SWIMMING
Swimming is only one of five sports that has been contested at every summer Olympic Games since 1896.
It was however originally only open to men and with women only able to compete in Olympic competition from 1912. It is one of the most popular spectator events at the Games and has the second-highest number of Olympic events (after athletics).
In the first four Olympics, competitions were not held in pools, but rather in open water (1896, the Mediterranean Sea; 1900, the Seine; 1904, an artificial lake; 1906, the Mediterranean). The 1904 Olympics’ races were the only ones ever measured in yards, instead of the usual metres. A 100-metre pool was built for the 1908 Olympics and was located in the centre of the main stadium’s track and field oval. The 1912 Olympics, held in the Stockholm Harbour, marked the beginning of electrical timing.
The 1924 Olympics were the first to use the standard 50 metre pool with marked lanes. In the freestyle, swimmers originally dove from the pool walls, but diving blocks were incorporated starting at the 1936 Summer Olympics. The flip-turn was developed by the 1950s. Swimming goggles were first allowed in 1976.
Women were first allowed the longer distance of 800 metres freestyle in 1968, which remains the longest distance for women in the swimming pool. Up until then, women were considered to be too “delicate” to swim a race this long, even though the men had had the 1500 metre freestyle from the very early years. Women’s teams were first granted the 800 metre freestyle relay race in 1996 even though there had been a men’s relay race at that distance since 1912. At six Olympiads, the men had two freestyle relay races, but the women only had one. Now, both sexes have two. The medley relay races (4×100 metres) were not held for men or for women until 1960, but they have continued in every Olympiad since then.
Starting in 2008, both men and women compete in 10 km open water marathon swim events.
The 2020 Olympics will see the introduction for the first time of a 4 x 100m Mixed Medley Relay.
National Federation: Swim Ireland
International Federation: International Swimming Federation
SWIMMING NEWS
Top Results from the Weekend
9 March 2025; Sarah Healy of Ireland celebrates winning gold in the women's 3000m final on day four of the European Athletics Indoor Championships 2025 at the Omnisport Apeldoorn in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile A Golden Weekend for Team Ireland! A massive congratulations to our athletes on their incredible performances over the weekend! [...]
Nominations For RTE Sportsperson of the Year
Next Sunday evening, December 15th at 9:30 pm, the RTÉ Sport Awards 2024 will air live on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player. Hosted by Joanne Cantwell, Darragh Maloney, and Jacqui Hurley from Studio 4 in RTÉ, the event will celebrate Irish sporting excellence in front of an audience filled with the nation’s top athletes. [...]
SWIMMERS DANIEL WIFFEN AND MONA MCSHARRY ANNOUNCED AS CLOSING CEREMONY FLAGBEARERS
Double Olympic medallist Daniel Wiffen, and Olympic bronze medallist Mona McSharry have been announced as the Team Ireland Flagbearers for the Closing Ceremony of Paris 2024 tomorrow night (Sunday). Olympic gold and bronze medallist Wiffen, and Olympic bronze medallist McSharry both reacted with immense pride on discovering they had been selected to carry the Irish [...]
DAY 13 MORNING REPORT FROM TEAM IRELAND
Team Ireland’s women’s 4x400m relay team have made yet more history at these Paris Olympic Games by becoming the first women’s relay team ever to make an Olympic final, qualifying with a third place finish in their heat. Hurdler Sarah Lavin and 800m athlete Mark English both ran really well placing sixth in their respective semi-finals but missed out on the [...]
SELECTED ATHLETES
Erin Riordan
BIOGRAPHY Erin was part of the 4x100m freestyle relay team (with Davidson, Catterson and Maria Godden) who finished tenth at this year’s World Championships in Doha. She has a biomedical degree from UCD and a Masters in science from DCU. OTHER SWIMMING ATHLETES{{ vc_btn: title=SEE+ALL+ATHLETES&style=outline-custom&outline_custom_color=%2300ed00&outline_custom_hover_background=%23ffffff&outline_custom_hover_text=%23001136&shape=square&css=.vc_custom_1677079573058%7Bmargin-top%3A+10px+%21important%3Bmargin-left%3A+0px+%21important%3B%7D&link=url%3A%252Fathletes-list%252F&el_class=see-all-athletes }} Max McCuskerConor FergusonTom FannonGrace DavisonVictoria CattersonEllen WalsheDaniel WiffenDanielle HillFinn [...]
Max McCusker
BIOGRAPHY Max equalled and then broke Shane Ryan’s Irish 100m Butterfly record at World Championships in February, swimming 52:52 to earn a swim off for a semi-final spot. He didn’t win it but had the consolation of swimming a new Irish record 52:31. He smashed that with 51:90 at the Olympic trials in May to [...]
