A few months ago we looked at what are the longest lived Olympic records in track & field athletics. As we noted at the time, Olympic records can only be set in certain sports. At the Summer Games, this includes athletics (track & field), swimming, shooting, weightlifting, archery, and Olympic bests are usually considered now in rowing and canoeing. At the Winter Games, the measured sports are speed skating and short-track speed skating, with the best jumps measured in ski jumping.

Let’s look at swimming today and see what the longest-lived Olympic records are in this sport. And we have to make some assumptions, as we commonly do. We’re going to consider marks that have lasted the most Olympics, because the gap from 1936-48 and 1912-20 artificially made records last longer that were set in 1912 or 1932-36. So we’ll consider Olympics Between (OlyBT below) and Years Between (YrsGap below). Also, some marks were set a number of Olympics ago but are still the best on record. We’ll consider all of those to last until 2016 (at a minimum, that is true).

Given that, here are all the swimming Olympic records that have lasted 12+ years or 3 or more Olympics. Note that swim records turn over relatively quickly, and do not last as long as the track & field records, in general. The men’s list is first.

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Event,Mark,Athlete/Team,NOC,Year,OlyBT,YrGap

50 m free,21.91,Aleksandr Popov,EUN,1992,4,16

1500 m free,19:12.4,Kuzuo Kitamura,JPN,1932,3,20

100 m free,48.63,Matt Biondi,USA,1988,3,12

400 m free,3:40.59,Ian Thorpe,AUS,2000,3,12

1500 m free,14:58.27,Vladimir Salnikov,URS,1980,3,12

1500 m free,14:43.48,Kieren Perkins,AUS,1992,3,12

200 m breast,2:10.16,Mike Barrowman,USA,1992,3,12

100 m fly,54.27,Mark Spitz,USA,1972,3,12

200 m IM,2:07.17,Gunnar Larsson,SWE,1972,3,12

4×100 m free relay,3:26.42,United States,USA,1972,3,12

100 m back,1:05.9,Adolph Kiefer,USA,1936,2,16

[/table]

Now for the women’s list, again for all records lasting 12+ years or 3 or more Olympics.

[table]

Event,Mark,Athlete/Team,NOC,Year,OlyBT,YrGap

200 m free,1:57.65,Heike Friedrich,GDR,1988,5,20

400 m free,4:03.85,Janet Evans,USA,1988,5,20

400 m IM,4:36.29,Petra Schneider,GDR,1980,5,20

200 m back,2:07.06,Krisztina Egerszegi,HUN,1992,4,16

200 m fly,2:06.90,Mary T. Meagher,USA,1984,4,16

100 m free,54.79,Barbara Krause,GDR,1980,3,12

800 m free,8:20.20,Janet Evans,USA,1988,3,12

100 m back,1:00.86,Rica Reinisch,GDR,1980,3,12

100 m fly,56.61,Inge de Bruijn,NED,2000,3,12

200 m IM,2:23.07,Shane Gould,AUS,1972,3,12

100 m free,1:05.9,Rie Mastenbroek,NED,1936,1,12

400 m free,5:26.4,Rie Mastenbroek,NED,1936,1,12

100 m back,1:16.6,Nida Senff,NED,1936,1,12

200 m breast,3:01.9,Hideko Maehata,JPN,1936,1,12

4×100 m free relay,4:36.0,The Netherlands,NED,1936,1,12

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And now we’ll go event-by-event, looking at the longest-lived Olympic swimming records in each event – men followed by the women.

[table]

