Olympic swimming is one of the Games' glamour events.
Men and women compete in 16 events each. The programme involves four different strokes across a range of distances.
Freestyle races cover 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1500, 10,000 metres. The 800m is for women only, the 1500m for men only. The butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke races each cover 100 and 200 metres. All four strokes are used in the 200m and 400m individual medley events.
The 4 x 100m freestyle, 4 x 200m freestyle and 4 x 100m medley relays complete the programme.