Best Olympic Swimming Moments

1896 – Alfred Hajos of Hungary was the first Olympic champion, winning the 100m and 1200m freestyle at the 1896 Olympics.

1972 – Mark Spitz breaks the 100m freestyle world record in 51.22 seconds.

1988 – Kristin Otto was the first woman to win 6 gold medals at the Seoul Olympics.

1996 – Amanda Beard, 14, was part of the winning USA women’s team for 400m relay, becoming the second-youngest swimming in US history.

2008 – At Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps broke 5 individual world records and contributed to 3 team world records.

2012 – Katie Ledecky, 15, was picked for her Olympic team when she won the trials, taking 6 seconds of the lifetime PB and being less than sex tenths of a second away from a new world record.