Swimming

A Brief History of Women’s Participation In Olympic Swimming

January 8, 2024

In August 2023, World Aquatics announced the Olympic qualifying procedures for the Paris 2024 Games. Among swimmers who will achieve the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT, “A” cut), the Olympic Consideration Time (OCT, “B” cut), the relay-only swimmers and universality places, it is expected that World Aquatics will fulfill the total quota of 852 athletes in pool swimming.

This means that we will see the lowest number of swimmers in the Olympics since 1996 in Atlanta, when 762 athletes competed at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center. The overall athlete quota for Paris has been reduced from 11,000 to 10,500, which also means we will have the lowest number of athletes since 1996 (10,339).

It is also interesting to analyze the participation of female swimmers over the years. One of the recommendations of the 2020 Olympic Agenda proposed the IOC “work with the International Federations to achieve 50 percent female participation in the Olympic Games and to stimulate women’s participation and involvement in sport by creating more participation opportunities at the Olympic Games.”

Women’s participation in Olympic swimming since 1912

Year	Women	Men	Total	% Women
1912	27	93	120	22.5%
1920	24	92	116	20.7%
1924	51	118	169	30.2%
1928	72	110	182	39.6%
1932	44	84	128	34.4%
1936	94	154	248	37.9%
1948	88	161	249	35.3%
1952	118	201	319	37.0%
1956	99	136	235	42.1%
1960	144	236	380	37.9%
1964	162	243	405	40.0%
1968	204	264	468	43.6%
1972	245	287	532	46.1%
1976	208	263	471	44.2%
1980	143	190	333	42.9%
1984	186	308	494	37.7%
1988	252	381	633	39.8%
1992	256	385	641	39.9%
1996	345	417	762	45.3%
2000	396	558	954	41.5%
2004	393	544	937	41.9%
2008	433	547	980	44.2%
2012	429	458	887	48.4%
2016	414	483	897	46.2%
2021	398	477	875	45.5%

Women’s participation at the Olympic Games has been steadily increasing, and it is no different in swimming. The first time swimming events were included in the Olympics was in 1912, in Stockholm.

While women had competed at the Olympics from 1900 to 1908, this was the first time that women were admitted to the Olympic Program in one of the “major” sports on the program. In Stockholm, there were two women’s events: 100 freestyle and 4×100 freestyle. Twenty-seven women competed, 22.5% of the overall swimmers.

In 1972, the percentage of women in swimming reached 46.1%, the highest until 2012. At that time, there were 15 men’s events and 14 women’s events — the 4×200 freestyle was not contested by women. It was not until 1996 that women and men could swim the same number of events.

But it was only in 2021, in Tokyo, that male and female swimmers could swim the same events, with the addition of the men’s 800 freestyle and the women’s 1500 freestyle. It was expected that the percentage of men and women in Tokyo was equal, but it didn’t happen. There were 398 women (45.5%) and 477 men (54.5%).

This happened because, in some events, there were very few women competing. For example, 200 butterfly (16) and 400 IM (17). The lowest number among men was in the 1500 freestyle (28). This fact raised questions if the OQT in some women’s events were way too fast.

Let’s hope that, in Paris, the percentage of men and women in swimming will be equal, thus achieving the much-desired 50% equity stake.

SwimSwam: A Brief History of Women’s Participation In Olympic Swimming