ACOG - Aquatics: Swimming - IBM

Thumbnail Detailed Information
  • Olympic Swimming Overview
  • Spectator's Guide to Swimming
  • History of Swimming
  • Olympic Medals in Swimming
  • Competition Dates
    20 to 26 Jul 1996

    Venue
    Georgia Tech Aquatic Center
    Capacity: 14,600

    Events/Disciplines
    32 Events
    Men Women
    50m freestyle 50m freestyle
    100m freestyle 100m freestyle
    200m freestyle 200m freestyle
    400m freestyle 400m freestyle
    1500m freestyle 800m freestyle
    100m breaststroke 100m breaststroke
    200m breaststroke 200m breaststroke
    100m backstroke 100m backstroke
    200m backstroke 200m backstroke
    100m butterfly 100m butterfly
    200m butterfly 200m butterfly
    200m individual medley 200m individual medley
    400m individual medley 400m individual medley
    4 x 100m freestyle relay 4 x 100m freestyle relay
    4 x 200m freestyle relay 4 x 200m freestyle relay
    4 x 100m medley relay 4 x 100m medley relay

    Number of Athletes
    Estimated 400 men, 400 women, 800 total

    Changes Since Barcelona
    Added: Women’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay

    Qualifications
    For a country to qualify two swimmers per event, both must meet “A” qualifying times. To qualify one athlete per event, he/she must meet a slower “B” standard, and no country may enter more than 26 men and 26 women. Countries may enter one man and one woman regardless of qualifying times. Each FINA-member country holds selection meets, or chooses swimmers by 5 Jul 1996.

    Qualification Standards
    WomenMen
    Event A StandardB StandardA StandardB Standard
    50m Freestyle26.2427.5522.9024.05
    100m Freestyle56.1959.00 50.4052.92
    200m Freestyle2:01.842:07.931:50.131:55.64
    400m Freestyle4:14.984:27.733:52.874:04.51
    800m Freestyle8:46.369:12.68
    1500m Freestyle15:28.5716:15.00
    100m Backstroke1:03.211:06.37 56.62 59.45
    200m Backstroke2:15.152:21.91 2:01.462:07.53
    100m Breaststroke1:10.951:14.50 1:02.72 1:05.86
    200m Breaststroke2:32.342:39.96 2:15.59 2:22.37
    100m Butterfly1:01.691:04.77 54.59 57.32
    V200m Butterfly2:14.32 2:21.042:00.652:06.68
    200m Ind. Medley2:17.90 2:24.802:03.722:09.91
    400m Ind. Medley4:49.74 5:04.234:22.104:35.21
    4 x 100m Freestyle Relay3:56.003:31.68
    4 x 200m Freestyle Relay8:49.817:42.56
    4 x 100m Medley Relay4:24.643:55.55

    Competition Format
    Preliminaries take place in the morning (with the eight fastest swimmers advancing to the Final A and swimmers nine through 16 advancing to the Final B that same evening) for all events except the 800m and 1500m freestyles. In those two events, finals are swum the day following preliminaries.

    International Federation
    Federation Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA)
    Avenue de Beaumont 9
    Rez-de-Chaussee
    1021 Lausanne, Switzerland
    Tel: (41-21) 312-6602
    Fax: (41-21) 312-6610

    Olympic Debut
    Men: 1896
    Women: 1912

    1996 U.S. Swimming Trials. Video Clips Courtesy of NBC.


    Olympic Factoid
    The volunteer staff of the 1996 Olympic Games totaled 50,152. They worked an estimated 850,000 shifts.