Since the 1896 debut of swimming at the first Olympic Games in Athens, 49 countries still existing today have won a medal in the sport. Of these 49 countries, seven lie within Asia, three within Africa, and two within Oceania. Between these three continents, at least one country has won an Olympic medal at every game since the second Olympiad, in 1900 (thanks largely in part to Australia).
Below, the countries that have won a medal (Gold, Silver, or Bronze) in a modern Olympic Games (since 1896) are listed, in alphabetical order. The most recent swimming medalists for the country (pool or open water swimming) are listed under the country’s name, along with the other Olympic games in which that country has won a medal.
Australia: Tokyo 2021
- Cate Campbell: 100 Free (Bronze)
- Kyle Chalmers: 100 Free (Silver)
- Kareena Lee: 10 km Marathon (Bronze)
- Jack McLoughlin: 400 Free (Silver)
- Emma McKeon: 50 Free/100 Free (Gold), 100 Fly (Bronze)
- Kaylee McKeown: 100 Back/200 Back (Gold)
- Emily Seebohm: 200 Back (Bronze)
- Brendon Smith: 400 IM (Bronze)
- Zac Stubblety-Cook: 200 Breast (Gold)
- Ariarne Titmus: 200 Free/400 Free (Gold), 800 Free (Silver)
- Men’s 4×100 Freestyle Relay: Bronze
- Women’s 4×100 Freestyle Relay: Gold
- Men’s 4×200 Freestyle Relay: Bronze
- Women’s 4×200 Freestyle Relay: Bronze
- Women’s 4×100 Medley Relay: Gold
- Mixed 4×100 Medley Relay: Bronze
One of the foremost powerhouses in the swimming world, the Australian team has been dominant for quite some time now. The country holds a whopping 207 medals across pool and marathon swimming, second only to the United States but distinctly ahead of the next most-decorated nation, Japan with 83. The Dolphins have represented on the Olympic podium more consistently than many other nations, only having missed the 1896 Olympics and competing under another name (Australasia) in 1908 and 1912. Australia looks to add another batch of medals this summer in Paris.
Podium Appearances: 1900, 1904, ***, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2021
*** The combined team of Australasia, consisting of Australia, New Zealand, and a few other nearby South Pacific islands, won medals in the 1908 and 1912 games.
China: Tokyo 2021
- Li Bingjie: 400 Free (Bronze)
- Wang Shun: 200 IM (Gold)
- Zhang Yufei: 200 Fly (Gold), 100 Fly (Silver)
- Women’s 4×200 Free Relay: Gold
- Mixed 4×100 Medley Relay: Silver
Since 1988, China has been a consistent force at the Olympics in the pool. With 49 total medals across eight Olympic games and five current long course world records under their belt, they’ve had great success on paper. The Chinese have a tough road ahead to defend their three golds from the Tokyo– especially in the women’s 200 IM and 4×200 freestyle relay– but they seem poised to find success in other events, namely the men’s 100 freestyle with newly crowned world record holder Pan Zhanle.
Podium Appearances: 1988, 1992, 1996, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2021
Hong Kong: Tokyo 2021
- Siobhan Haughey: 100 Free/200 Free (Silver)
Siobhan Haughey, the two-time silver medalist for Hong Kong, earned her medals swimming freestyle at the Tokyo Games. Single-handedly owning two of the country’s nine medals, Haughey has not only made a name for herself as the most impressive swimmer, but one of the most impressive athletes from the country. The only other multi-medal athlete from Hong Kong is track cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze, a two-time bronze medalist. Haughey, the current world leader in the 100 free, will be competing again this summer in Paris.
Podium Appearances: 2021
Japan: Tokyo 2021
- Tomoru Honda: 200 Fly (Silver)
- Yui Ohashi: 200 IM/400 IM (Gold)
With 83 swimming medals across 16 Olympic Games, Japan has always been a fixture on the podium. Since 1928, the Japanese have been the most decorated Asian nation swimming at the Olympics, and third most decorated nation of all time, behind the United States and Australia. Yui Ohashi will be back to defend her title in the 200 IM, but not the 400, as she missed the Japanese qualification standard by less than half a second. Tomoru Honda, with his silver medal performance in the 200 fly in Tokyo, continued a five-Olympic-long Japanese medal streak in the event, following in the footsteps of Takashi Yamamoto (2004), Takeshi Matsuda (2008, 2012), and Masato Sakai (2016).
