Ultimate guide to swimming at Rio 2016, full schedule, top Aussie hopes, TV times
AUSTRALIA’S swimmers are out to knock the US of its perch. Here’s everything you need to know before Australia’s sprint queens and Mack Horton lead the day one charge.
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AUSTRALIA’S swimmers traditionally set the tone for the rest of the Olympic team and they’re tipped to bounce back strongly in Rio following a dismal campaign four years ago.
London 2012 was Australian swimming’s first Games without an individual gold medal since Montreal 1976, with a haul of one gold, six silver and three bronze medals the team’s worst since 1992.
A “toxic culture” was blamed for that performance but a united team has made steady improvement in recent years and looks set to fire on the back of top individual hopes Mitch Larkin, Emily Seebohm, Cameron McEvoy and the Campbell sisters.
WHERE AND WHEN IS IT?
The swimming will be held at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in the main Olympic zone at Barra da Tijuca.
Synchronised swimming will run at the same venue with diving and water polo held at the nearby Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre.
The swimming program is held over eight days, from August 6 to 13. Other aquatics sports diving (Aug 7-20), synchronised swimming (Aug 14-19) and water polo (Aug 6-20) continue right throughout the Games.
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WHAT TIME IS IT ON IN AUSTRALIA?
Rather than the morning-and-early-evening schedule used at most international meets, heats will be held in the afternoon and finals late at night to suit the North American television audience.
Heats will start at 1pm local time (2am AEST) with finals sessions beginning at the Australian audience-friendly hour of 10pm local (11am AEST).
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FULL SCHEDULE
Day 1
Heats (2am Sunday AEST): Men’s 400m individual medley, Women’s 100m butterfly, Men’s 400m freestyle, Women’s 400m individual medley, Men’s 100m breaststroke,Women’s 4x100m
Finals: 11am (Sunday AEST): Men’s 400m individual medley, Women’s 100m butterfly semis, Men’s 400m freestyle, Women’s 400m individual medley, Men’s 100m breaststroke semis, Women’s 4x100m freestyle relay
Day 2
Heats (2am Monday AEST): Women’s 100m backstroke, Men’s 200m freestyle, Women’s 100m breaststroke, Men’s 100m backstroke, Women’s 400m freestyle, Men’s 4x100m freestyle relay
Finals (11am Monday AEST): Women’s 100m butterfly,Men’s 200m freestyle semis, Women’s 100m breaststroke, Women’s 100m breaststroke semis, Men’s 100m breaststroke, Women’s 400m freestyle, Men’s 100m backstroke semis, Women’s 100m backstroke semis, Men’s 4x100m freestyle relay
Day 3
Heats (2am Tuesday AEST): Women’s 200m freestyle, Men’s 200m butterfly, Women’s 200m individual medley
Finals (11am Tuesday AEST): Women’s 200m freestyle semis, Men’s 200m freestyle, Women’s 100m backstroke, Men’s 100m backstroke, Women’s 100m breaststroke Final, Men’s 200m butterfly semis, Men’s 200m butterfly semis, Women’s 200m individual medley semis
Day 4
Heats (2am Wednesday AEST): Men’s 100m freestyle, Women’s 200m butterfly, Men’s 200m breaststroke, Men’s 4x200m freestyle relay
Finals (11am Wednesday AEST): Men’s 100m freestyle semis, Women’s 200m freestyle
Final, Men’s 200m butterfly, Women’s 200m butterfly semis, Men’s 200m breaststroke semis, Women’s 200m individual medley, Men’s 4x200m freestyle relay
Day 5
Heats (2am Thursday AEST): Women’s 100m freestyle, Men’s 200m backstroke, Women’s 200m breaststroke, Men’s 200m individual medley, Women’s 4x200m freestyle
Fnals (11am Thursday AEST): Men’s 200m breaststroke, Women’s 100m freestyle semis, Men’s 200m backstroke semis, Women’s 200m butterfly, Men’s 100m freestyle, Women’s 200m breaststroke semis, Men’s 200m individual medley semis, Women’s 4x200m freestyle
Day 6
Heats: (2am Friday AEST): Men’s 50m freestyle, Women’s 800m freestyle, Men’s 100m butterfly, Women’s 200m backstroke
Finals: (11am AEST): Men’s 50m freestyle semis, Women’s 200m breaststroke, Men’s 200m backstroke, Women’s 200m backstroke semis, Men’s 200m individual medley, Women’s 100m freestyle, Men’s 100m butterfly semis
Day 7
Heats (2am Saturday AEST): Women’s 50m freestyle, Men’s 1500m freestyle, Women’s 4x100m medley relay, Men’s 4x100m medley relay
Finals (11am Saturday AEST): Women’s 200m backstroke, Men’s 100m butterfly, Women’s 800m freestyle, Men’s 50m freestyle, Women’s 50m freestyle semis
Day 8
Finals (11am Sunday AEST): Women’s 50m freestyle, Men’s 1500m freestyle, Women’s 4x100m medley relay, Men’s 4x100m medley relay
THE AUSSIE TEAM
Australia named a 34-strong swim team following the completion of selection trials in Adelaide earlier this month. Sprinters James Magnussen, James Roberts and Matt Abood have since been officially added as relay swimmers, with Australia’s qualification for the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay confirmed by FINA. In addition, London Olympian Jarrod Poort and debutant Chelsea Gubecka will take to the waters of Copacabana for the 10km marathon swim.
