London 2012 Paralympic Games: Paralympic Swimming

Dive into swimming, one of the most popular Paralympic sports, at the London 2012 Aquatics Centre.

Paralympic Swimming at London 2012

With everything from sprints to long-distance races, the Paralympic swimming event is a thrilling spectacle.

Like in the Olympic Games, the Paralympic swimming medal events include four different strokes: freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke. There are also relay competitions and individual medley, where all four strokes are used.

Paralympic swimming competitors are classified according to their disability – be it physical, visual or intellectual – and their ability to perform each stroke.

Swimming at the Paralympic Games

Swimming, one of the first Paralympic sports, has increased in size and there are now 600 athletes competing for 148 gold medals.

China won the most medals in Paralympic Swimming at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games (52 in total). But the United States gained the most gold medals – 17 out of a total of 44 in the sport.

Great Britain also excelled in the 2008 Paralympic Games, winning 41 medals, of which 11 were gold. The British team will want to improve their medal haul on home soil in 2012.