The men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2004 Olympic Games was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 15 and 16.
Aaron Wells Peirsol is an American former competition swimmer and backstroke specialist who is a former world champion and world record-holder. He is a three-time Olympian and seven-time Olympic medalist. Individually, he currently holds the world record in the 200-meter backstroke event. In February 2011, Peirsol announced his retirement, saying, "I ended up doing everything I set out to do."
Lenny Krayzelburg is an American former backstroke swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, and former world record holder. He swam in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, winning a total of four Olympic gold medals.
Megan M. Jendrick is an American former competition swimmer, former world record-holder, and fitness columnist. She won two gold medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics and a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Jendrick set 27 American records and four world records in her swimming career. She is a 13-time national champion, ten-time U.S. Open champion, seven-time masters world record-holder, and fifteen-time U.S. Masters national record-holder. Jendrick is married to American author Nathan Jendrick.
Scott Andrew Miller is an Australian butterfly swimmer who competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics, winning a silver and bronze medal.
Leonardo Jorge Costa is a former freestyle and backstroke swimmer from Brazil, who represented his native country at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. His biggest success was winning the gold medal in the 200-metre backstroke at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
The women's 100 metre breaststroke event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 17–18 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.
The women's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 20–21 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.
The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 20–21 September at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia. There were 45 competitors from 38 nations. Each nation had been limited to two swimmers in the event since 1984. The event was won by Lenny Krayzelburg of the United States, with his countryman Aaron Peirsol taking silver. It was the second consecutive Games that Americans had finished one-two in the event. Bronze went to Matt Welsh of Australia, the nation's first medal in the event since 1980.
The women's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 17–18 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.
The men's 200 metre individual medley event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 20–21 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.
The men's 4×100 metre medley relay event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 22–23 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.
The women's 4×100 metre medley relay event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 22–23 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.
Emily Jane Seebohm, OAM is an Australian swimmer. She has appeared at four Olympic Games between 2008 and 2021; and won three Olympic gold medals, five world championship gold medals and seven Commonwealth Games gold medals. She specialises in the backstroke, but has also won medals in the freestyle and individual medley.
The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 13–15 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China. There were 40 competitors from 31 nations.
Guy Marcos Barnea is an Israeli swimmer who represented Israel at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and has won three medals at the European Championships. As of March 2016, he held the Israeli records in the long course 50m backstroke (24.64), the short course 50m backstroke (23.27), and the long course 100m butterfly (51.36).
Simon Thirsk is a retired South African swimmer, who specialised in backstroke events.
Simon Paul Militis is a male English former competitive swimmer, who specialized in backstroke and individual medley events.
Brett Petersen is a South African former swimmer, who specialised in breaststroke events. He won a gold medal in the 100 m breaststroke at the 1999 All-Africa Games, and later became a top 8 finalist in the same distance at the 2000 Summer Olympics. While studying in the United States, Petersen was part of the 200-yard medley relay team that claimed a top finish at the 1998 Atlantic Coast Conference Swimming Championships. Petersen also played for the Florida State Seminoles swimming and diving team under head coach Neil Harper, and later became a graduate of management information systems at the Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.
Praphalsai "Waen" Minpraphal is a Thai former swimmer, who specialized in butterfly, but also competed in backstroke and individual medley. She represented Thailand in all three editions of the Olympic Games since 1992, and earned numerous medals in her own specialties at the Southeast Asian Games since 1991. While residing in the United States on her college career, she helped the California Golden Bears set a new world record (1:49.23) and capture the 4×50 m medley title at the 2000 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. Minpraphal is among the Asian swimmers, along with Joscelin Yeo of Singapore and Akiko Thomson of the Philippines, to train for the Bears under women's head coach Teri McKeever.