Podium Appearances: 1928, 1932, 1936, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1972, 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2021
Kazakhstan: Rio 2016
- Dmitriy Balandin: 200 Breast (Gold)
Dmitriy Balandin, Kazakhstan’s only medalist in the sport, took home the gold in the 200 breaststroke in Rio 2016. At the same games, he made the final in the 100 breast, placing eighth. Balandin was the first Kazakh swimmer to make an Olympic final since Vladislav Polyakov, another breaststroker, placed fifth in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke in Athens in 2004. Balandin competed in the Tokyo Olympics, scoring 11th in the 200 breaststroke and 17th in the 100.
Podium Appearances: 2016
New Zealand: Atlanta 1996
- Danyon Loader: 200 Free/400 Free (Gold)
Danyon Loader, the only swimmer from New Zealand to win multiple swimming medals, also happens to be New Zealand’s most recent medalist in the pool, dating back to 1996. Alongside from his gold medal middle-distance double at the Atlanta Olympics, Loader also won a silver medal in the 200 butterfly at the Barcelona games in 1992.
Podium Appearances: 1952, 1988, 1992, 1996
Philippines: Los Angeles 1932
- Teofilo Yldefonso: 200 Breast (Bronze)
Amongst all countries that have won a medal, the Philippines has gone the longest time without being featured on an Olympic podium, with the most recent being Teofilo Yldefonso’s bronze medal in the 200 Breast in 1932. Yldefonso holds two of the country’s 14 total medals, and is one of two athletes to win multiple medals. Following his Olympic career, he fought under American command in World War Two, unfortunately losing his life in 1942 shortly after the Bataan Death March. In 2010, he was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Podium Appearances: 1928, 1932
Singapore: Rio 2016
- Joseph Schooling: 100 Fly (Gold)
Joseph Schooling shocked the world in 2016 with an upset over Michael Phelps in the 100 butterfly, claiming the first and only gold medal in Singapore’s history. One of the more well-known podiums from the recent few Olympics, Schooling stood atop the podium, in front of the three-way tie between Laszlo Cseh, Michael Phelps, and Chad le Clos. Schooling is one of the country’s five athletes to ever win a medal at the Olympics, and the only swimmer to do so. The Singaporean star retired from swimming this past April.
Podium Appearances: 2016
South Africa: Tokyo 2021
- Tatjana Smith (née Schoenmaker): 200 Breast (Gold), 100 Breast (Silver)
South Africa has a bit of a troubled history with the Olympics, serving a 32-year ban in the middle of the twentieth century due to its Apartheid policies. Since returning to international competition in 1992, the country has seen success in the pool through the likes of a few standout performers, including Roland Schoemann, Chad le Clos, Cameron van der Burgh, and recent Olympic champion Tatjana Smith. At the Tokyo games, Smith won the 200 breaststroke in world record time, and placed silver in the 100. She looks to defend her title in Paris.
Podium Appearances: 1928, 1932, 1952, 1956, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2012, 2016, 2021
South Korea: London 2012
- Park Tae-Hwan: 200 Free/400 Free (Silver)
South Korea’s only medalist in the sport, middle-distance swimmer Park Tae-Hwan is the Asian country’s most recent Olympic medalist. After having medaled in the 200 and 400 freestyles at both the Beijing and London Olympics, Park served an 18-month suspension after testing positive for testosterone. He competed in the 2016 Olympics, but failed to qualify for semifinals.
Podium Appearances: 2008, 2012
Tunisia: Tokyo 2021
- Ahmed Hafnaoui: 400 Free (Gold)
Tunisia has four medals across three Olympic games, all earned by distance specialists Oussama Mellouli and Ahmed Hafnaoui. The country has an impressive three golds, with Mellouli in the 1500 freestyle (2008) and the 10km (2016) and Hafnaoui with an impressive lane-8 win in the 400 freestyle (2021). Unfortunately, Hafnaoui will not repeat his Olympic gold medal performance, citing an injury that is preventing him from competing in Paris this year. The African record holder in the 400 and 1500 freestyle was the only pool swimmer from Tunisia to compete in Tokyo.
