# Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics

The swimming competitions at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London took place from 28 July to 4 August at the Aquatics Centre. The open-water competition took place from 9 to 10 August in Hyde Park.
Swimming featured 34 events (17 male, 17 female), including two 10 km open-water marathons in Hyde Park's Serpentine Lake. The remaining 32 were contested in a 50 m long course pool within the Olympic Park.
The United States claimed a total of 31 medals (16 golds, 9 silver, and 6 bronze) in the leaderboard to maintain its supremacy as the most successful nation in swimming. Brought by an unprecedented sporting domination, Michael Phelps emerged as the most decorated Olympian of all time after winning six more medals at these Games to bring his total after the 2012 games to 22 (18 golds, 2 silver, and 2 bronze). Battling against the Americans for an overall medal count, China mounted to an unexpected second-place effort on the leaderboard with a tally of 10 medals (five golds, three silver, and bronze) after striking a superb double from Sun Yang in long-distance freestyle (both 400 and 1500 m) and Ye Shiwen in the individual medley (both 200 and 400 m). Meanwhile, France ended on a spectacular fashion in third spot with a total of seven medals (four golds, two silver, and one bronze), followed by the Netherlands with four, including two golds from Ranomi Kromowidjojo in sprint freestyle (both 50 and 100 m), and South Africa with three.
For the first time since 1992, Australia delivered an underwhelming performance with only a single triumph in the freestyle relay, but managed to bring home a total of ten medals. After not winning a gold in swimming since 2000, Japan produced the most medals in the post-war era to build a tally of eleven (three silver and eight bronze).
A total of nine world records and twenty five Olympic records were set during the competition.

## Events

Similar to the program's format in 2008, swimming featured a total of 34 events (17 each for men and women) including two 10 km open-water marathons. 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; 4 × 100 medley
* Marathon: 10 kilometres

### Schedule

Similar to the previous Olympics since 2000, with the exception of 2008, swimming program schedule occurred in two segments. For the pool events, prelims were held in the morning, with semifinals and final in the following evening session.
Men :
| Date → | 28 Jul | 28 Jul | 29 Jul | 29 Jul | 30 Jul | 30 Jul | 31 Jul | 31 Jul | 1 Aug | 1 Aug | 2 Aug | 2 Aug | 3 Aug | 3 Aug | 4 Aug | 4 Aug | 10 Aug | 10 Aug |
| Event ↓ | M | E | 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 | | |
| 10 km open water | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | F | |
Women :
| Date → | 28 Jul | 28 Jul | 29 Jul | 29 Jul | 30 Jul | 30 Jul | 31 Jul | 31 Jul | 1 Aug | 1 Aug | 2 Aug | 2 Aug | 3 Aug | 3 Aug | 4 Aug | 4 Aug | 9 Aug | 9 Aug |
| Event ↓ | M | E | 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 | | |
| 10 km open water | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | F | |

## Qualification

FINA By-Law BL 9.3.6.4 (swimming) and BL 9.3.7.5.3 (open water) lays out the qualification procedures for the "Swimming" competition at the Olympics. Each country is allowed to enter up to two swimmers per individual event (provided they qualify), and one entry per relay; and a country may not have more than 26 males and 26 females (52 total) on its team.

### Swimming – individual events

On 11 November 2010, FINA posted the qualifying times for individual events for the 2012 Olympics. The time standards consist of two time standards, an "Olympic Qualifying Time" and an "Olympic invitation time". 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 meeting either qualifying standard, it may enter one male and one female. A country that does not receive an allocation spot but has at least one swimmer who meets a qualifying standard may enter the swimmer with the highest ranking.

### Swimming – relay events

Each relay event featured 16 teams, composed of:
* 12: the top-12 finishers at the 2011 World Championships in each relay event.
* 4: the 4 fastest non-qualified teams, based on times in the 15-months preceding the Olympics.

### Open-water swimming

The men's and women's 10 km races at the 2012 Olympics each featured 25 swimmers:
* 10: the top-10 finishers in the 10 km races at the 2011 World Championships
* 9: the top-9 finishers at the 2012 Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier (8–9 June 2012 in Setúbal, Portugal).
* 5: one representative from each FINA continent (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania). (These were selected based on the finishes at the qualifying race in Setúbal.)
* 1: from the host nation (Great Britain) if not qualified by other means. If Great Britain already had a qualifier in the race, this spot was allocated back into the general pool from the 2012 qualifying race.