Event,Mark,Athlete/Team,NOC,Year,OlyBT,YrsBT

50 m free,21.91,Aleksandr Popov,EUN,1992,4,16

100 m free,48.63,Matt Biondi,USA,1988,3,12

100 m free,57.5,Masanori Yusa,JPN,1936,1,12

200 m free,1:46.70,Yevgeny Sadovy,EUN,1992,2,8

200 m free,1:42.96,Michael Phelps,USA,2008,2,8

400 m free,3:40.59,Ian Thorpe,AUS,2000,3,12

400 m free,5:24.4,George Hodgson,CAN,1912,2,12

400 m free,4:44.5,Jack Medica,USA,1936,1,12

1500 m free,19:12.4,Kuzuo Kitamura,JPN,1932,3,20

1500 m free,14:58.27,Vladimir Salnikov,URS,1980,3,12

1500 m free,14:43.48,Kieren Perkins,AUS,1992,3,12

1500 m free,22:00.0,George Hodgson,CAN,1912,2,12

100 m back,1:05.9,Adolph Kiefer,USA,1936,2,16

100 m back,1:08.2,George Kojac,USA,1928,2,8

100 m back,55.49,John Naber,USA,1976,2,8

100 m back,53.86,Jeff Rouse,USA,1992,2,8

200 m back,1:59.19,John Naber,USA,1976,2,8

200 m back,1:58.99,Rick Carey,USA,1984,2,8

200 m back,1:58.47,Martín López-Zubero,ESP,1992,2,8

100 m breast,1:03.11,John Hencken,USA,1976,2,8

100 m breast,1:01.65,Steve Lundquist,USA,1984,2,8

200 m breast,2:10.16,Mike Barrowman,USA,1992,3,12

200 m breast,3:01.8,Walter Bathe,GER,1912,2,12

200 m breast,2:41.5,Tetsuo Hamuro,JPN,1936,1,12

100 m fly,54.27,Mark Spitz,USA,1972,3,12

200 m fly,2:06.6,Kevin Berry,AUS,1964,2,8

200 m fly,1:59.23,Mike Bruner,USA,1976,2,8

200 m fly,1:56.26,Melvin Stewart,USA,1992,2,8

200 m fly,1:52.03,Michael Phelps,USA,2008,2,8

200 m IM,2:07.17,Gunnar Larsson,SWE,1972,3,12

400 m IM,4:45.4,Dick Roth,USA,1964,2,8

400 m IM,4:14.23,Tamás Darnyi,HUN,1992,2,8

400 m IM,4:03.84,Michael Phelps,USA,2008,2,8

4×100 m free relay,3:26.42,United States,USA,1972,3,12

4×200 m free relay,7:52.1,United States,USA,1964,2,8

4×200 m free relay,7:23.22,United States,USA,1976,2,8

4×200 m free relay,7:11.95,Unified Team,EUN,1992,2,8

4×200 m free relay,7:07.05,Australia,AUS,2000,2,8

4×200 m free relay,6:58.56,United States,USA,2008,2,8

4×200 m free relay,8:51.5,Japan,JPN,1936,1,12

4×100 m medley relay,3:42.22,United States,USA,1976,2,8

4×100 m medley relay,3:29.34,United States,USA,2008,2,8

[/table]

[table]

Event,Mark,Athlete/Team,NOC,Year,OlyBT,YrGap

50 m free,24.79,Yang Wenyi,CHN,1992,2,8

50 m free,24.13,Inge de Bruijn,NED,2000,2,8

100 m free,54.79,Barbara Krause,GDR,1980,3,12

100 m free,1:05.9,Rie Mastenbroek,NED,1936,1,12

200 m free,1:57.65,Heike Friedrich,GDR,1988,5,20

400 m free,4:03.85,Janet Evans,USA,1988,5,20

400 m free,5:26.4,Rie Mastenbroek,NED,1936,1,12

800 m free,8:20.20,Janet Evans,USA,1988,3,12

100 m back,1:00.86,Rica Reinisch,GDR,1980,3,12

100 m back,1:16.6,Nida Senff,NED,1936,1,12

200 m back,2:07.06,Krisztina Egerszegi,HUN,1992,4,16

100 m breast,1:07.95,Tanya Bogomilova-Dangalakova,BUL,1988,2,8

100 m breast,1:07.02,Penny Heyns,RSA,1996,2,8

100 m breast,1:05.17,Leisel Jones,AUS,2008,2,8

200 m breast,2:29.54,Lina Kačiušytė,URS,1980,2,8

200 m breast,3:01.9,Hideko Maehata,JPN,1936,1,12

100 m fly,56.61,Inge de Bruijn,NED,2000,3,12

200 m fly,2:06.90,Mary T. Meagher,USA,1984,4,16

200 m IM,2:23.07,Shane Gould,AUS,1972,3,12

400 m IM,4:36.29,Petra Schneider,GDR,1980,5,20

4×100 m free relay,3:42.71,German Democratic Republic,GDR,1980,2,8

4×100 m free relay,4:36.0,The Netherlands,NED,1936,1,12

4×200 m free relay,7:59.87,United States,USA,1996,1,4

4×200 m free relay,7:57.80,United States,USA,2000,1,4

4×200 m free relay,7:53.42,United States,USA,2004,1,4

4×200 m free relay,7:44.31,Australia,AUS,2008,1,4

4×200 m free relay,7:42.92,United States,USA,2012,1,4

4×100 m medley relay,4:06.67,German Democratic Republic,GDR,1980,2,8

4×100 m medley relay,4:02.54,United States,USA,1992,2,8

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