List of Olympic records in swimming

The International Olympic Committee recognises the fastest performances in pool-based swimming events at the Olympic Games. Men's swimming has been part of the Summer Olympics since the Games' modern inception in 1896; it was not until 1912 that women competed against each other. The swimming events at the 1896 Olympic Games were held in a bay in the Aegean Sea with swimmers being required to swim to the shore—Hungarian swimmer Alfréd Hajós won two gold medals that year, saying "My will to live completely overcame my desire to win." The 1900 Games in Paris saw the swimming events take place in the River Seine while the events at the 1908 Summer Olympics were hosted in a 100-metre pool located within an athletics track in the White City Stadium in London.

Contents

• Mens records
• Womens records
• References

Races are held in four swimming categories: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly, over varying distances and in either individual or relay race events. Medley swimming races are also held, both individually and in relays, in which all four swimming categories are used. In the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, both men and women competed in sixteen events in the pool, each sex in the same events with the exceptions of the 800 m freestyle (women-only) and the 1500 m freestyle (men-only). Of the 32 pool-based events, swimmers from the United States hold eighteen records, including one tied with a swimmer from Canada, Australia and China three each, Hungary two, and one each to the Netherlands, Brazil, Japan, Great Britain, Singapore and Sweden. Thirteen of the current Olympic records were set at the 2016 Games.