Conor Ferguson
BIOGRAPHY Conor narrowly missed Olympic qualification in the 100m backstroke for Rio by just .05 of a second when he was only 16. He is a multiple medallist in 100m backstroke at junior level, including EYOF silver (2015), European Junior silver (2016), and World Junior silver (2017). He also took silver in 50m backstroke at [...]
Tom Fannon
BIOGRAPHY Tom is a former European junior champion and represented England at the 2018 Commonwealth Games before declaring for Ireland thanks to his Galway-born grandfather. He moved to Dublin to train with the National Centre team three years ago, and his 21:95 at the 2023 Irish Open smashed Barry Murphy’s fourteen year old Irish senior [...]
Grace Davison
BIOGRAPHY Grace has constantly lowered the Irish Junior 100m freestyle record in the past year and took it down to 55.44 at the Irish trials in May. She won 400m IM gold and 200m IM silver at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games, and is the youngest member of the swimming team. Her final preparation for [...]
Victoria Catterson
BIOGRAPHY The Irish 200m freestyle record holder was part of the women’s 4x100m medley relay team whose national record of 4:01.25 at the 2023 World Championships in Japan ranked them 13th in the world, and earned Ireland’s first women’s Olympic relay slot since 1972. After completing an accountancy course in 2023 she moved from Belfast [...]
Ellen Walshe
BIOGRAPHY Ellen won a 100m butterfly silver at the 2015 European Youth Olympics, gold in 200m butterfly at the 2017 World School Games and then two golds and a silver at the European U23s. She was only 19 on her Olympic debut in Tokyo where she was 19th in the 200m Individual Medley heats (2:13.34), [...]
Daniel Wiffen
BIOGRAPHY Daniel Wiffen became the first Irishman ever to win an Olympic swimming medal when he claimed 800m Freestyle gold in a new Olympic record time at the Paris Games. Days later he added a 1,500m freestyle bronze medal to his tally, as well as becoming the first Irish athlete to contest the open water [...]
Danielle Hill
BIOGRAPHY Ireland’s fastest ever female swimmer was a Commonwealth Games finalist in 2018 despite dislocating her shoulder in training. This summer she became European champion at the non-Olympic distance of 50m backstroke - Irelands’ first European long course title since Michelle Smith in 1997 – and she also won European silver in 100m backstroke. Danielle [...]
Finn McGeever
BIOGRAPHY Finn grew up on the banks of Lough Derg and is a second-year student at the University of Limerick where he is part of Swim Ireland’s high performance squad. He caused a sensation when breaking the Irish 400m freestyle record at this year’s Nationals in April (3:52.83) and was part of the team who [...]
Shane Ryan
BIOGRAPHY Shane, whose father hails from Portarlington, is Ireland’s first male three-time Olympic swimmer, starting with a semi-final appearance in 100m backstroke in Rio 2016. He has won four international medals in the non-Olympic 50m backstroke event; a World University Games champion in 2017, and a bronze medallist in both European long and short course [...]
Darragh Greene
BIOGRAPHY Darragh, who holds the Irish 50m/100m/200m breaststroke records, was seventh in the European LC 100m final this summer, and tenth in the 200m. He made his Olympic debut in Tokyo, competing in the heats of the 100m and 200m breaststroke. OTHER SWIMMING ATHLETES{{ vc_btn: title=SEE+ALL+ATHLETES&style=outline-custom&outline_custom_color=%2300ed00&outline_custom_hover_background=%23ffffff&outline_custom_hover_text=%23001136&shape=square&css=.vc_custom_1677079573058%7Bmargin-top%3A+10px+%21important%3Bmargin-left%3A+0px+%21important%3B%7D&link=url%3A%252Fathletes-list%252F&el_class=see-all-athletes }} Brendan HylandJack McMillanMona McSharry SWIMMING NEWS Top Results [...]
Brendan Hyland
BIOGRAPHY Brendan, a 15-time Irish champion, was Ireland’s 2019 High Performance Swimmer of the Year and has made finals at the 2021 and 2019 (SC) European Championships. In 2019 he broke the Irish 200m butterfly record at the World Championships, finally breaking 1:57 with his 1:56.55 in the semi-finals to place 11th overall. In 2018 [...]
Jack McMillan
BIOGRAPHY Part of Irish team who broke national 4x200m record twice at this year’s European Championship, finishing fifth in final when they lowered it to 7:12.00. He set an Irish 200m SC freestyle record of 1:42.74 at the 2019 Europeans and smashed that with 1:42.18 in December 2020. Jack won gold in 200m freestyle and [...]
Mona McSharry
BIOGRAPHY Mona McSharry is an Olympic bronze medalist from Paris 2024. A two-time Olympian, at Tokyo 2020 she reached the final of the 100-meter breaststroke, finishing eighth with a time of 1:06.94, and placed 20th in the 200-meter breaststroke (2:25.08). McSharry's career highlights include winning the World Junior Championship in the 100-meter breaststroke and European [...]