The swimming events of the 2001 World Aquatics Championships were held in a temporary pool at Marine Messe in Fukuoka, Japan in July 2001. This edition of the championships featured 20 events for both men and women, including the introduction of a 50 m event in all strokes and equality in the distance freestyle events, with both men and women swimming both 800 and 1500 m.
The swimming event resulted in eight world records and Australia topping the medal tally with 13 golds, although the USA claimed 26 total medals to 19 for Australia. The men's FINA Trophy (top individual performers) was awarded to Australia's Ian Thorpe for his three individual wins and three world records. Inge de Bruijn (the Netherlands) won the women's FINA Trophy for three individual wins. Australia swept the men's relays and won two of three of the women's relays, although were subsequently disqualified in the women's 4 × 200 m freestyle for a post-race infraction – jumping into the pool before all teams had finished.
The Seiko timing system used for the swimming events at the championships experienced some faults with the touch pads throughout the eight days of competition causing controversy amongst teams and media.In the Women's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay, the Australian team finished first but was disqualified for jumping into the pool in celebration before all teams finished the race. The US team finished second, but was disqualified for improper changeover. This was later blamed on the faulty touchpad. In accordance with the decision of the FINA Bureau (2001, Bangkok): "To avoid any reasonable doubt regarding the result of the Women's relay 4 × 200 m Freestyle Final of the 9th FINA World Championships in Fukuoka but without unfairly changing the official results of the race, the Bureau decided to grant a second set of gold medals to the USA team." The members of the USA team were: Natalie Coughlin, Diana Munz, Cristina Teuscher, Julie Hardt (7:58.13).Jean-Louis Meuret (2007), HistoFINA Volume IV – Tome IV. MEDALLISTS AND STATISTICS. Special FINA WORLD SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS (50 m.) Before Rome 2009. SWIMMING; Thorpe Wins; U.S. Relay Is Disqualified. New York Times (July 26, 2001)
Medal table
Medal summary Men 50 m freestyle 22.09 22.16 22.18 100 m freestyle 48.33CR, AM 48.43 48.79 200 m freestyle 1:44.06 WR 1:45.81 1:47.10 400 m freestyle 3:40.17 WR 3:42.51 3:45.11 800 m freestyle 7:39.16 WR 7:40.34 7:51.12 1500 m freestyle 14:34.56 WR 14:58.94 NR 15:01.43 50 m backstroke 25.34 25.44 25.49 100 m backstroke 54.31CR 54.75 54.91 200 m backstroke 1:57.13 CR 1:58.07 1:58.37 50 m breaststroke 27.52 CR 27.60 27.72 100 m breaststroke 1:00.16 1:00.47 1:00.61 200 m breaststroke 2:10.69 CR 2:11.09 2:11.21 AS 50 m butterfly 23.50 23.57 23.62 100 m butterfly 52.10 CR 52.25 AM 52.36 200 m butterfly 1:54.58 WR 1:55.28 1:55.68 200 m I.M. 