Long course refers to a 50-metre pool, short course to a 25-metre pool. The Olympics and the main World Championships are long course, considered the sport's premier standard; separate Short Course World Championships and many World Cup meets use 25m pools.
At the Olympics and World Championships, individual events from 50m to 200m are run over three rounds: morning heats, evening semi-finals, and a final for the fastest eight. Events of 400m and longer usually go straight from heats to a timed final, with medals decided by comparing times across heats. The fastest qualifiers earn the central lanes (4 and 5), where the water is calmest.
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Long course refers to a 50-metre pool, short course to a 25-metre pool. The Olympics and the main World Championships are long course, considered the sport's premier standard; separate Short Course World Championships and many World Cup meets use 25m pools.
At the Olympics and World Championships, individual events from 50m to 200m are run over three rounds: morning heats, evening semi-finals, and a final for the fastest eight. Events of 400m and longer usually go straight from heats to a timed final, with medals decided by comparing times across heats. The fastest qualifiers earn the central lanes (4 and 5), where the water is calmest.
Since 1998, a single false start means instant disqualification: any swimmer who moves before the tone is out, with no warning. In relays the same strictness applies to exchanges: the outgoing swimmer may begin a wind-up on the block but their feet must not leave until the incoming teammate touches the wall.
The objective is elemental: cover the race distance in the prescribed stroke faster than everyone else, touching the wall first. A competitive swimming contest is a series of individual and relay races (events) run in a pool divided into 8 to 10 lanes. Each event specifies a stroke and a distance, for example the 100m butterfly or 400m individual medley, and swimmers are seeded by entry time.
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