The 2008 Summer Games saw the introduction of the aquatic discipline of marathon swimming. The newly introduced open water marathon events (10 km) were held on 20 and 21 August 2008 at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park.
There were two events, one for men and one for women.
Event schedule
The women's event took place on 20 August, followed by the men's event on 21 August. Both events started at 08:00 local time.
Qualification A nation could qualify up to two marathon swimmers per event, but only 25 swimmers competed in both the men's and women's 10 kilometre races. Those 25 spots were allocated/awarded as follows:
Men's 10 km Event Location Date Vacancies Qualified2008 Open Water World Championships from the 2008 Open Water Worlds. Seville May 3–4, 2008 10 Vladimir Dyatchin David Davies Thomas Lurz Maarten van der Weijden Evgeny Drattsev Ky Hurst Mark Warkentin Valerio Cleri Spyridon Gianniotis Brian RyckemanContinental Representation* 5** Gilles Rondy Luis Escobar Mohamed El Zanaty Saleh Mohammad Host Nation= 1 Xin TongOlympic Marathon Swim QualifierEvent page from the Open Water "Good Luck Beijing" test-event for the 2008 Olympics. Beijing May 31 - Jun 1, 2008 9 Petar Stoychev Csaba Gercsák Rostislav Vitek Chad Ho Erwin Maldonado Allan do Carmo Damián Blaum Francisco Jose Hervas Arseniy Lavrentyev** TOTAL 25
* The first eligible finisher from each of the five Continents at the 2008 Open Water World Championship. ** Since Australia was the only Oceanian country at the 2008 OW WC and the country had a qualifier in the top-10, Oceania did not receive any continental berth and the place redistributed to the Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier for allocation.
Women's 10 km Event Location Date Vacancies Qualified Seville May 3–4, 2008 10 Larisa Ilchenko Cassandra Patten Yurema Requena Natalie du Toit Jana Pechanová Poliana Okimoto Angela Maurer Keri Anne Payne Aurélie Muller Ana Marcela CunhaContinental Representation* 5** Edith van Dijk Fang Yanqiao*** Andreina Pinto Melissa Gorman Host Nation= 1*** Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier Beijing May 31 - Jun 1, 2008 9 Chloe Sutton Martina Grimaldi Marianna Lymperta Nataliya SamorodinaKristel Köbrich Imelda Martinez Eva Berglund Teja Zupan Antonella Bogarin** Daniela Inacio*** TOTAL 25
* The first eligible finisher from each of the five continents at the 2008 Open Water World Championships. Basically the top finisher from each continent that was outside the top-10 finishers, and from a country who did not have a finisher in the top-10. **Because South Africa was the only African country at the championships and they had Natalie du Toit qualify for the Olympics via her top-10 finish at the 2008 Open Water World Championships, the Africa continental berth was not allocated to the other South African entrant in the race. The entry allocation instead was added to those available for awarding at the Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier. ***The Host Nation allocated entry was only if China did not have someone qualify in another fashion. China's Fang Yanqiao qualified at the 2008 Open Water World Championships via the Asia Continental Representative allocation, and therefore the Host Nation allocated spot became available at the Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier. ****The Olympic committee of Israel did not approve the participation of Daniel Katzir (men) and Olga Berenseva (women) in the Olympic team, as their results were not good enough to make the national Olympic criteria. Their appeals to court against this decision were denied.
Participating nations
Medal summary
Medal table
Men's events 10 km open water 1:51:51.61:51:53.11:51:53.6
Women's events 10 km open water1:59:27.71:59:29.21:59:31.0
See also 2008 in swimming
References