1:59.71 2:00.73 2:00.91 400 m I.M. 4:13.15 4:15.36 4:15.94 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay Michael Klim (49.12)Ashley Callus (48.31)Todd Pearson (48.80)Ian Thorpe (47.87) 3:14.10CR Mark Veens (49.80)Johan Kenkhuis (48.56)Klaas-Erik Zwering (49.18)Pieter van den Hoogenband (47.02) 3:14.56ER Stefan Herbst (50.54)Torsten Spanneberg (48.86)Lars Conrad (49.08)Sven Lodziewski (49.04) 3:17.52 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay Grant Hackett (1:46.11)Michael Klim (1:46.49)Bill Kirby (1:47.92)Ian Thorpe (1:44.14) 7:04.66 WR Emiliano Brembilla (1:48.19)Matteo Pelliciari (1:48.02)Andrea Beccari (1:47.97)Massimiliano Rosolino (1:46.68) 7:10.86ER Scott Goldblatt (1:49.00)Nate Dusing (1:48.78)Chad Carvin (1:48.41)Klete Keller (1:47.50) 7:13.69 4 × 100 m medley relayMatt Welsh (55.19)Regan Harrison (1:00.80)Geoff Huegill (51.39)Ian Thorpe (47.97) 3:35.35CRSteffen Driesen (55.22)Jens Kruppa (1:01.06)Thomas Rupprath (51.96)Torsten Spanneberg (48.10) 3:36.34Vladislav Aminov (55.63)Dmitry Komornikov (1:00.90)Vladislav Kulikov (52.01)Dmitry Chernyshov (49.23) 3:37.77 Legend: WR – World record; CR – Championship record
Women 50 freestyle 24.47 24.88 24.96 100 freestyle 54.18 55.07 55.11 200 freestyle 1:58.57 1:58.78 1:58.85 400 freestyle 4:07.30 4:09.15 4:09.36 800 freestyle 8:24.66 8:28.84 8:31.45 1500 freestyle 16:01.02CR 16:05.99 16:07.05 50 backstroke 28.51 28.53 28.54 100 backstroke 1:00.37 1:00.68 1:01.42 200 backstroke 2:09.94 2:10.43 2:11.05 50 breaststroke 30.84CR, AS 31.37 31.40 100 breaststroke 1:07.18CR 1:07.96 1:08.50 200 breaststroke 2:24.90CR 2:25.09 2:25.29 50 butterfly 25.90CR 26.18 26.45 100 butterfly 58.27CR 58.72 58.88 200 butterfly 2:06.73CR 2:06.97 2:08.52 200 I.M. 2:11.93 2:12.30 2:12.46 400 I.M. 4:36.98 4:39.06 4:39.334 × 100 free relay Petra Dallmann (55.33) Antje Buschschulte (55.13) Katrin Meissner (54.07) Sandra Völker (55.05) 3:39.58 Colleen Lanne (56.15) Erin Phenix (54.68) Maritza Correia (54.94) Courtney Shealy (55.03) Alison Sheppard (56.15) Melanie Marshall (55.22) Rosalind Brett (54.76) Karen Pickering (54.67) 3:40.80 not awarded 4 × 200 m freestyle relay Nicola Jackson (2:00.05) Janine Belton (2:00.64) Karen Legg (1:58.95) Karen Pickering (1:59.05) 7:58.69 NR Silvia Szalai (2:00.39) Sara Harstick (1:59.48) Hannah Stockbauer (1:59.06) Meike Freitag (2:02.42) 8:01.35 Maki Mita (2:00.38) Tomoko Hagiwara (1:59.25) Tomoko Nagai (2:00.98) Eri Yamanoi (2:02.36) 8:02.97 NR 4 × 100 m medley relay Dyana Calub (1:02.08) Leisel Jones (1:07.68) Petria Thomas (57.65) Sarah Ryan (54.09) 4:01.50 CR, OC Natalie Coughlin (1:00.18) Megan Quann (1:07.67) Mary DeScenza (59.59) Erin Phenix (54.37) 4:01.81 Zhan Shu (1:01.97) Luo Xuejuan (1:06.47) Ruan Yi (59.74) Xu Yanwei (54.35) 4:02.53 Legend: WR – World record; CR – Championship record
Records The following world and championship records were set during the competition.
