London Olympic Swimming — By The Numbers

Full wall-to-wall coverage, including photo galleries, athlete interviews, recaps and columns are available at the Event Landing Page

LONDON, England, July 25. HERE are some interesting numbers regarding the sport of swimming at the 2012 London Olympics.

2,800 – tons of steel were used in the construction of the Aquatics Centre.

1912 – the first Olympic Games that included women's swimming.

954 – athletes competing at London 2012.

492 – the USA has collected 492 medals and is expected to become the first NOC to reach 500 at London 2012.

167 – NOCs represented in the swimming at London 2012.

160 – length in meters of the wave-like Aquatics Centre roof, giving it a longer single span than Heathrow's terminal five.

65.6 – the winning time in the men's 100m freestyle at London 1908, the first time the swimming competition was held in a pool. Charles DANIELS (USA) won.

47.10 – fastest time recorded in a textile swimsuit in the men's 100m freestyle by James MAGNUSSEN (AUS) in March, 2012. The official world record for the 100m freestyle is 46.91 seconds, set by Cesar CIELO (BRA) in 2009.

43 – world records set at the 2009 world championships in 41 different events. The techsuits were banned by FINA from 1 January, 2010.

34 – swimming events at London 2012, with 32 at the Aquatics Centre and two in the Serpentine at Hyde Park. Only athletics will feature more medal events, 47.

25 – world records set at Beijing 2008 in 21 different events.

19 – NOCs that won medals in swimming at Beijing 2008.

16 – Olympic medals won by Michael PHELPS (USA), two short of the record by gymnast Larissa LATYNINA (URS). PHELPS is expected to beat LATYNINA's record at London 2012.

14 – Olympic gold medals won by PHELPS, an all-time record.

12 – the most Olympic medals won by a female swimmer. Natalie COUGHLIN, one of the USA's 4x100m freestyle relay team, is one medal short of equalling record-holders Jenny THOMPSON (USA) and Dara TORRES (USA).

6 – Games in which swimmers Lars FROLANDER (SWE) and Derya BUYUKUNCU (TUR) have competed.

3 – Dawn FRASER (USA) and Kristina EGERSZEGI (HUN) won their individual events at three consecutive Games, but no male swimmer has achieved this feat. At London 2012, PHELPS and Kosuke KITAJIMA (JPN) will be aiming to achieve this.

2 — long course world records set since the ban on techsuits. They were set at the 2011 world championships in Shanghai by Ryan LOCHTE (USA), in the 200 meter individual medley, and SUN Yang (CHN), in the 1500 meter freestyle.

0.01 – the fraction of a second separating PHELPS and Milorad CAVIC (SRB) in the men's 100m butterfly at Beijing 2008. It was PHELPS' seventh gold, the one that equalled fellow-American Mark SPITZ's seven golds at Munich 1972.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use