## Participating nations

FINA announced in early July 2012 that 631 athletes from 166 nations would compete in swimming events at the 2012 Olympics (note: all nations qualified for the 10 km races also had at least 1 swimmer qualified for the pool portion). 59 nations qualified via the A cut (OQT), 12 via the B cut (OST) and 95 via Universality. Brunei, Central African Republic, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Togo, and Tonga made their official debut in swimming. Meanwhile, Grenada, Iraq, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines returned to the sport after an eight-year absence. Nations with swimmers at the Games are (team size in parentheses):
* Albania (2)
* Algeria (1)
* American Samoa (2)
* Andorra (2)
* Angola (2)
* Antigua and Barbuda (2)
* Argentina (4)
* Armenia (2)
* Aruba (2)
* Australia (47)
* Austria (11)
* Azerbaijan (2)
* Bahamas (1)
* Bahrain (2)
* Bangladesh (1)
* Barbados (1)
* Belarus (8)
* Belgium (13)
* Benin (1)
* Bermuda (1)
* Bolivia (2)
* Bosnia and Herzegovina (2)
* Brazil (19)
* Brunei (1)
* Bulgaria (4)
* Burkina Faso (2)
* Burundi (2)
* Cambodia (2)
* Cameroon (2)
* Canada (33)
* Cayman Islands (2)
* Central African Republic (1)
* Chile (1)
* China (51)
* Colombia (3)
* Comoros (1)
* Republic of the Congo (2)
* Cook Islands (2)
* Costa Rica (2)
* Ivory Coast (2)
* Croatia (4)
* Cuba (2)
* Cyprus (1)
* Czech Republic (6)
* Denmark (10)
* Djibouti (1)
* Dominican Republic (2)
* Ecuador (3)
* Egypt (3)
* El Salvador (2)
* Estonia (2)
* Ethiopia (2)
* Fiji (2)
* Finland (7)
* France (31)
* Georgia (1)
* Germany (30)
* Great Britain (44)
* Greece (14)
* Grenada (1)
* Guam (3)
* Guatemala (1)
* Guinea (1)
* Guyana (2)
* Honduras (2)
* Hong Kong (3)
* Hungary (32)
* Iceland (7)
* India (1)
* Indonesia (1)
* Iran (1)
* Iraq (1)
* Ireland (4)
* Israel (5)
* Italy (35)
* Jamaica (1)
* Japan (29)
* Jordan (2)
* Kazakhstan (7)
* Kenya (2)
* South Korea (15)
* Kuwait (2)
* Kyrgyzstan (2)
* Laos (1)
* Latvia (2)
* Lebanon (2)
* Lesotho (1)
* Libya (1)
* Liechtenstein (1)
* Lithuania (4)
* Luxembourg (1)
* Macedonia (2)
* Madagascar (2)
* Malawi (1)
* Malaysia (2)
* Maldives (2)
* Mali (2)
* Malta (2)
* Mauritius (2)
* Marshall Islands (2)
* Mexico (9)
* Federated States of Micronesia (2)
* Moldova (2)
* Monaco (1)
* Mongolia (2)
* Morocco (1)
* Mozambique (2)
* Nepal (2)
* Netherlands (15)
* New Zealand (17)
* Nicaragua (2)
* Niger (1)
* Norway (3)
* Pakistan (2)
* Palau (1)
* Palestine (2)
* Panama (1)
* Papua New Guinea (2)
* Paraguay (2)
* Peru (3)
* Philippines (2)
* Poland (19)
* Portugal (7)
* Puerto Rico (2)
* Qatar (2)
* Romania (4)
* Russia (35)
* Rwanda (2)
* Saint Lucia (1)
* Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (1)
* San Marino (1)
* Senegal (2)
* Serbia (8)
* Seychelles (2)
* Singapore (5)
* Slovakia (5)
* Slovenia (12)
* South Africa (20)
* Spain (14)
* Sri Lanka (2)
* Sudan (2)
* Suriname (2)
* Swaziland (1)
* Sweden (12)
* Switzerland (7)
* Syria (2)
* Chinese Taipei (3)
* Tajikistan (1)
* Tanzania (2)
* Thailand (2)
* Togo (1)
* Tonga (1)
* Trinidad and Tobago (1)
* Tunisia (4)
* Turkey (6)
* Turkmenistan (2)
* Uganda (2)
* Ukraine (14)
* United Arab Emirates (1)
* United States (49)
* Uruguay (2)
* Uzbekistan (2)
* Venezuela (10)
* Vietnam (1)
* Virgin Islands (1)
* Zambia (2)
* Zimbabwe (1)

