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"My will to live completely overcame my desire to win."

Katie Hoff (R) and Ariana Kukors of the U.S. swim in the women's 400m individual medley final at the Pan Pacific 2006 swimming championships in Victoria, British Columbia, August 18, 2006. Hoff won the event. [Reuters]

Olympic swimming has come a long way, to temperature-controlled 50-metre pools, wave-killing gutters, lane markers designed to reduce turbulence, and status as one of the Games' glamour events. It is far removed from those early days.

There were the venues, from the Bay of Zea in 1896, to Paris's River Seine in 1900, to a 100-metre pool constructed inside the athletics track in 1908. Then there were the events, from a 100-metre race for Greek sailors in 1896, to underwater and obstacle races in 1900, to a "plunge for distance" in 1908. That event involved a standing dive, with contestants then remaining motionless for 60 seconds, or until their heads broke the surface - whichever came first.

COMPETITION

Women's swimming events became a regular part of the Olympic Games in 1912, and men and women now 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.

Each race has a maximum of eight swimmers. Preliminary heats in the 50m, 100m and 200m lead to semi-finals and finals based on the fastest times. In relays and individual events of 400 metres or more, the eight fastest finishers in the preliminaries advance directly to the finals.

LIST OF EVENTS

Men	Women
100m backstroke     100m breaststroke    100m butterfly     100m freestyle     1500m freestyle     200m backstroke    200m breaststroke    200m butterfly     200m freestyle     200m individual medley    400m freestyle    400m individual medley     4x100m freestyle relay     4x100m medley relay    4x200m freestyle relay    50m freestyle    marathon 10km	100m backstroke     100m breaststroke     100m butterfly     100m freestyle     200m backstroke    200m breaststroke     200m butterfly     200m freestyle    200m individual medley     400m freestyle    400m individual medley     4x100m freestyle relay     4x100m medley relay    4x200m freestyle relay     50m freestyle    800m freestyle     marathon 10km