HISTORY OF SWIMMING AT THE OLYMPICS

Swimming has featured at every modern summer Olympic Games.

Women's events were introduced at the Stockholm 1912 Games.

At the first few modern Games, swimming events were held in open water.

The rules were formalised in 1908, when the London Games staged the first Olympic Swimming competition to be held in a pool.

The 1924 Paris Olympics were the first to use the standard 50 metre pool with marked lanes.

The United States has dominated swimming winning 214 gold medals, with Australia the second most successful nation with 56.

Swimming ranks sixth on the most prolific Olympic sports for New Zealand with three golds a silver and three bronze medals.

Danyon Loader is our most successful Olympic swimmer - winning gold in the 200m and 400m freestyle events in Atlanta to go with his silver in the 200m butterfly four years earlier.