Swimming factbox for Athens 2004

ATHENS (Reuters) -- Factbox on swimming at the August 13-29 Athens Olympics:

HISTORY

Swimming has been part of the Olympics since the first modern Games in Athens in 1896 when racing took place in the chilly, open waters of the Saronic Gulf. The swimmers were taken out in a boat and had to race back to the shore, watched by 40,000 spectators.

The River Seine was the swimming venue at the 1900 Games in Paris.

Butterfly was introduced as a separate discipline at the 1956 Melbourne Games after disputes over new techniques being used by breaststroke swimmers who saved time by moving their arms forward above the surface of the water.

Individual medley was introduced in Mexico City in 1968 with the order of strokes being butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.

In 1972, in Munich, American swimmer Mark Spitz became the first person to win seven gold medals at one Olympics.

EVENTS

32 events - 16 for men and 16 for women.

Of those, 26 are individual races in freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and individual medley. Six are relays (freestyle and medley) swum by teams of four.

All the events are held in a 50-metre pool.

2000 CHAMPIONS

Men

50m freestyle: Anthony Ervin (U.S.) and Gary Hall (U.S.)

100m freestyle: Pieter van den Hoogenband (Netherlands)

100m breaststroke: Domenico Fioravanti (Italy)

100m butterfly: Lars Frolander (Sweden)

100m backstroke: Lenny Krayzelburg (U.S.)

200m freestyle: Pieter van den Hoogenband (Netherlands)

200m breaststroke: Domenico Fioravanti (Italy)

200m butterfly: Tom Malchow (U.S.)

200m backstroke: Lenny Krayzelburg (U.S.)

200m individual medley: Massimiliano Rosolino (Italy)

400m freestyle: Ian Thorpe (Australia)

400m individual medley: Tom Dolan (U.S.)

1,500m freestyle: Grant Hackett (Australia)

4x100m freestyle relay: Australia (Michael Klim, Chris Fydler, Ashley Callus, Ian Thorpe)

4x200m freestyle relay: Australia (Ian Thorpe, Michael Klim, Todd Pearson, William Kirby)

4x100m medley relay: U.S. (Lenny Krayzelburg, Ed Moses, Ian Crocker, Gary Hall)

Women

50m freestyle: Inge de Bruijn (Netherlands)

100m freestyle: Inge de Bruijn (Netherlands)

100m breaststroke: Megan Quann (U.S.)

100m butterfly: Inge de Bruijn (Netherlands)

100m backstroke: Diana Mocanu (Romania)

200m freestyle: Susie O'Neill (Australia)

200m breaststroke: Agnes Kovacs (Hungary)

200m butterfly: Misty Hyman (U.S.)

200m backstroke: Diana Mocanu (Romania)

200m individual medley: Yana Klochkova (Ukraine)

400m freestyle: Brooke Bennett (U.S.)

400m individual medley: Yana Klochkova (Ukraine)

800m freestyle: Brooke Bennett (U.S.)

4x100m freestyle relay: U.S. (Amy van Dyken, Dara Torres,

Courtney Shealy, Jenny Thompson)

4x200m freestyle relay: U.S. (Samantha Arsenault, Diana

Munz, Lindsay Benko, Jenny Thompson)

4x100m medley relay: U.S. (Barbara Bedford, Megan Quann,

Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres)

OLYMPIC PROGRAM (FINALS)

August 14: Men's 400m individual medley

Men's 400m freestyle

Women's 400m individual medley

Women's 4x100m freestyle relay

August 15: Women's 100m butterfly

Men's 100m breaststroke

Women's 400m freestyle

Men's 4x100m freestyle relay

August 16: Men's 200m freestyle

Women's 100m backstroke

Men's 100m backstroke

Women's 100m breaststroke

August 17: Women's 200m freestyle

Men's 200m butterfly

Women's 200m individual medley

Men's 4x200m freestyle relay

August 18: Men's 200m breaststroke

Women's 200m butterfly

Men's 100m freestyle

Women's 4x200m freestyle

August 19: Women's 200m breaststroke

Men's 200m backstroke

Men's 200m individual medley

Women's 100m freestyle

August 20: Women's 200m backstroke

Men's 100m butterfly

Women's 800m freestyle

Men's 50m freestyle

August 21: Women's 50m freestyle

Men's 1500m freestyle

Women's 4x100m medley relay

Men's 4x100 medley relay

VENUES

Olympic Aquatic Centre in the main Athens Olympic complex at

Maroussi. Swimming will be held in the outdoor pool, where

10,893 spectators can be accommodated. Organisers abandoned plans to build a roof over the pool because of lack of time.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

www.fina.org

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