Marathon Swimming

Facts

Discipline of Aquatics
Participants 146
NOCs 45
Competitions held 8 (Venues)
Distinct events 2
IF World Aquatics

Description

Marathon swimming is also referred to as open-water swimming, as it is held in an open body of water, as opposed to a pool. The discipline made its Olympic début at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, with a single 10 km open water race for men and women. Marathon swimming has been contested at the World Aquatics Championships since 1991, where men and women race over 5 km, 10 km, and 25 km. Open-water swimming has been around much longer than that, however, as many races in the 19th and early 20th century were held in open water, including the swimming events at the 1896, 1900, and 1904 Olympic Games.

The Netherlands tops the discipline’s medal table, with four medals and three golds, led by swimmer Sharon van Rouwendaal, with a gold and a silver medal. Thomas Lurz is the only male swimmer with two medals, a silver and a bronze.

Marathon swimming is not considered a separate sport but rather a discipline of swimming, or technically aquatics, and as such is governed by the Fédération internationale de natation (FINA). FINA was formed on 19 July 1908 in London and has 209 affiliated nations as of 2022.

All-time medal table

Olympic Games

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Netherlands NED 3 1 0 4
Germany GER 1 1 1 3
Hungary HUN 1 1 0 2
Brazil BRA 1 0 1 2
Russian Federation RUS 1 0 0 1
Tunisia TUN 1 0 0 1
Great Britain GBR 0 2 1 3
Italy ITA 0 1 2 3
Greece GRE 0 1 0 1
United States USA 0 1 0 1
Australia AUS 0 0 1 1
Canada CAN 0 0 1 1
France FRA 0 0 1 1

Most successful competitors

Olympic Games

Athlete Nat Gold Silver Bronze Total
Sharon van Rouwendaal NED 1 1 0 2
Éva Risztov HUN 1 0 0 1
Oussama Mellouli TUN 1 0 0 1
Maarten van der Weijden NED 1 0 0 1
Lara Ilchenko RUS 1 0 0 1
Ana Marcela Cunha BRA 1 0 0 1
Florian Wellbrock GER 1 0 0 1
Ferry Weertman NED 1 0 0 1
Thomas Lurz GER 0 1 1 2
Spyros Gianniotis GRE 0 1 0 1
Dave Davies GBR 0 1 0 1
Keri-Anne Payne GBR 0 1 0 1
Haley Anderson USA 0 1 0 1
Rachele Bruni ITA 0 1 0 1
Kristóf Rasovszky HUN 0 1 0 1

Event types

Name Gender Still contested? Times held?
10 kilometres Open Water Men 4
10 kilometres Open Water Women 4