Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics

The swimming competitions at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris were held from 27 July to 9 August 2024. Pool events (27 July to 4 August) took place at the Paris La Défense Arena, with the two-day marathon swimming (8 to 9 August) staged at Pont Alexandre III through the Seine River.
Similar to the 2020 program format, swimming featured a total of 37 events (18 each for men and women and 1 mixed event), including two 10 km open-water marathons. The following events were contested (all pool events are long-course, and distances are in meters unless stated):
The swimming program schedule for Paris 2024 occurred in two segments. For the pool events, similar to the case for the 2012 Games, prelims ran in the morning, followed by the semifinal and final sessions in the evening and the night session (due to the substantial fees NBC has paid for rights to the Olympics, the IOC allowed NBC to have influence on event scheduling to maximize U.S. television ratings when possible; NBC agreed to a $7.75 billion contract extension on 7 May 2014, to air the Olympics through the 2032 Games and is also one of the major sources of revenue for the IOC). Several significant changes were instituted to the swimming schedule, with the program extending to nine days for the first time as opposed to the regular eight-day format. The extra day would be used to alleviate the schedules of the swimmers who would compete in the individual and relay events at the same period. Moreover, it relieved a packed schedule that witnessed three new events added to the program at the previous Games.
In February 2024, a change was announced to the original schedule for Days 5 and 6, after lobbying by the French swimming governing body to give Léon Marchand a chance to win both the men's 200 metre butterfly and 200 metre breaststroke events. All events remain on the originally planned days, but the event order was modified to create a longer gap between the 200 metre butterfly and 200 metre breaststroke events.
World Aquatics establishes qualifying times for individual events. The time standards consist of two types, namely an "Olympic Qualifying Time" (OQT, colloquially known as the A-cut) and an "Olympic Consideration time" (OCT, colloquially known as the B-cut). Each country could enter a maximum of two swimmers per event, provided that they meet the (faster) qualifying time. A country could enter one swimmer per event that meets the invitation standard. Any swimmer who met the "qualifying" time would entered into the event for the Games; a swimmer meeting the "invitation" standard was eligible for entry allotted by ranking. If a country did not have a swimmer who meets either of the qualifying standards, it may have entered one male and one female. A country that does not receive an allocation spot but enters at least one swimmer achieving a qualifying standard might have entered those with the highest ranking.
Each relay event features 16 teams, composed of the following:
All athletes entered in individual events could be used in relays, even if they had not achieved the OCT for the corresponding stroke and distance of the relay in which they are entered. Relay teams may compose of additional athletes according to the number of events they have qualified for.
The men's and women's 10 km races featured 22 swimmers each, three less than those in the Tokyo 2020 roster:
* Host nation (France)
Swimmers who participated in the heats only and received medals.
Swimmers who participated in the heats only and received medals.
The following world and Olympic records were set during the competition:
On 20 April 2024, The New York Times revealed that 23 members of the Chinese swimming team tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug called Trimetazidine seven months prior to the start of the 2020 Summer Games and were allowed to participate in the games with some of the swimmers winning medals. Following the publication of the report, Travis Tygart, CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, accused the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) of covering up doping by Chinese swimmers.
WADA argued the amount detected was too low to enhance performance. CHINADA, who had reported the results to WADA and FINA (now World Aquatics), blamed them on contamination from a hotel kitchen, a rationale that potentially exempts findings from being made public. WADA released a statement, explaining that "[it] was not possible for WADA scientists or investigators to conduct their enquiries on the ground in China given the extreme restrictions in place due to a COVID-related lockdown. WADA ultimately concluded that it was not in a position to disprove the possibility that contamination was the source of TMZ and it was compatible with the analytical data in the file." World Aquatics's investigation agreed with WADA.
After the story was leaked, WADA was criticised by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and athletes. WADA's choice of a Swiss attorney to lead an investigation into the matter also drew criticism because he was hand-picked by the agency. Experts interviewed by The New York Times said trace amounts of TMZ can be detected near the end of a doping excretion period but could not rule out contamination either.
In a second statement, Tygart accused both the WADA and the CHINADA for not being transparent about the findings and keeping "clean athletes in the dark". WADA was also accused of having a double-standard as Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for TMZ and used the same excuse, but was subsequently banned for four years. WADA argued, based on non-published information and pharmacokinetics, that contamination would not have been possible in Valieva's case, but in the case of the Chinese swimmers, that no international competition was occurring around the time of the positive tests, only athletes who stayed at one of the hotels tested positive, and some individuals alternated between positive and negative results all point to contamination, not doping. In May 2024, WADA announced that it held an extraordinary meeting to discuss the doping case of the Chinese swimmers.
Eleven of the 23 swimmers involved in the controversy were named to the 2024 Chinese Olympic swimming team.
On July 9, independent Swiss prosecutor Eric Cottier concluded that WADA did not mishandle the Chinese swimmers' doping case or show bias. His interim report stated, "There is nothing in the file... to suggest that WADA showed favouritism or in any way favoured the 23 swimmers who tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) between January 1 and 3, 2021." He also found no evidence of "interference or meddling" from within WADA, Chinada, or Chinese authorities. Cottier stated Wada's decision not to appeal against Chinada's conclusion was "reasonable, both from the point of view of the facts and the applicable rules". WADA President Witold Bańka welcomed the conclusion and reconfirmed the importance of clarifying these "two fundamental questions in advance of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games."
Per reports from multiple news outlets, the Chinese swimming delegation has reportedly been tested nearly 200 times since arriving in Paris. According to World Aquatics on 2 August 2024, China’s swimmers in Paris have been tested an average of 21 times by various anti-doping organizations since the start of the year. Drug-testing data in 2023 from the International Testing Agency also found that Chinese swimmers had been tested more often than swimmers of any other nationality even before news of their positive tests were made public.
Former Chinese diver Gao Min alleged in a post on Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo that the Chinese swimmers' poor performance in the games was due to excessive drug testing they underwent. Chinese swimmer Qin Haiyang said the tests "come early in the morning before we're even awake, during midday rest periods, forcing us to rest on hotel lobby sofas, and even late at night, keeping us up past midnight". Wang Xue'er told a reporter from the Mandarin service of Radio Free Asia that the drug tests were okay, while Chinese swimmer Zhang Yufei stated that the drug tests did not affect her much.
British swimming star Adam Peaty questioned China's performances at the 2024 Summer Olympics, alluding to the cover-up of positive doping cases by Chinese swimmers, and expressing dissatisfaction with the World Anti-Doping Agency's efforts to combat cheating in sports. American swimmer Caeleb Dressel emphasized the need to put trust in WADA and said that he was mainly focused on racing really tough, acknowledging that China were the better team. Pan Zhanle was the only swimmer from the Chinese team, to have won an individual gold in Paris 2024 and also breaking his own world record. Despite not being one of the 23 swimmers who had tested positive to TMZ, he has similarly received allegations of doping. Kyle Chalmers who came in second to him at the 100 freestyle final, however defended Pan and stated that he was confident that Pan wasn’t doping and that also he “deserves that gold medal" in [100 free]. David Popovici also came to Pan's defense by stating that everyone is innocent until proven guilty and adding in that, “This is only motivation for us. I mean, we can’t be mad, we can only congratulate him. This is what sports is.”