Australia’s diving, water polo and synchronised swimming squads have also been named. See them here.
WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?
With a handful of Australians likely to head into Rio with world-leading times and the relay teams looking strong across the board, all signs point to a gold rush for the Dolphins in Rio.
OUR BEST SHOTS
MITCH LARKIN (100m backstroke, 200m backstroke, medley relay)
Australia hasn’t had an individual Olympic backstroke gold medallist since David Theile in 1960 but 22-year-old Larkin is in with a realistic shot of completing the 100m-200m double in Rio, as he did at last year’s world championships.
The Queenslander alsolooms as a huge weapon in Australia’s men’s medley relay team.
CAMERON McEVOY (50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, relays)
McEvoy become the first man to complete the national sprint treble at the selection trials and while it’s unlikely he could do the same at Olympic level, he’s certainly a medal contender in all three events.
The 21-year-old astrophysics student will be gold medal favourite in the 100m freestyle after clocking the fastest time in history in a textile suit and is an important component in relays he’s set for a huge workload in Rio.
THE CAMPBELL SISTERS (50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, relays)
Cate and younger sister Bronte have pushed each other all the way to the top of the women’s sprint world in recent years.
They look a legitimate shot of going one-two in the individual sprint events and will team up in the sprint relay, for which the defending champions will be hot gold medal favourites.
Cate, in particular, will have a huge target on her back having smashed the longstanding “supersuit” 100m freestyle world record last month.
EMILY SEEBOHM (100m backstroke, 200m backstroke, relays)
Seebohm suffered heartbreak when she narrowly missed individual gold in London but she’ll get a chance to atone as the favourite again in Rio.
Seebohm must overcome American star Missy Franklin but also faces strong competition from within her own team in Madi Wilson and Belinda Hocking.
MACK HORTON (400m freestyle, 1500m freestyle)
Australia has waited for a distance swimmer to step up since the glory days of Grant Hackett and Ian Thorpe and 20-year-old Horton looks to be that man.
A gold medal contender in both the 400m and 1500m freestyle, Horton will go head-to-head with legendary Chinese star Sun Yang in what looms as a fascinating duel.
THE WORLD STARS
KATIE LEDECKY
Ledecky won 800m freestyle gold as a 15-year-old and has since gone on to become one of the most dominant athletes on the planet.
She showed unprecedented versaitly by winning the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m finals at last year’s world championships and it’s hard not to see her leaving Rio with another bag full of gold.
MICHAEL PHELPS
The most decorated Olympian in history is back for one last Games.
Phelps’ performances this year suggest he’ll be able to add to his record medal haul of 18 gold, two silver and two bronze medals in Rio.
SUN YANG
Sun became the first Chinese man to win an Olympic gold medal in London and one of the greatest distance swimmers in history will be targeting a few more in Rio.
The 24-year-old has had a turbulent past four years, including a three-month doping ban served in 2014, but he’ll be hungry to stamp his dominance on the swimming world once again.
WATCH OUT FOR…
The red line. Since the farcical “supersuit” era of 2008-2009, world records have mainly been set in distance events and relay but sprint swimmers — led by Cate Campbell — have begun to bridge the gap. The thrill of the world record chase will be back in Rio and Aussies McEvoy, Larkin and the Campbell sisters should be leading the charge.
Originally published as Ultimate guide to swimming at Rio 2016, full schedule, top Aussie hopes, TV times
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