Swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics

At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, six swimming events were contested. These were the first Olympic Games in which a 100 metre pool had been especially constructed (inside the main stadium's track and field oval). Previous Olympic events were swum in open water (1896: The Mediterranean Sea, 1900: The Seine River, 1904: an artificial lake). Only men participated in the swimming events. The competitions were held from Monday, July 13, 1908 to Saturday, July 25, 1908.

All six of the 1908 events became staples of the Olympic swimming programme, and have been contested at every edition of the Games since. The 50 m, 200 m, and 800 m freestyle events were dropped from the previous edition (though the 50 m and 200 m would later return), the relay was lengthened from 4×50 yards to 4×200 m, and the 400 m breaststroke was shortened to 200 metres.

Canada and Finland made their first appearances in swimming, while Austria, Hungary, and the United States continued their streaks of appearing each time. Fourteen nations competed in all, with 100 swimmers entering the events.

Medal table

1	Great Britain (GBR)	4	2	1	7
2	United States (USA)	1	0	1	2
3	Germany (GER)	1	0	0	1
4	Hungary (HUN)	0	2	0	2
5	Australasia (ANZ)	0	1	1	2
6	Denmark (DEN)	0	1	0	1
7	Sweden (SWE)	0	0	2	2
8	Austria (AUT)	0	0	1	1

Medal summary

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
100 m freestyle	Charles Daniels  United States	Zoltán Halmay  Hungary	Harald Julin  Sweden
400 m freestyle	Henry Taylor  Great Britain	Frank Beaurepaire  Australasia	Otto Scheff  Austria
1500 m freestyle	Henry Taylor  Great Britain	Thomas Battersby  Great Britain	Frank Beaurepaire  Australasia
100 m backstroke	Arno Bieberstein  Germany	Ludvig Dam  Denmark	Herbert Haresnape  Great Britain
200 m breaststroke	Frederick Holman  Great Britain	William Robinson  Great Britain	Pontus Hanson  Sweden
4×200 m freestyle relay	Great Britain (GBR) John Derbyshire Paul Radmilovic William Foster Henry Taylor	Hungary (HUN) József Munk Imre Zachár Béla Las-Torres Zoltán Halmay	United States (USA) Harry Hebner Leo Goodwin Charles Daniels Leslie Rich

Participating nations

A total of 100 swimmers from 14 nations competed at the London Games:

Australasia (5)  Austria (1)  Belgium (7)  Canada (1)  Denmark (5)  Finland (3)  France (4)

Germany (5)  Great Britain (28)  Hungary (10)  Italy (4)  Netherlands (7)  Sweden (12)  United States (8)

References

• "Olympic Medal Winners". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2008-03-19.
• Cook, Theodore Andrea (1909). The Fourth Olympiad London 1908 Official Report (PDF). London: British Olympic Association. pp. 296–310. Retrieved 2008-03-19. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Mallon, Bill (2000). The 1908 Olympic Games: Results for All Competitors in All Events, With Commentary. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-0598-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)