Where are the Olympic Open Water Swimmers Going to Race?

The Olympic 10km Marathon Swim will be held at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park which is located a distance away from the main Olympic stadium and village.

The course will be a typical set-up for a FINA-hosted 10K race in a rowing basin. That is, the swimmers will swim "down" the outside of line 1 (approximately 1K), across the width of the rowing basin around a set of turn buoys, and "up" the outside of lane 8 (approximately 1K) for a total of 2.5K for each loop. The pace for the men will probably vary between slow over the first 2 loops (1:10 per 100 meters without turns) to amazingly fast (under 1:05 per 100 meters without turns) over the last loop.

The water in the basin is continuously circulated and is clean, both in terms of clarity and World Health Organization drinking water standards. This has been confirmed by doctors dispatched by the US Olympic Committee.

Because the athletes will be swimming in a large pack in very clean and clear water, they will be easily able to see each other throughout the race. Due to very congested conditions around the turn buoys, in and out of the feeding pontoons and coming into towards the finish, the races should be extremely exciting for spectators and television viewers alike.

The freshwater venue is expected to be a very warm (about 85 degree F) under humid conditions. The combination of the warm water and humid air will present major factors that the athletes must consider as they pace and hydrate themselves during the 1 hour 50 minute to 2-hour race.

And, quite exciting for the athletes, will be the cheering thousands of fans who will enjoy one of the more reasonably priced events on the Olympic menu.

Copyright © 2008 by World Open Water Swimming Association

Olympic 10K Marathon Swimming Selection Criteria

Like cyclists in the Tour de France, 10K marathon swimmer athletes compete in very close proximity to one another, swimming over most of the course in a large pack while a few swimmers try to break from the pack as the race progresses. The race will culminate with a furious and fast finish as the athletes sprint for the gold, silver and bronze…and places #4 through #25.

So how do these athletes qualify for the Olympics?

There is a four-step formula to select the 25 female and 25 male athletes who will compete in the Olympic 10km Marathon Swim to be held at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing and Marathon Swimming Park on August 20th (female) and 21st (male) 2008 (Day 12 and 13).

The formula is a bit complicated, but it allows for a large number of countries to qualify their athletes for the first Olympic 10K Marathon Swimming race.

1st Priority: 20 swimmers (10 female and 10 male) will automatically qualify by finishing in the top 10 in the 10K race at the 2008 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships to be held in Seville, Spain in May 2008.

2nd Priority: 10 swimmers (5 female and 5 male) will qualify as Continental Representatives. The first eligible finisher in the 10K race at the 2008 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships in Seville from each of the five Continental Regions who finish outside of the Top 10 finishers will automatically qualify.

3rd Priority: 2 swimmers (1 female and 1 male) will qualify as the Host Country representatives. China will nominate one female and one male athlete. If China qualifies two of its athletes through Priority #1 or one athlete through Priority #2, then this slot will be added to Priority #4, enabling an additional 10th slot for Priority #4.

4th Priority: 9 (or 10) swimmers (4 or 5 female and 4 or 5 male) will qualify at the FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier held at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing and Marathon Swimming Park on May 31st (female) and June 1st (male). This total number depends on the selection method of the Chinese swimmers. If a country has not qualified its swimmers through Priority #1, #2 or #3 above, they may send two athletes to compete in the FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier. All remaining slots will be filled at this competition; however, each country can qualify only one athlete per gender. The swimmers already qualified through Priority #1, #2 or #3 may also participate in this competition.

Interesting notes:

1. The maximum number of the athletes who will take part in the Beijing 2008 Olympic swimming competition will be 850, including the 50 athletes who will compete in the Olympic 10km Marathon Swim.

2. All countries may only qualify a maximum of two athletes per swimming event in the Olympics, including the 10K Marathon Swimming event.

Copyright © 2008 by World Open Water Swimming Association

10K Marathon Swimming Darkhorses - The Men

As the men's favorites from Australia, Russia and Germany enter the Shunyi Olympic Rowing Park for the Olympic 10km Marathon Swim, all eyes of the aquatic world and the NBC cameras will be on Australia's Grant Hackett, Russia's Vladimir Dyatchin and Germany's Thomas Lurz. But there will be other swimmers who are capable of stealing the gold from their more renowned competitors.

A crash around the last turn buoy, overheating in humid conditions, a mix-up at the feeding station or a red card disqualification is all it takes for one of the darkhorses to win. Egypt's top medal hopeful, Mohamed El Zanety, Greek's fastest swimmer, Spyridon Giannotis, Britain's cagey Alan Bircher, or the American duo of Chip Peterson and Mark Warkentin, will be ready to take advantage of any mistake and pounce into the position to capture gold.

Indeed, even Grant Hackett's own teammate, Ky Hurst, and Dyatchin's teammate, Evgeny Drattsev, will be baiting their opponents, plotting their own strategies, constantly drafting and battling into the optimal positions for the final sprint.

One tactical error, one missed feeding, one poor turn around a buoy, one kick in the gut...and dreams of Olympic gold will be gone.

If any of the favorites plan to take off right from the start, it will be a risky strategy. Will any one swimmer - or a pair of teammates from the same country - risk taking off on a punishing pace early in the race to build a seemingly insurmountable lead? Can anyone - or pair of countrymen like Hackett and Hurst - or even two fierce competitors like Hackett and Lurz - forge into a huge lead and then hope to have enough to hang on? This strategy might be something Hackett and Hurst contemplate given the success of Melissa Gorman at the 2008 Australian Open Water Swimming Championships, but history tells us that kind of strategy is generally a failed one.

Just ask Britain's Alan Bircher who took it out extremely strong and built a 2+ minute lead at the 7.5K point at the 2004 World Open Water Swimming Championships...only to be caught at the end by a surging pack.

If it comes down to a photo-finish, who better to out-touch Hackett than 6'-9" Maarten van der Weijden of the Netherlands who always cruises behind the leaders and is notorious for turning on the jets in the last 500 meters?

If Hackett's goggles get inadvertently torn off...if Dyatchin misses his feedings...if Lurz finds himself pitched in - or elbowed - around the last buoy, the gates to Olympic glory are open to many. But, who will it be: Egypt's El Zanety? Greece's Giannotis? Britain's Bircher? Australian Hurst? The Netherlands' van der Weijden? Or one of the Americans, Peterson - a Tarheel who grew up along the North Carolina coast or Warkentin - a Trojan who lives near the beaches of Santa Barbara?

Stay tuned for the expected photo finish about 11:50 am Beijing time on August 21, 2008.

Copyright © 2008 by World Open Water Swimming Association