The Olympic pool is 50 meters long and eight lanes of the pool are used. Each swimmer, at the sound of the start signal, dives into the pool and swims a designated amount of meters — the first swimmer to touch the wall wins the race. One length of the pool is 50 meters — to the wall and back constitutes 100 meters.
Start positions in the pool are determined by a previous race's time — the better the time, the more toward the middle of the pool the swimmer will usually begin. The middle lanes are favored because a swimmer's motion causes waves to bounce off the walls and back toward a swimmer near the wall.
There are four strokes in Olympic swimming: Freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly. The freestyle is also referred to as "crawl" and is the stroke with which most Americans are familiar. The backstroke is the same stroke as the freestyle but the swimmer is swimming with his back facing the pool bottom. The breaststroke is where the swimmer thrusts his hands forward underwater, then pulls the water toward him while pulling his head up above the water and kicking his legs in a frog-like fashion. The butterfly, or fly, is swum with the torso and legs moving in a dolphin-like motion while both of the swimmer's arms push and pull through the water similar to the freestyle, but with both arms mirroring each other.
Each stroke has a 100- and 200-meter race. The freestyle also has a marathon race, sprint race and relay race. There are also medleys — a medley is a combination of all four strokes being used in one race at both the individual and team (relay) levels.
Why should I care?
Most of the races are over within a few minutes and are tightly contested. The Americans consider the 4x100 medley relay "their race" and it is usually the highlight of all the races because it pits the teams' four fastest stroke specialists against other. Team USA has 489 total medals in this sport — Australia is second at 168 medals. In the 2008 Summer Games at Beijing, Michael Phelps won eight gold medals breaking Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals in the 1972 Summer Games.
Controversies?
In the 1976 Summer Games, the East German women dominated but their performances were viewed with skepticism due to their deep voices and muscular bodies. It was later revealed that the swimmers were given anabolic steroids without their knowledge.
OK, so who should I watch?
The teams haven't been announced yet due to team trials being held in late June. Some hopefuls are Caitlin Leverenz (breaststroke), Missy Franklin (backstroke), Claire Donahue (butterfly), Kate Ziegler (1,500 freestyle) Rebecca Soni (breaststroke), Ryan Lochte (individual medley), and Garrett Weber-Gale (freestyle). Watch Aussie James Magnussen (freestyle) — he could win four gold medals.
What chance do the Americans have to win?
Team USA should come out with the most medals but Australia will be tough to beat in the 100 meter freestyle and France should push the Americans in the men's 4x100 freestyle relay.