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | United States (USA) | 16 | 9 | 6 | 31 |
| 2 | China (CHN) | 5 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
| 3 | France (FRA) | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 4 | Netherlands (NED) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 5 | South Africa (RSA) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Hungary (HUN) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | Australia (AUS) | 1 | 6 | 3 | 10 |
| 8 | Tunisia (TUN) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 9 | Lithuania (LTU) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | Japan (JPN) | 0 | 3 | 8 | 11 |
| 11 | Russia (RUS) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 12 | Belarus (BLR) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | South Korea (KOR) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | Spain (ESP) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 15 | Canada (CAN) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 15 | Great Britain (GBR) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 17 | Brazil (BRA) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 18 | Germany (GER) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 | Italy (ITA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (19 entries) | Totals (19 entries) | 34 | 36 | 32 | 102 |
Note: There were ties for silver in the men's 200 m freestyle and men's 100 m butterfly events.

## Results
### Men's events

| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 50 m freestyle details | Florent Manaudou France | 21.34 | Cullen Jones United States | 21.54 | César Cielo Brazil | 21.59 |
| 100 m freestyle details | Nathan Adrian United States | 47.52 | James Magnussen Australia | 47.53 | Brent Hayden Canada | 47.80 |
| 200 m freestyle details | Yannick Agnel France | 1:43.14 NR | Sun Yang ChinaPark Tae-Hwan South Korea | 1:44.93 NR 1:44.93 | Not awarded as there was a tie for silver. | Not awarded as there was a tie for silver. |
| 400 m freestyle details | Sun Yang China | 3:40.14 OR, AS | Park Tae-Hwan South Korea | 3:42.06 | Peter Vanderkaay United States | 3:44.69 |
| 1500 m freestyle details | Sun Yang China | 14:31.02 WR | Ryan Cochrane Canada | 14:39.63 AM | Oussama Mellouli Tunisia | 14:40.31 |
| 100 m backstroke details | Matt Grevers United States | 52.16 OR | Nick Thoman United States | 52.92 | Ryosuke Irie Japan | 52.97 |
| 200 m backstroke details | Tyler Clary United States | 1:53.41 OR | Ryosuke Irie Japan | 1:53.78 | Ryan Lochte United States | 1:53.94 |
| 100 m breaststroke details | Cameron van der Burgh South Africa | 58.46 WR | Christian Sprenger Australia | 58.93 | Brendan Hansen United States | 59.49 |
| 200 m breaststroke details | Dániel Gyurta Hungary | 2:07.28 WR | Michael Jamieson Great Britain | 2:07.43 NR | Ryo Tateishi Japan | 2:08.29 |
| 100 m butterfly details | Michael Phelps United States | 51.21 | Chad le Clos South Africa Yevgeny Korotyshkin Russia | 51.44 | Not awarded as there was a tie for silver. | Not awarded as there was a tie for silver. |
| 200 m butterfly details | Chad le Clos South Africa | 1:52.96 AF | Michael Phelps United States | 1:53.01 | Takeshi Matsuda Japan | 1:53.21 |
| 200 m individual medley details | Michael Phelps United States | 1:54.27 | Ryan Lochte United States | 1:54.90 | László Cseh Hungary | 1:56.22 |
| 400 m individual medley details | Ryan Lochte United States | 4:05.18 | Thiago Pereira Brazil | 4:08.86 =SA | Kosuke Hagino Japan | 4:08.94 AS |
| 4 × 100 m freestyle relay details | France (FRA) Amaury Leveaux (48.13) Fabien Gilot (47.67) Clément Lefert (47.39) Yannick Agnel (46.74) Alain Bernard Jérémy Stravius | 3:09.93 | United States (USA) Nathan Adrian (47.89) Michael Phelps (47.15) Cullen Jones (47.60) Ryan Lochte (47.74) Jimmy Feigen Matt Grevers Ricky Berens Jason Lezak | 3:10.38 | Russia (RUS) Andrey Grechin (48.57) Nikita Lobintsev (47.39) Vladimir Morozov (47.85) Danila Izotov (47.60) Yevgeny Lagunov Sergey Fesikov | 3:11.41 |
| 4 × 200 m freestyle relay details | United States (USA) Ryan Lochte (1:45.15) Conor Dwyer (1:45.23) Ricky Berens (1:45.27) Michael Phelps (1:44.05) Charlie Houchin Matt McLean Davis Tarwater | 6:59.70 | France (FRA) Amaury Leveaux (1:46.70) Grégory Mallet (1:46.83) Clément Lefert (1:46.00) Yannick Agnel (1:43.24) Jérémy Stravius | 7:02.77 NR | China (CHN) Hao Yun (1:47.12) Li Yunqi (1:46.46) Jiang Haiqi (1:47.17) Sun Yang (1:45.55) Lü Zhiwu Dai Jun | 7:06.30 |
| 4 × 100 m medley relay details | United States (USA) Matt Grevers (52.58) Brendan Hansen (59.19) Michael Phelps (50.73) Nathan Adrian (46.85) Nick Thoman Eric Shanteau Tyler McGill Cullen Jones | 3:29.35 | Japan (JPN) Ryosuke Irie (52.92) Kosuke Kitajima (58.64) Takeshi Matsuda (51.20) Takuro Fujii (48.50) | 3:31.26 | Australia (AUS) Hayden Stoeckel (53.71) Christian Sprenger (59.05) Matt Targett (51.60) James Magnussen (47.22) Brenton Rickard Tommaso D'Orsogna | 3:31.58 |
| 10 km open water details | Oussama Mellouli Tunisia | 1:49:55.1 | Thomas Lurz Germany | 1:49:58.5 | Richard Weinberger Canada | 1:50:00.3 |
| AF African Record | AM Americas Record | SA South American Record | AS Asian Record | ER European Record | OC Oceanian Record | OR Olympic Record | WJR World Junior Record | WR World Record NR National Record (any World Record is necessarily also an Olympic, area, and national record. Area records (for continental regions) are also national records) |||||| |
    $^a$ Swimmers who participated in the heats only and received medals.

