The 1984 Olympic swimming competitions introduced a two-swimmer-per-country-per-event limit and restored the 200m individual medley after a twelve-year absence.
Key Facts
- Total participants
- 494
- Countries represented
- 67
- Venue
- McDonald's Olympic Swim Stadium, USC campus
- Swimmers per event per country
- 2 (reduced from previous limit of 3)
- 200m individual medley absence
- 12 years (returned in 1984)
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Prior Olympic swimming competitions allowed three swimmers per country per event, enabling dominant nations to sweep entire medal podiums. Growing concern over competitive fairness and a proposal by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee to restore the 200-metre individual medley prompted rule and program changes ahead of the 1984 Games.
Swimming competitions at the 1984 Summer Olympics took place at the McDonald's Olympic Swim Stadium on the University of Southern California campus, drawing 494 athletes from 67 nations. It was the first Games to enforce a two-swimmer-per-country-per-event rule, and the 200-metre individual medley for men and women reappeared on the program for the first time since 1972.
The two-swimmer limit reshaped the competitive landscape by preventing medal sweeps by single nations, distributing podium places more broadly among countries. The reinstatement of the 200-metre individual medley expanded the program and gave athletes in that discipline an Olympic avenue that had been closed for over a decade.