Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics April, with open water event swimmers selected after performance in the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Championships, in Seville, Spain. In winning six medals (two gold, two silver and two bronze) the team bettered the target of three medals set by UK Sport. The most successful swimmer was Rebecca Adlington who won two gold medals. Her 400 m freestyle success was Britain's first Olympic swimming title since 1988, and the first swimming gold by a British woman since 1960. Her second gold, in the 800 m freestyle, meant she also equalled the best performance by a British woman, from any
Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics Netherlands Antilles, and Tajikistan returned to the sport after an eight-year absence. Nations with swimmers at the Games are (team size in parentheses): Retrieved from 2008 NBC Olympics website. <nowiki>*</nowiki> Swimmers who participated in the heats only and received medals. <nowiki>*</nowiki> Swimmers who participated in the heats only and received medals. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, new world records were set 25 times (affecting 21 distinct world records) and new Olympic records were set 65 times and one other was equalled (affecting 30 distinct Olympic records). Only Ian Thorpe's 3:40.59 in the 400 metres freestyle and Inge de Bruijn's 56.61