### Women's events

| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 50 m freestyle details | Ranomi Kromowidjojo Netherlands | 24.05 OR | Aliaksandra Herasimenia Belarus | 24.28 NR | Marleen Veldhuis Netherlands | 24.39 |
| 100 m freestyle details | Ranomi Kromowidjojo Netherlands | 53.00 OR | Aliaksandra Herasimenia Belarus | 53.38 NR | Tang Yi China | 53.44 |
| 200 m freestyle details | Allison Schmitt United States | 1:53.61 OR, AM | Camille Muffat France | 1:55.58 | Bronte Barratt Australia | 1:55.81 |
| 400 m freestyle details | Camille Muffat France | 4:01.45 OR | Allison Schmitt United States | 4:01.77 AM | Rebecca Adlington Great Britain | 4:03.01 |
| 800 m freestyle details | Katie Ledecky United States | 8:14.63 AM | Mireia Belmonte García Spain | 8:18.76 NR | Rebecca Adlington Great Britain | 8:20.32 |
| 100 m backstroke details | Missy Franklin United States | 58.33 AM | Emily Seebohm Australia | 58.68 | Aya Terakawa Japan | 58.83 AS |
| 200 m backstroke details | Missy Franklin United States | 2:04.06 WR | Anastasia Zuyeva Russia | 2:05.92 | Elizabeth Beisel United States | 2:06.55 |
| 100 m breaststroke details | Rūta Meilutytė Lithuania | 1:05.47 | Rebecca Soni United States | 1:05.55 | Satomi Suzuki Japan | 1:06.46 |
| 200 m breaststroke details | Rebecca Soni United States | 2:19.59 WR | Satomi Suzuki Japan | 2:20.72 =AS | Yuliya Yefimova Russia | 2:20.92 ER |
| 100 m butterfly details | Dana Vollmer United States | 55.98 WR | Lu Ying China | 56.87 | Alicia Coutts Australia | 56.94 |
| 200 m butterfly details | Jiao Liuyang China | 2:04.06 OR | Mireia Belmonte García Spain | 2:05.25 NR | Natsumi Hoshi Japan | 2:05.48 |
| 200 m individual medley details | Ye Shiwen China | 2:07.57 OR, AS | Alicia Coutts Australia | 2:08.15 | Caitlin Leverenz United States | 2:08.95 |
| 400 m individual medley details | Ye Shiwen China | 4:28.43 WR | Elizabeth Beisel United States | 4:31.27 | Li Xuanxu China | 4:32.91 |
| 4 × 100 m freestyle relay details | Australia (AUS) Alicia Coutts (53.90) Cate Campbell (53.19) Brittany Elmslie (53.41) Melanie Schlanger (52.65) Emily Seebohm Yolane Kukla Libby Trickett | 3:33.15 OR | Netherlands (NED) Inge Dekker (54.67) Marleen Veldhuis (53.80) Femke Heemskerk (53.39) Ranomi Kromowidjojo (51.93) Hinkelien Schreuder | 3:33.79 | United States (USA) Missy Franklin (53.52) Jessica Hardy (53.53) Lia Neal (53.65) Allison Schmitt (53.54) Amanda Weir Natalie Coughlin | 3:34.24 AM |
