.