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
Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics may elect to hold Irish citizenship and are able to be selected to represent either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympics). Additionally some British overseas territories compete separately from Britain in Olympic competition. Great Britain's medal performance at the 2008 Summer Olympics was its best in a century; only its performance at the 1908 Summer Olympics, which Britain hosted in London, resulted in more gold medals being awarded. The total medal count, 47, is also the fourth highest Great Britain has ever achieved, with only the 1908, 2012 and 2016 Games resulting in more medals. Following retests of doping