For the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, the following qualification systems were in place. Qualification ended on 3 July 2016.
Qualifying standards A National Olympic Committee (NOC) may enter a maximum of 2 qualified athletes in each individual event, only if both athletes have attained the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT). One athlete per event can potentially enter if they meet the Olympic Selection Time (OST) or if the quota of 900 athletes has not been targeted. NOCs may also permit swimmers regardless of time (1 per gender) under a Universality place, as long as they have no swimmers meeting either of the standard entry times (OQT/OST).
In the relay events, a maximum of 16 qualifying teams in each relay event must be permitted to accumulate a total of 96 relay teams; each NOC may enter only one team. The first twelve teams in each relay event at the 2015 World Championships will automatically compete for the relay events at the Olympics; while the remaining four per relay event must obtain their fastest entry times based on the FINA World Rankings of 31 May 2016 during the process.
Following the end of the qualification period, FINA will assess the number of athletes having achieved the OQT, the number of relay-only swimmers, and the number of Universality places, before inviting athletes with OST to fulfill the total quota of 900. Additionally, OST places will be distributed by event according to the position of the FINA World Rankings during the qualifying deadline (3 July 2016).
The qualifying time standards must be obtained in World Championships, Continental Championships, Continental Qualification Events, National Championships and Trials, or International Competitions approved by FINA in the period between 1 March 2015 to 3 July 2016.
FINA qualifying standards are as follows:
Men's eventsWomen's eventsEvent OQT OSTEvent OQT OST50 m freestyle 22.27 23.05 50 m freestyle 25.28 26.17100 m freestyle 48.99 50.70 100 m freestyle 54.43 56.34200 m freestyle 1:47.97 1:51.75 200 m freestyle 1:58.96 2:03.13400 m freestyle 3:50.44 3:58.51 400 m freestyle 4:09.08 4:17.80 − − − 800 m freestyle 8:33.97 8:51.961500 m freestyle 15:14.77 15:46.79 − − − 100 m backstroke 54.36 56.26 100 m backstroke 1:00.25 1:02.36200 m backstroke 1:58.22 2:02.36 200 m backstroke 2:10.60 2:15.17100 m breaststroke 1:00.57 1:02.69 100 m breaststroke 1:07.85 1:10.22200 m breaststroke 2:11.66 2:16.27 200 m breaststroke 2:26.94 2:32.08100 m butterfly 52.36 54.19 100 m butterfly 58.74 1:00.80200 m butterfly 1:56.97 2:01.06 200 m butterfly 2:09.33 2:13.86200 m individual medley 2:00.28 2:04.39 200 m individual medley 2:14.26 2:18.96400 m individual medley 4:16.71 4:25.69 400 m individual medley 4:43.46 4:53.38
Individual events Those who have achieved the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT) or the Olympic Selection Time (OST), or have been guaranteed a Universality place are listed below for each of the following individual events:
