Laure Manaudou is a retired French Olympic, world and European champion swimmer. She has held the world record in freestyle events between 200 and 1500 meter. She is the older sister of Florent Manaudou who is also an Olympic gold medalist swimmer.
Federica Pellegrini is an Italian retired swimmer. A native of Mirano, in the province of Venice, she won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. At the 2009 World Championships in Rome, Pellegrini became the first woman ever to break the 4-minute barrier in the 400 m freestyle with a time of 3:59.15. She also held the women's 200 meters freestyle world record.
Yang Yu is an Olympic medal-winning swimmer from the People's Republic of China. She became part of the Chinese national swimming team in 1999, and competed for Team China at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Frédérick Bousquet is a retired freestyle and butterfly swimmer from France. He was the holder of the world record in the 50 m freestyle in a time of 20.94 in long course, set on 26 April 2009 at the final of the French Championships. Since the record was swum in a banned, performance-enhancing suit it remained in limbo whether the record stood until FINA approved it in July following a modification of his suit. He is the first swimmer to go under the 21-second mark in this distance. He previously held the record in the 50 m short course in a time of 21.10, set in 2004 at the Men's NCAA Division One Swimming and Diving Championships, for over two years. At the 2009 World Championships in Rome Bousquet competed in the 50 and 100 free, capturing a silver in the 50 and bronze in the 100. Bousquet did not qualify for the 2012 Olympics but his ex-partner Laure Manaudou and his brother-in-law Florent Manaudou did.
Britta Steffen is a German former competitive swimmer who specialized in freestyle sprint events, winning 2 gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Ranomi Kromowidjojo is a retired Dutch swimmer of mixed Dutch-Javanese Surinamese origin who mainly specialises in sprint freestyle events. She is a triple Olympic champion, winning the gold medal in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay at the 2008 Olympics, and in the 50 m freestyle and 100 m freestyle at the 2012 Olympics. Kromowidjojo holds the world record in the 50 meter freestyle short course, and as part of the Dutch team she holds the world record in the 4×50 m freestyle relay. She formerly held world records in the 4 × 100 m and 4 × 200 m freestyle relays. She has won a total of 39 medals in FINA World Championship events.
Frederike Johanna Maria "Femke" Heemskerk is a former Dutch competitive swimmer who mainly specializes in freestyle, but also has a strong backstroke and medley.
Lauren Marie Boyle is a former competitive swimmer from New Zealand. She has competed at three Commonwealth Games and three Olympic Games.
Camille Muffat was a French swimmer and three-time Olympic medalist. Swimming for the Olympic Nice Natation club, she specialised in the individual medley and the free style events. Her career ran from 2005 to 2014.
The Women's 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships took place on 29 March 2007 at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia. The top-12 finishers from this race qualified for the event at the 2008 Olympics. 25 teams were entered in the event; all swam.
Pál Joensen is a Faroese elite swimmer. He was born in Vágur, Suðuroy, Faroe Islands. He has won World and European Championship medals. His bronze medal in the men's 1500 metre freestyle at the 2012 FINA World Swimming Championships in Istanbul was the first medal won by a Faroese swimmer at the World Aquatic Championships.
Yannick Agnel is a French former competitive swimmer who specialized in freestyle events, and is a three-time Olympic medalist. In his Olympic debut at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, he won gold in the 200-meter freestyle, gold in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and silver in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. He is the current world record holder in the 400-meter freestyle, the European record holder in the 800-meter freestyle, and the national record holder in the 200- and 400-meter freestyle.
Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky is an American competitive swimmer. She has won nine Olympic gold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. With 14 medals, she is also the most decorated American woman, most decorated female swimmer, and fifth most decorated athlete in Olympic history. She has won a record 16 individual gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships. Ledecky's eight individual gold medals at the Olympics and 26 overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships are records in women's swimming. Ledecky is the world record holder in the women's 800- and 1500-meter freestyle, as well as the former world record holder in the women's 400-meter freestyle. She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events. She is widely regarded as the greatest female swimmer of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Pernille Blume is a Danish former swimmer specializing in sprint freestyle events. She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics. At the 2016 Summer Olympics she was the gold medalist in the women's 50 metre freestyle and won a bronze medal in the women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay where she swam the freestyle leg of the relay in both the prelims and the final. She also competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the 50 metre freestyle.
Florent Manaudou is a French competitive swimmer, an Olympic champion of the 50-meter freestyle at the 2012 London Olympics, and the younger brother of Laure Manaudou, a 2004 Olympic gold medalist in swimming. He competes for the Energy Standard Swim Club in the International Swimming League.
Aurélie Muller is a French swimmer, who specializes in long-distance freestyle events and open water marathon. She won the 10-kilometer competition at the 2015 world championship in Kazan, Russia and at the 2017 world championship in Budapest, Hungary.
Taylor Madison Ruck is a Canadian competitive swimmer. She won two Olympic bronze medals as part of Canada's women's 4×100 metre and 4×200 metre freestyle relay teams at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Ruck won eight medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. Her eight medal performance of one gold, five silver, and two bronze tied her with three other athletes for the most all-time at a single Commonwealth Games, as well as making her the most decorated Canadian female athlete ever at a single Commonwealth Games. Ruck is the all-time leading medallist at the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships having won nine gold, two silver, and two bronze over the course of the 2015 and 2017 editions.
Alexandra Walsh is an American competitive swimmer. She is known for her versatility in all four strokes that has allowed her to have success in medley events. Growing up, Walsh was a phenom who started setting national age group records at 12 in 2014. She led her high school team to multiple state and national championships. At the 2019 Pan American Games, she won three gold medals.
Katherine Cadwallader Douglass is an American competitive swimmer. A versatile swimmer who competes in many events, Douglass won her first major international medal at the 2020 Olympic Games. She won three medals at the 2022 World Championships. Douglass then won six medals, including two golds, at the 2023 World Championships. At the 2024 World Championships, she won five medals, including two golds. Douglass won four medals, including two golds, at the 2024 Olympic Games; she became the Olympic champion in the 200 m breaststroke.
Summer Ann McIntosh is a Canadian competitive swimmer. She is a three-time Olympic champion, four-time World Aquatics champion, and two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist. Noted for her strength in medley and butterfly events, she is the current world record holder in the 400 metre individual medley, and also holds the Olympic and textile records in the 200 metre butterfly event, and the Olympic record in the 200 metre individual medley.
Germany