Podium Appearances: 2008, 2012, 2021
Zimbabwe: Beijing 2008
- Kirsty Coventry: 200 Back (Gold), 100 Back/200 IM/400 IM (Silver)
Arguably the best African female swimmer of all time, Kirsty Coventry holds all seven of Zimbabwe’s medals won in the pool. Coventry, having won four medals in Beijing in 2008 and three in Athens in 2004, still holds the title of Zimbabwe’s only individual medalist (Women’s field hockey won gold in Moscow 1980). As the former world record holder in both the 100 and 200 backstroke, Kirsty Coventry left an impressive mark on the swimming world, and has since retired following her appearance at the 2016 games in Rio.
Podium Appearances: 2004, 2008
Map below depicts the last time each country worldwide won a medal.
All-Time Continental Medal Count (Pool + Open Water):
- North America: 651
- Europe: 529
- Oceania: 207
- Asia: 142
- Africa: 31
- South America: 23
Information sourced from Olympedia, maps created with mapchart.net
Kiwis pinning our hopes on Clareburt and Fairweather 🙏
Athens 2004! it says Atlanta 2004 🙂
Any predictions who the next country from these three continents will join this list?
BTW One of the big stories in this year’s Tour de France is a cyclist from Eritrea (B.Girmay) winning three stages and now almost certain to win the coveted green jersey.
I was just watching behind the scenes with the Australian commentators. The notes they have in front of them and the professionalism is excellent. Some other commentators could take note….
Anthony Nesty for the CARIFTA region in 1988 Gold in the 100 meter butterfly and Bronze in 1992
Has Australia ever not won an Olympic medal in swimming?
Only once. At the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Actually incorrect. There were no AUS swimmers (and actually no AUS team per se) at the first modern Olympics in 1896 (Athens).
Winning entails competing. If the Aussies didn’t compete at all in the swimming events in Berlin, then the “Only once” is correct.
I mean, that was before Australia became a country.
Yeah kind of hard to win an Olympic medal when you don’t exist haha
Lol it’s kind of funny that Greece had 9/14 entrants and the only event they won was the one where only Greeks were allowed to enter
We did have athletes there though I’m sure. Cause aren’t we one of the only countries who have had athletes at every modern summer Olympics ?
Edwin Flack was the only Australian at the 1896 Games. He won 2 gold in Athletics. Ofc the Commonwealth of Australia didn’t exist during the first two Olympics so ‘Australia’ was a geographical term.
Though Flack said at the time (he also won bronze in tennis playing with a British player) “I competed as a proud Australian” (or similar).
Freddie Lane’s golds also came before Australia officially became a nation.
If the question was ‘has Australia ever entered a swimmer and not won a medal?’ – 1936 is the only correct answer.
Strictly speaking yes but in all honesty, it would have to be extended to most nations as regards the first 3 Olympics where there were relatively few actual organised national teams with many entrants being effectively “privateers”.
Man, Africa sucks. The only coutry that won some medals in Africa are the ones with a sizeable white population. Lol
Lol I read your comment and thought ‘that’s something I’d usually see more on the Letsrun message board than swimswam’ and then I read your username and realised you ARE on the let’s run message board lol! Small world
This is one of the low-key most amusing comments I’ve ever read.
Anthony Nesty represents 50% of dutch speaking men with an individual swimming medal.
You don’t think any of the Netherlands’ other individual Olympic medalists speak/spoke Dutch?
Bob is (sort of) right if he’s referring to gold medals – the only Dutch man with a pool swimming gold is PVDH. Which is almost unbelievable given their swimming history especially the women.
However, Ferry Weertman and Maarten van der Weijden have open water golds.
Also, Fred Deburghgraeve (1996 100 breaststroke gold) is from the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium.
The Netherlands also has a few other medalists:
Johannes Drost, bronze, 200 back – 1900
Arno Kamminga, silver, 100 breast/200 breast – 2020
Wieger Mensonides, bronze, 200 breast – 1960
Seems odd to not include Penny Heyns among the notable medalists for South Africa
I think it’s the last time each country medalled.
the men’s relay came after, i am pretty sure.
would be interesting if you added potential medalists in your discussion of each country!
Putting aside AUS/CHN & JAP who are major nations:
NZL: Lewis Clareburt (men’s IMs) and Erika Fairweather (W400FR) very plausible minor medal chances.
HKG: Siobhan Haughey a major contender/potential gold in W100FR & minor medal chance in W200FR
RSA: Tatjana Smith good chance of title defence in W200BRS & medal chance in W100BRS
TUN: IF Hafnaoui were in form, major chance 400/800/1500 but question mark if he’ll show
KOR: Woomin a major contender in M400FR & M4X200 very much in medal contention
Not seeing anything else from others