Men's individual events
Men's 50 m freestyle Qualification standardNo. of athletesNOC Qualified swimmers Olympic Qualifying Time – 22.272 Matthew AboodCameron McEvoy2 François HeersbrandtJasper Aerents2 Bruno FratusÍtalo Duarte2 Santo CondorelliYuri Kisil2 Ning ZetaoYu Hexin2 Frédérick BousquetFlorent Manaudou2 Kristian GolomeevOdysseas Meladinis2 Federico BocchiaLuca Dotto2 Katsumi NakamuraShinri Shioura2 Paweł JuraszekFilip Wypych2 Douglas ErasmusBrad Tandy2 Nathan AdrianAnthony Ervin1 Oussama Sahnoune1 Federico Grabich1 Ali Khalafalla1 Ari-Pekka Liukkonen1 Damian Wierling1 Benjamin Proud1 Krisztián Takács1 Ziv Kalontarov1 Simonas Bilis1 Erik Risolvato1 Norbert Trandafir1 Aleksei Brianskii1 George Bovell1 Andriy HovorovOlympic Selection Time – 23.051 Sidni Hoxha1 Mario Todorović1 Geoffrey Cheah1 Shane Ryan1 Renzo Tjon A Joe1 Cristian QuinteroUniversality Places1 Vahan Mkhitaryan1 Mahfizur Rahman Sagor1 Farhan Saleh1 Jules Bessan1 José Alberto Quintanilla1 Tindwende Sawadogo1 Billy-Scott Irakose1 Christian Nassif1 Athoumane Solihi1 Dienov Andres Koka1 Bourhan Abro1 Meli Malani1 Maël Ambonguilat1 Pap Jonga1 Abeiku Jackson1 Amadou Camara1 Frantz Dorsainvil1 Lum Zhaveli1 Santisouk Inthavong1 Anthony Barbar1 Ahmad Attellesey1 Brave Lifa1 Ibrahim Nishwan1 Giordan Harris1 Dionisio Augustine1 Batsaikhany Dulguun1 Maksim Inić1 Albachir Mouctar1 Samson Opuakpo1 Shawn Dingilius-Wallace1 Eloi Imaniraguha1 Jordan Augier1 Nikolas Sylvester1 Abdoul Niane1 Adam Viktora1 Osman Kamara1 Abdelaziz Mohamed Ahmed1 Olim Qurbonov1 Hilal Hemed Hilal1 Eméric Kpegba1 Joshua Tibatemwa Total 85
Men's 100 m freestyle Qualification standardNo. of athletesNOC Qualified swimmers Olympic Qualifying Time – 48.992 Kyle ChalmersCameron McEvoy2 Glenn SurgeloosePieter Timmers2 Marcelo ChierighiniNicolas Oliveira2 Santo CondorelliYuri Kisil2 Ning ZetaoYu Hexin2 Clément MignonJérémy Stravius2 Björn HornikelDamian Wierling2 Benjamin ProudDuncan Scott2 Richárd BohusDominik Kozma2 Luca DottoFilippo Magnini2 Katsumi NakamuraShinri Shioura2 Konrad CzerniakPaweł Korzeniowski2 Nathan AdrianCaeleb Dressel1 Federico Grabich1 Yauhen Tsurkin1 Kristian Golomeev1 Simonas Bilis1 Sebastiaan Verschuren1 Marius Radu1 Andrey Grechin1 Velimir Stjepanović1 Joseph Schooling1 Anže Tavčar1 Park Tae-hwanOlympic Selection Time – 50.701 Oussama Sahnoune1 Aleksandar Nikolov1 Ari-Pekka Liukkonen1 Shane Ryan1 Ziv Kalontorov1 Raphaël Stacchiotti1 Bradley Vincent1 Matthew Stanley1 Benjamin Hockin1 Nicholas Magana1 Matthew Abeysinghe1 Dylan Carter1 Cristian QuinteroUniversality Places1 Pou Sovijja1 Thibaut Danho1 Jhonny Pérez1 Robel Habte1 Andrew Chetcuti1 Igor Mogne1 Shirish Gurung1 Miguel Mena1 Rami Anis1 Sean Gunn Total 60
