Swimming at the 1900 Summer Olympics

The 1900 swimming events were held in the River Seine at the Basins d’Asnières-Courbevoie. Some of the events, notably the 200 metre freestyle, were swum downstream, which made the times for the races artificially quick. The temperature on the first two days – 11-12 August – was over 35° C. (95° F.).

The 1900 Olympic swimming events were basically a European Championship. The best swimmers of France, Germany, and Great Britain were present in Paris in 1900. Both The New York Herald (Paris Edition) and The Field noted that the British swimmers were in their top rank. However, among the great Australian swimmers, only Fred Lane competed. Notably, Australia’s Richard Cavill and Barney Kieran were not at the Olympics. The Americans entered only three swimmers, none in their top class, and only two of these competed.