Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics The swimming competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place from 9 to 17 August 2008 at the Beijing National Aquatics Centre. The newly introduced open water marathon events (10 km) were held on 20 and 21 August 2008 at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park. Swimming featured 34 events (17 male, 17 female), including two 10 km open-water marathons. The remaining 32 were contested in a 50 m long course pool within the Olympic Park. United States claimed a total of 31 medals (12 golds, 9 silver, and 10 bronze) in the leaderboard to maintain
Vanuatu at the 2008 Summer Olympics did not accompany the delegation and arrived in China at different times. None of the three Vanuatuan Olympians progressed past the first round in their events, and thus did not earn any medals. Vanuatu has participated in the Olympics since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea; its Olympic committee (VASANOC) was founded a year earlier. Vanuatu's appearance at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, thus, marked its sixth appearance in the summer Olympics. Although Vanuatu's earlier Olympic appearances were primarily characterized by people participating in athletics (with the exception of the 2000 Summer Olympics, which included an archer), the