Men's 200 m freestyle Qualification standardNo. of athletes NOC Qualified swimmers Olympic Qualifying Time – 1:47.972 Thomas Fraser-HolmesDavid McKeon2 Glenn SurgeloosePieter Timmers2 Nicolas OliveiraJoão de Lucca2 Shang KeyuanSun Yang2 Yannick AgnelJérémy Stravius2 Paul BiedermannChristoph Fildebrandt2 James GuyCameron Kurle2 Péter BernekDominik Kozma2 Marco BelottiAndrea Mitchell D'Arrigo2 Dion DreesensSebastiaan Verschuren2 Kacper MajchrzakJan Świtkowski2 Myles BrownChad le Clos2 Conor DwyerTownley Haas1 Federico Grabich1 Felix Auböck1 Marwan El-Kamash1 Matias Koski1 Kosuke Hagino1 Welson Sim1 Matthew Stanley1 Alexander Krasnykh1 Velimir Stjepanović1 Park Tae-hwan1 Cristian QuinteroOlympic Selection Time – 1:51.751 Mikel Schreuders1 Marcelo Acosta1 Khader Baqlah1 Alexei Sancov1 Henrik Christiansen1 Alexandre Haldemann1 Ahmed Mathlouthi1 Hoàng Quý PhướcUniversality Places1 Noah Mascoll-Gomes1 Bakr Al-Dulaimi1 Ahmed Gebrel1 Brandon Schuster Total 49
Men's 400 m freestyle Qualification standardNo. of athletes NOC Qualified swimmers Olympic Qualifying Time – 3:50.442 Mack HortonDavid McKeon2 Felix AuböckDavid Brandl2 Sun YangQiu Ziao2 Mads GlæsnerAnton Ipsen2 Ahmed AkramMarwan El-Kamash2 Clemens RappFlorian Vogel2 James GuyStephen Milne2 Péter BernekGergő Kis2 Matthew HutchinsMatthew Stanley2 Wojciech WojdakFilip Zaborowski2 Vyacheslav AndrushenkoAlexander Krasnykh2 Conor DwyerConnor Jaeger1 Luiz Altamir Melo1 Ryan Cochrane1 Jan Micka1 Matias Koski1 Jordan Pothain1 Gabriele Detti1 Naito Ehara1 Welson Sim1 Maarten Brzoskowski1 Henrik Christiansen1 Velimir Stjepanović1 Myles Brown1 Park Tae-hwan1 Miguel Durán1 Ahmed Mathlouthi1 Nezir KarapOlympic Selection Time – 3:58.511 Alex Sobers1 Marcelo Acosta1 Irakli Revishvili1 Dimitrios Dimitriou1 Jessie Lacuna1 Cristian QuinteroUniversality Places1 Pol Arias1 Geoffrey Butler1 Iacovos Hadjiconstantinou1 Haris Bandey Total 50
Men's 1500 m freestyle Qualification standardNo. of athletesNOC Qualified swimmers Olympic Qualifying Time – 15:14.772 Mack HortonJack McLoughlin2 Brandonn AlmeidaMiguel Valente2 Qiu ZiaoSun Yang2 Anton IpsenPál Joensen2 Nicolas D'OrianoDamien Joly2 Stephen MilneTimothy Shuttleworth2 Gergely GyurtaKristóf Rasovszky2Gabriele DettiGregorio Paltrinieri2 Mateusz SawrymowiczWojciech Wojdak2Ilya DruzhininYaroslav Potapov2Antonio ArroyoMarc Sánchez2 Serhiy FrolovMykhailo Romanchuk2 Connor JaegerJordan Wilimovsky1 Martín CarrizoMartín Naidich1 Felix Auböck1 Ryan Cochrane1Jan Micka1Esteban Enderica1 Ahmed Akram1Marcelo Acosta1 Florian Wellbrock1Ricardo Vargas1 Henrik Christiansen1Richárd Nagy1 Matthew Meyer1 Park Tae-hwan1 Oussama MellouliOlympic Selection Time – 15:46.791 Mihajlo Čeprkalo1 Felipe Tapia1 Wesley Roberts1 Welson Sim1 Matthew Hutchins1 Martin Bau Universality Places0 — — Total 46