| 4 × 200 m freestyle relay details | United States (USA) Missy Franklin (1:55.96) Dana Vollmer (1:56.02) Shannon Vreeland (1:56.85) Allison Schmitt (1:54.09) Lauren Perdue Alyssa Anderson | 7:42.92 OR | Australia (AUS) Bronte Barratt (1:55.76) Melanie Schlanger (1:55.62) Kylie Palmer (1:56.91) Alicia Coutts (1:56.12) Brittany Elmslie Angie Bainbridge Jade Neilsen Blair Evans | 7:44.41 | France (FRA) Camille Muffat (1:55.51) Charlotte Bonnet (1:57.78) Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne (1:58.05) Coralie Balmy (1:56.15) Margaux Farrell Mylène Lazare | 7:47.49 NR |
| 4 × 100 m medley relay details | United States (USA) Missy Franklin (58.50) Rebecca Soni (1:04.82) Dana Vollmer (55.48) Allison Schmitt (53.25) Rachel Bootsma Breeja Larson Claire Donahue Jessica Hardy | 3:52.05 WR | Australia (AUS) Emily Seebohm (59.01) Leisel Jones (1:06.06) Alicia Coutts (56.41) Melanie Schlanger (52.54) Brittany Elmslie | 3:54.02 | Japan (JPN) Aya Terakawa (58.99) Satomi Suzuki (1:05.96) Yuka Kato (57.36) Haruka Ueda (53.42) | 3:55.73 |
| 10 km open water details | Éva Risztov Hungary | 1:57:38.2 | Haley Anderson United States | 1:57:38.6 | Martina Grimaldi Italy | 1:57:41.8 |
| AF African Record | AM Americas Record | SA South American Record | AS Asian Record | ER European Record | OC Oceanian Record | OR Olympic Record | WJR World Junior Record | WR World Record NR National Record (any World Record is necessarily also an Olympic, area, and national record. Area records (for continental regions) are also national records) |||||| |
    $^b$ Swimmers who participated in the heats only and received medals.

## Olympic and world records broken
### Men

| Event | Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | Record | Day |
| Men's 400 m freestyle | 28 July | Final | Sun Yang | China | 3:40.14 | OR | 1 |
| Men's 100 m breaststroke | 28 July | Semifinal | Cameron van der Burgh | South Africa | 58.83 | OR | 1 |
| Men's 100 m breaststroke | 29 July | Final | Cameron van der Burgh | South Africa | 58.46 | WR | 2 |
| Men's 100 m backstroke | 30 July | Final | Matt Grevers | United States | 52.16 | OR | 3 |
| Men's 200 m breaststroke | 1 August | Final | Dániel Gyurta | Hungary | 2:07.28 | WR | 5 |
| Men's 200 m backstroke | 2 August | Final | Tyler Clary | United States | 1:53.41 | OR | 6 |
| Men's 1500 m freestyle | 4 August | Final | Sun Yang | China | 14:31.02 | WR | 8 |

