Swimming at the
2028 Summer Games
Swimming at LA 2028 takes place at the LA Aquatics Center in Long Beach — a purpose-built venue hosting eight days of heats and finals. A guide to the program, the sessions, the venue, and the history of swimming at the Summer Games.
LA 2028 Swimming Overview
LA 2028 swimming takes place at the LA Aquatics Center in Long Beach, a purpose-built venue hosting eight days of heats and finals. Swimming is consistently one of the top three most-watched events at the Summer Games in the United States.
The program spans eight days of competition with morning heats and evening finals each day. Finals sessions — where the 100m freestyle, butterfly, backstroke, and relay events are decided — are the sessions that attract the highest attendance and generate the most competitive secondary market activity. Long Beach hosts more than just swimming: beach volleyball, boxing, and diving are all in the same venue cluster, making it one of the most practical multi-sport areas in the Games.
Sessions & Program Structure
The swimming program runs morning heats and evening finals sessions each day of competition. Heats determine which swimmers advance to finals. Finals are held in the evening and are where gold medals are decided — these sessions attract the highest attendance and the most competitive atmosphere in the aquatics program.
The following events are the most historically significant and highest-attended sessions in the swimming program:
LA 2028 Swimming Venue: LA Aquatics Center, Long Beach
Swimming at LA 2028 is held at the LA Aquatics Center in Long Beach — a purpose-built facility being designed specifically for the Games. Unlike arenas adapted for aquatics, the LA Aquatics Center is oriented from the ground up for swimming competition, which means clear sightlines to the pool from every seat category. For official venue information see World Aquatics, the international federation for the sport, and for competition rules and results see the official LA28 organizing committee.
Long Beach is approximately 30 minutes south of LAX and serves as one of the busiest venue clusters on the entire Games calendar, with beach volleyball, boxing, diving, and water polo all taking place in the same area.
Long Beach as a Multi-Sport Hub
Long Beach hosts a significant share of the 2028 program. In addition to swimming, the Long Beach Arena hosts beach volleyball and boxing, while diving and water polo share facilities with the aquatics center. For groups attending multiple events, Long Beach functions as a self-contained venue cluster — attending two or three sports across consecutive days without a venue change is straightforward from a Long Beach base.
Getting to Long Beach
Long Beach is directly south of LAX, approximately 30 minutes by car. For groups flying in from Austin, the transfer from the airport to Long Beach is among the simplest event-day logistics in the Games — a single direction of travel from arrival. Long Beach also has its own airport (LGB) served by select carriers, which can be a convenient alternative to LAX for groups whose schedule allows flexibility on carrier choice.
Swimming at the Summer Games: History
Swimming has been part of the Summer Games program since Athens 1896. The modern era of American swimming dominance was shaped over successive Games cycles, with the United States producing more swimming gold medalists than any other country in the history of the program.
The sport’s most celebrated Summer Games performer is Michael Phelps of the United States, who won 23 gold medals across four Games from Athens 2004 to Rio 2016 — the most decorated athlete in Summer Games history. His eight-gold performance at the 2008 Beijing Games broke Mark Spitz’s record of seven golds at a single Games, set at Munich 1972.
The 2024 Paris Games produced significant results across the swimming program: France’s Léon Marchand won four individual gold medals on a single day, matching a feat not achieved since Spitz. American swimmers continued to dominate the relay events, with the US winning the 4×100m and 4×200m freestyle relays in both the men’s and women’s draws.
Recent Summer Games Champions
| Event | 2024 Paris | 2020 Tokyo |
|---|---|---|
| Men’s 100m Freestyle | Pan Zhanle (CHN) | Caeleb Dressel (USA) |
| Women’s 100m Freestyle | Sarah Sjöström (SWE) | Emma McKeon (AUS) |
| Men’s 100m Butterfly | Kristóf Milák (HUN) | Caeleb Dressel (USA) |
| Women’s 100m Butterfly | Torri Huske (USA) | Maggie MacNeil (CAN) |
| Men’s 4×100m Freestyle | USA | USA |
| Women’s 4×100m Freestyle | USA | Australia |
| Men’s 400m Individual Medley | Léon Marchand (FRA) | Chase Kalisz (USA) |
| Women’s 400m Individual Medley | Summer McIntosh (CAN) | Yui Ohashi (JPN) |
| Men’s 1500m Freestyle | Florian Wellbrock (GER) | Ahmed Hafnaoui (TUN) |
| Women’s 800m Freestyle | Katie Grimes (USA) | Katie Ledecky (USA) |
Notable Athletes in Summer Games History
Historic Moments in Summer Games Swimming
Mark Spitz at Munich 1972
Spitz’s seven-gold performance at the 1972 Munich Games — setting world records in all seven events he entered — stood as the benchmark for a dominant individual Games performance for 36 years. The achievement remains one of the most remarkable in the history of the sport, representing dominance across sprint freestyle, butterfly, and relay events simultaneously.
Michael Phelps at Beijing 2008
Phelps’s eight-gold performance at the 2008 Beijing Games broke Spitz’s record and established a new standard for what was possible at a single Games. His eighth gold, in the 4×100m medley relay, came after teammate Jason Lezak’s final leg in the freestyle relay had already produced what many consider the greatest single relay leg in Summer Games swimming history, closing a near-impossible gap against France in the final meters.
Léon Marchand at Paris 2024
Marchand’s four individual gold medals at the Paris Games — the 200m and 400m individual medley, the 200m butterfly, and the 200m breaststroke — drew the largest crowds of the aquatics program at La Défense Arena. His performance across four different disciplines in a single Games had not been achieved since Spitz’s 1972 program. Marchand had set world records in both individual medley events at the 2023 World Championships the previous year.
The Australian Women’s Relay at Sydney 2000
At the Sydney 2000 Games, the Australian women’s 4×100m freestyle relay team defeated the United States in a race that became one of the most celebrated moments in Summer Games swimming history. The win, in front of a home crowd, sparked a level of public response that demonstrated the cultural significance swimming holds in Australia relative to other sports.
What to Expect at LA 2028
LA 2028 swimming at a home Games generates domestic interest that is difficult to replicate at a neutral venue. The 2028 Summer Games is the first US-hosted Summer Games since Atlanta 1996 and the first in Los Angeles since 1984.
US Participation
American swimmers are expected to be strong contenders across the freestyle, butterfly, backstroke, and relay events. The 2024 Paris Games produced relay golds in the men’s and women’s 4×100m and 4×200m freestyle events, continued dominance from Katie Ledecky in the distance events, and emerging US contenders across the sprint disciplines. The home crowd at the LA Aquatics Center is expected to generate atmospheres comparable to the loudest swimming sessions in recent Summer Games history.
International Competition
The international field has deepened significantly since the early 2000s. Australia, France, Great Britain, and Canada have all emerged as regular gold-medal programs across multiple stroke disciplines. Léon Marchand of France enters the 2028 cycle as the dominant individual medley swimmer in the world. China has grown increasingly competitive in the sprint freestyle events. The relay fields across both the men’s and women’s draws are the most competitive in the history of the Summer Games program.
Frequently Asked Questions
Other Sports at LA 2028
Swimming is one of 32 sports on the 2028 program. Individual sport guides for LA 2028 are listed below.
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