Men's 100 m backstroke Qualification standardNo. of athletesNOC Qualified swimmers Olympic Qualifying Time – 54.362 Josh BeaverMitch Larkin2 Viktar StaselovichMikita Tsmyh2 Li GuangyuanXu Jiayu2 Junya HasegawaRyosuke Irie2 Radosław KawęckiTomasz Polewka2 Evgeny RylovGrigory Tarasevich2 Ryan MurphyDavid Plummer1 Guilherme Guido1 Javier Acevedo1 Camille Lacourt1 Jan-Philip Glania1 Chris Walker-Hebborn1 Apostolos Christou1 Gábor Balog1 Shane Ryan1 Yakov-Yan Toumarkin1 Simone Sabbioni1 Danas Rapšys1 Corey Main1 Robert Glință1 Quah Zheng Wen1 Christopher Reid Olympic Selection Time – 56.261 Timothy Wynter1 Won Young-jun1 Hugo González1 Albert SubiratsUniversality Places1 David van der Colff1 Hamdan Bayusuf1 Driss Lahrichi1 Noah Al-Khulaifi1 Merdan Ataýew1 Yaaqoub Al-Saadi Total 39
Men's 200 m backstroke Qualification standardNo. of athletes NOC Qualified swimmers Olympic Qualifying Time – 1:58.222 Josh BeaverMitch Larkin2 Li GuangyuanXu Jiayu2 Christian DienerJan-Philip Glania2 Dávid FöldháziÁdám Telegdy2 Ryosuke IrieMasaki Kaneko2 Evgeny RylovAndrey Shabasov2 Ryan MurphyJacob Pebley1 Mikita Tsmyh1 Leonardo de Deus1 Apostolos Christou1 Yakov-Yan Toumarkin1 Danas Rapšys1 Corey Main1 Radosław Kawęcki1 Hugo GonzálezOlympic Selection Time – 2:02.361 Omar Pinzón1 Robert Glință1 Rexford Tullius Universality Places1 Boris Kirillov Total 26
Men's 100 m breaststroke Qualification standardNo. of athletes NOC Qualified swimmers Olympic Qualifying Time – 1:00.572 Jake PackardJoshua Palmer2 Felipe França SilvaJoão Gomes Júnior2 Li XiangYan Zibei2 Adam PeatyRoss Murdoch2 Yasuhiro KosekiIppei Watanabe2 Andrius ŠidlauskasGiedrius Titenis2 Kirill PrigodaVsevolod Zanko2 Kevin CordesCody Miller1 Jorge Murillo1 Christian vom Lehn1 Panagiotis Samilidis1 Dániel Gyurta1 Anton Sveinn McKee1 Andrea Toniato1 Dmitriy Balandin1 Glenn Snyders1 Marcin Stolarski1 Čaba Silađi1 Tomáš Klobučník1 Damir Dugonjič1 Cameron van der BurghOlympic Selection Time – 1:02.691 Dustin Tynes1 Jason Block1 Matti Mattsson1 Nicholas Quinn1 Laurent Carnol1 Édgar Crespo1 Yannick Käser1 Erik Persson1 Azad Al-Barazi1 Radomyos Matjiur1 Martín Melconian1 Vladislav Mustafin1 Carlos ClaverieUniversality Places1 Julian Fletcher1 Corey Ollivierre1 Benjamin Schulte1 Amini Fonua Total 46
Men's 200 m breaststroke Qualification standardNo. of athletes NOC Qualified swimmers Olympic Qualifying Time – 2:11.662 Tales CerdeiraThiago Simon2 Li XiangMao Feilian2 Craig BensonAndrew Willis2 Dimitrios KoulourisPanagiotis Samilidis2 Dániel GyurtaDávid Horváth*2 Yasuhiro KosekiIppei Watanabe2 Anton ChupkovIlya Khomenko2 Jarred CrousCameron van der Burgh2 Kevin CordesJosh Prenot1 Ashton Baumann1 Jorge Murillo1 Matti Mattsson1 Marco Koch1 Anton Sveinn McKee1 Nicholas Quinn1 Luca Pizzini1 Dmitriy Balandin1 Giedrius Titenis1 Laurent Carnol1 Choi Kyu-woong1 Erik Persson1 Yannick Käser1 Dmytro Oseledets1 Carlos ClaverieOlympic Selection Time – 2:16.271 Basten Caerts1 Lee Hsuan-yen1 Martin Allikvee1 Glenn SnydersUniversality Places1 Denis Petrashov1 Arya Nasimi Shad Total 39
Men's 100 m butterfly