Federica Pellegrini is an Italian swimmer. A native of Mirano, in the province of Venice, she holds the women's 200 m freestyle world record, and 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.
Natalie Anne Coughlin Hall is an American competition swimmer and twelve-time Olympic medalist. While attending the University of California, Berkeley, she became the first woman ever to swim the 100-meter backstroke in less than one minute—ten days before her 20th birthday in 2002. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she became the first U.S. female athlete in modern Olympic history to win six medals in one Olympiad, and the first woman ever to win a 100-meter backstroke gold in two consecutive Olympics. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she earned a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. Her total of twelve Olympic medals ties her with Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres for the most all-time medals by a female swimmer.
Swimming has been a sport at every modern Summer Olympics. It has been open to women since 1912. Along with track & field athletics and gymnastics, it is one of the most popular spectator sports at the Games. Swimming has the second-highest number of Olympic events.
Michael George Klim, OAM is a Polish-born Australian swimmer, Olympic gold medallist, world champion, and former world record-holder.
Magdalena Johanna Maria "Marleen" Veldhuis is a retired swimmer from the Netherlands. She was world record holder in four events. Veldhuis won eight world championships gold medals and 20 European championships gold medals. In the Olympics, she won a bronze medal in London 2012 in the 50 m freestyle, as well as three relay medals: bronze in Athens 2004, gold in Beijing 2008, and silver in London 2012.
The 1972 Summer Olympics were held in Munich, West Germany, 29 events in swimming were contested. There was a total of 532 participants from 52 countries competing.
Ranomi Kromowidjojo is a 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 records in the 4×50 m, 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 Dutch competitive swimmer who mainly specializes in freestyle, but also has a strong backstroke and medley.
Nathan Ghar-jun Adrian is an American competitive swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist who formerly held the American record in the long course 50-meter freestyle event.
Francesca Jean Halsall is a retired English competitive swimmer who has represented Great Britain at the Olympics, FINA world championships, and European championships, and England at the Commonwealth Games. She competed primarily in freestyle and butterfly events.
Michael Fred Phelps II is an American former competitive swimmer and the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time, with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (23), Olympic gold medals in individual events (13), and Olympic medals in individual events (16). When he won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, Phelps broke fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Phelps had already tied the record of eight medals of any color at a single Games by winning six gold and two bronze medals. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Phelps won four gold and two silver medals, and at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won five gold medals and one silver. This made him the most successful athlete of the Games for the fourth Olympics in a row.
Lauren Marie Boyle is a former competitive swimmer from New Zealand. She has competed at three Commonwealth Games and three Olympic Games.
Freestyle is a category of swimming competition, defined by the rules of the International Swimming Federation (FINA), in which competitors are subject to few limited restrictions on their swimming stroke. Freestyle races are the most common of all swimming competitions, with distances beginning with 50 meters and reaching 1500 meters, also known as the mile. The term 'freestyle stroke' is sometimes used as a synonym for 'front crawl', as front crawl is the fastest swimming stroke. It is now the most common stroke used in freestyle competitions.
James Magnussen is a retired Australian swimmer and Olympic medallist. He was the 2011 and 2013 100-metre freestyle world champion, and holds the record for the fifth fastest swim in history in the 100-metre freestyle, with a time of 47.10, which until 2016 also stood as the fastest swim in textile swimwear material.
Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky is an American competitive swimmer. She has won five Olympic gold medals and 15 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. She is the world record holder in the women's 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle. She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events.
Simone Ashley Manuel is an American competition swimmer specializing in sprint freestyle. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, she won two gold and two silver medals: gold in the 100-meter freestyle and the 4x100-meter medley, and silver in the 50-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. In winning the 100-meter freestyle, a tie with Penny Oleksiak of Canada, Manuel became the first African-American woman to win an individual Olympic gold in swimming and set an Olympic record and an American record.
Caeleb Remel Dressel is an American freestyle and butterfly swimmer who specializes in the sprint events. He currently represents the Cali Condors which is part of the International Swimming League. He won seven gold medals at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest and a record eight medals, including six gold, at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju. Dressel is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and currently holds the world records in the 100 meter butterfly, 50 meter freestyle, and 100 meter individual medley.
Swimming at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships was held from 23 to 30 July 2017 in Budapest, Hungary.
Swimming at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships was held from 21 to 28 July 2019.