World records Date Round Event Time Name Nation July 22 Final Men's 400 metre freestyle 3:40.17 Ian Thorpe July 23 Semifinal 2 Men's 100 metre breaststroke 59.94 Roman Sludnov July 24 Final Men's 800 metre freestyle 7:39.16 Ian Thorpe July 24 Final Men's 200 metre butterfly 1:54.58 Michael Phelps July 25 Final Men's 200 metre freestyle 1:44.06 Ian Thorpe July 27 Semifinal 2 Men's 50 metre butterfly 23.44 Geoff Huegill July 27 Final Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay 7:04.66 Grant Hackett (1:46.11) Michael Klim (1:46.49) Bill Kirby (1:47.92) Ian Thorpe (1:44.14) July 29 Final Men's 1500 metre freestyle 14:34.56 Grant Hackett
Championship records Date Round Event Established for Time Name Nation July 22 Semifinal 2 Men's 50 metre freestyle (same) 22.05 Anthony Ervin July 22 Semifinal 1 Women's 100 metre breaststroke (same) 1:07.48 Luo Xuejuan July 22 Final Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay (same) 3:14.10 Michael Klim (49.12) Ashley Callus (48.31) Todd Pearson (48.80) Ian Thorpe (47.87) July 23 Heat 7 Men's 100 metre breaststroke (same) 1:00.95 Kosuke Kitajima July 23 Heat 8 Men's 100 metre breaststroke (same) 1:00.40 Roman Sludnov July 23 Heat 4 Women's 50 metre backstroke (same) 28.60 Haley Cope July 23 Heat 4 Men's 800 metre freestyle (same) 7:52.74 Ian Thorpe July 23 Final Women's 200 metre butterfly (same) 2:06.73 Petria Thomas July 23 Final Men's 100 metre backstroke (same) 54.31 Matt Welsh July 23 Final Women's 100 metre breaststroke (same) 1:07.18 Luo Xuejuan July 23 Semifinal 2 Men's 200 metre butterfly (same) 1:55.03 Franck Esposito Tom Malchow July 23 Semifinal 1 Women's 50 metre backstroke (same) 28.49 Natalie Coughlin July 24 Heat 8 Men's 50 metre backstroke (same) 25.43 Randall Bal July 24 Semifinal 2 Men's 50 metre backstroke (same) 25.31 Thomas Rupprath July 24 Heat 6 Men's 200 metre freestyle (same) 1:47.18 Pieter van den Hoogenband July 24 Semifinal 1 Women's 200 metre breaststroke (same) 2:25.00 Beatrice Câșlaru July 24 Semifinal 2 Men's 200 metre freestyle (same) 1:45.80 Pieter van den Hoogenband July 25 Heat 5 Women's 50 metre butterfly (same) 26.52 Natalie Coughlin July 25 Semifinal 2 Men's 100 metre butterfly (same) 52.17 Lars Frölander July 25 Semifinal 1 Women's 50 metre butterfly (same) 26.10 Inge de Bruijn July 25 Final Women's 200 metre breaststroke (same) 2:24.90 Ágnes Kovács July 26 Heat 5 Women's 50 metre breaststroke (same) 31.23 Zoë Baker July 26 Final Women's 50 metre butterfly (same) 25.90 Inge de Bruijn July 26 Final Men's 100 metre butterfly (same) 52.10 Lars Frölander July 26 Semifinal 1 Women's 50 metre breaststroke (same) 31.10 Luo Xuejuan July 26 Final Men's 200 metre breaststroke (same) 2:10.69 Brendan Hansen July 26 Semifinal 2 Men's 100 metre freestyle (same) 48.57 Pieter van den Hoogenband July 27 Heat 10 Men's 50 metre butterfly (same) 23.71 Geoff Huegill July 27 Heat 4 Women's 1500 metre freestyle (same) 16:14.51 Hannah Stockbauer July 27 Final Men's 100 metre freestyle (same) 48.33 Anthony Ervin July 27 Final Men's 200 metre backstroke (same) 1:57.13 Aaron Peirsol July 27 Final Women's 50 metre breaststroke (same) 30.84 Luo Xuejuan July 28 Heat 7 Men's 50 metre breaststroke (same) 27.71 James Gibson July 28 Heat 3 Men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay (same) 3:37.56 Aaron Peirsol (55.36) Brendan Hansen (1:00.32) Daniel Jones (52.93) Scott Tucker (48.95) July 28 Semifinal 2 Women's 50 metre freestyle (same) 24.45 Inge de Bruijn July 28 Semifinal 2 Men's 50 metre breaststroke (same) 27.59 Mark Warnecke July 28 Final Women's 1500 metre freestyle (same) 16:01.02 Hannah Stockbauer July 28 Final Women's 100 metre butterfly (same) 58.27 Petria Thomas July 28 Final Men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay (same) 3:35.35 Matt Welsh (55.19) Regan Harrison (1:00.80) Geoff Huegill (51.39) Ian Thorpe (47.97) July 29 Final Men's 50 metre breaststroke (same) 27.52 Oleh Lisohor July 29 Final Women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay (same) 4:01.50 Dyana Calub (1:02.08) Leisel Jones (1:07.68) Petria Thomas (57.65) Sarah Ryan (54.09)
See also List of world records in swimming List of World Championships records in swimming
References
2001 World Aquatics Championships Official Website