Olympic swimmers must use one of four different swimming styles
or techniques (or all four strokes in some races) to swim a
certain distance. The fastest swimmer wins the Olympic Swimming
gold medal. In the modern Olympics, there are 16 Olympic
Swimming events that take place in the swim pool (plus one that
takes place in open water): - Freestyle: 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m,
800m (women only) & 1500m (men only) - Backstroke: 100m & 200m -
Breaststroke: 100m & 200m - Butterfly: 100m & 200m - Individual
medley: 200m & 400m - this event is often called the "IM" In the
individual medley events, the competitor swims one leg each of
four types of stroke, in order: butterfly, backstroke,
breaststroke and freestyle. - Relay: 4x100m free, 4x200m free &
4x100m medley In the medley relay a different swimmer swims each
leg using a particular stoke, but in a different order than the
one used in the individual medley; backstroke, breaststroke,
butterfly and freestyle. - 10-kilometer open water race (for the
Beijing Olympics, th