### Women

| Event | Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | Record | Day |
| Women's 100 m butterfly | 28 July | Heats | Dana Vollmer | United States | 56.25 | OR | 1 |
| Women's 400 m individual medley | 28 July | Final | Ye Shiwen | China | 4:28.43 | WR | 1 |
| Women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay | 28 July | Final | Alicia Coutts (53.90) Cate Campbell (53.19) Brittany Elmslie (53.41) Melanie Schlanger (52.65) | Australia | 3:33.15 | OR | 1 |
| Women's 100 m backstroke | 29 July | Heats | Emily Seebohm | Australia | 58.23 | OR | 2 |
| Women's 100 m butterfly | 29 July | Final | Dana Vollmer | United States | 55.98 | WR | 2 |
| Women's 400 m freestyle | 29 July | Final | Camille Muffat | France | 4:01.45 | OR | 2 |
| Women's 200 m individual medley | 30 July | Semifinal | Ye Shiwen | China | 2:08.39 | OR | 3 |
| Women's 200 m freestyle | 31 July | Final | Allison Schmitt | United States | 1:53.61 | OR | 4 |
| Women's 200 m individual medley | 31 July | Final | Ye Shiwen | China | 2:07.57 | OR | 4 |
| Women's 100 m freestyle | 1 August | Semifinal | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands | 53.05 | OR | 5 |
| Women's 200 m butterfly | 1 August | Final | Jiao Liuyang | China | 2:04.06 | OR | 5 |
| Women's 200 m breaststroke | 1 August | Semifinal | Rebecca Soni | United States | 2:20.00 | WR | 5 |
| Women's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay | 1 August | Final | Missy Franklin (1:55.96) Dana Vollmer (1:56.02) Shannon Vreeland (1:56.85) Allison Schmitt (1:54.09) | United States | 7:42.92 | OR | 5 |
| Women's 200 m breaststroke | 2 August | Final | Rebecca Soni | United States | 2:19.59 | WR | 6 |
| Women's 100 m freestyle | 2 August | Final | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands | 53.00 | OR | 6 |
| Women's 200 m backstroke | 3 August | Final | Missy Franklin | United States | 2:04.06 | WR | 7 |
| Women's 50 m freestyle | 4 August | Final | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands | 24.05 | OR | 8 |
| Women's 4 × 100 m medley relay | 4 August | Final | Missy Franklin (58.50) Rebecca Soni (1:04.82) Dana Vollmer (55.48) Allison Schmitt (53.25) | United States | 3:52.05 | WR | 8 |
* All world records (WR) are subsequently Olympic records (OR).
Derya Büyükuncu and Lars Frölander were the first swimmers to participate in six consecutive Olympic Games (1992-2012).

## Controversies

In the women's 400-metre individual medley, Chinese Ye Shiwen won in a world-record time of 4:28.43. After the race, Ye had allegations against her suggesting the use of drugs that drew comment from the International Olympic Committee and FINA who defended Ye. Ye has never tested positive of any performance-enhancing drugs. Some claim the accusations were a result of xenophobia towards the Chinese.
In the final of the 100-metre breaststroke, South African Cameron van der Burgh won in a world-record time of 58.46, bettering the previous record of 58.58 held by Brenton Rickard of Australia. After the race however, underwater camera footage showed winner van der Burgh did three illegal butterfly kicks on the underwater pullout (rules allow for one kick). Van der Burgh later admitted to the illegal move and justified the act by saying if he was not doing it, "you are falling behind or giving yourself a disadvantage."

## Gallery of the medalists

Some of the Olympic medalists in London:
* Yannick Agnel, winner of the 200-metre freestyle and 4 × 100-metre freestyle relay.
* Cameron van der Burgh, winner of the 100-metre breaststroke.
* Tyler Clary, winner of the 200-metre backstroke.
* Chad le Clos, winner of the 200-metre butterfly.
* Missy Franklin, winner of the 100-metre backstroke, 200-metre backstroke, 4 × 200-metre freestyle, and 4 × 100-metre medley.
* Matt Grevers, winner of the 100-metre backstroke and 4 × 100-metre medley.
* Ranomi Kromowidjojo, winner of the 50-metre and 100-metre freestyle.
* Ryan Lochte, winner of the 400-metre individual medley and 4 × 200-metre freestyle.
* Florent Manaudou, winner of the 50-metre freestyle.
* Rūta Meilutytė, winner of the 100-metre breaststroke.
* Oussama Mellouli, winner of the 10-kilometre marathon.
* Camille Muffat, winner of the 400-metre freestyle.
* Michael Phelps, winner of the 100-metre butterfly, 200-metre individual medley, 4 × 200-metre freestyle, and 4 × 100-metre medley.
* Emily Seebohm, member of the winning 4 × 100-metre freestyle.
* Rebecca Soni, winner of the 200-metre breaststroke and 4 × 100-metre medley.