A number of new Olympic records were set in various events at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Due to the use of the LZR Racer, a specialised swimming suit developed by NASA and the Australian Institute of Sport, many records were broken. New world records were set 25 times (affecting 23 distinct world records) and new Olympic records were set 65 times and one other was equalled (affecting 30 distinct Olympic records).^[1] Only Ian Thorpe's 3:40.59 in the 400 metres freestyle and Inge de Bruijn's 56.61 in the 100 metres butterfly, both set in Sydney, remained Olympic records. Michael Phelps of the United States also broke the record for the most gold medals ever won by an Olympian with a total of 14; 8 of which were won during the 2008 Summer Olympics - this was also a world record.

Men

More information Event, Date ...

Event	Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Time	Record	Day
Men's 100 m breaststroke	August 9	Heat 7	Alexander Dale Oen	Norway	59.41	OR	1
Men's 400 m individual medley	August 9	Heat 4	Michael Phelps	United States	4:07.82	OR	1
Men's 100 m backstroke	August 10	Heat 4	Matt Grevers	United States	53.41	OR	2
Men's 100 m breaststroke	August 10	Semifinal 2	Alexander Dale Oen	Norway	59.16	OR	2
Men's 400 m individual medley	August 10	Final	Michael Phelps	United States	4:03.84	WR	2
Men's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay	August 10	Heat 1	Nathan Adrian (48.82) Cullen Jones (47.61) Ben Wildman-Tobriner (48.03) Matt Grevers (47.77)	United States	3:12.23	WR	2
Men's 100 m freestyle	August 10	Heat 1 leadoff*	Amaury Leveaux	France	47.76	OR	2
Men's 100 m backstroke	August 11	Semifinal 1	Arkady Vyatchanin	Russia	53.06	OR	3
Men's 100 m backstroke	August 11	Semifinal 2	Hayden Stoeckel	Australia	52.97	OR	3
Men's 100 m breaststroke	August 11	Final	Kosuke Kitajima	Japan	58.91	WR	3
Men's 200 m butterfly	August 11	Heat 6	Michael Phelps	United States	1:53.70	OR	3
Men's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay	August 11	Final	Michael Phelps (47.51) Garrett Weber-Gale (47.02) Cullen Jones (47.65) Jason Lezak (46.06)	United States	3:08.24	WR	3
Men's 100 m freestyle	August 11	Final leadoff*	Eamon Sullivan	Australia	47.24	WR	3
Men's 200 m freestyle	August 12	Final	Michael Phelps	United States	1:42.96	WR	4
Men's 100 m backstroke	August 12	Final	Aaron Peirsol	United States	52.54	WR	4
Men's 200 m breaststroke	August 12	Heat 5	Paolo Bossini	Italy	2:08.98	OR	4
Men's 200 m breaststroke	August 12	Heat 7	Dániel Gyurta	Hungary	2:08.68	OR	4
Men's 200 m butterfly	August 12	Semifinal 2	Michael Phelps	United States	1:53.70	OR	4
Men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay	August 12	Heat 2	David Walters (1:46.57) Ricky Berens (1:45.47) Erik Vendt (1:47.11) Klete Keller (1:45.51)	United States	7:04.66	OR	4
Men's 100 m freestyle	August 13	Semifinal 1	Alain Bernard	France	47.20	WR	5
Men's 100 m freestyle	August 13	Semifinal 2	Eamon Sullivan	Australia	47.05	WR	5
Men's 200 m breaststroke	August 13	Semifinal 1	Kosuke Kitajima	Japan	2:08.61	OR	5
Men's 200 m butterfly	August 13	Final	Michael Phelps	United States	1:52.03	WR	5
Men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay	August 13	Final	Michael Phelps (1:43.31) Ryan Lochte (1:44.28) Ricky Berens (1:46.29) Peter Vanderkaay (1:44.68)	United States	6:58.56	WR	5
Men's 50 m freestyle	August 14	Heat 11	César Cielo	Brazil	21.47	OR	6
Men's 50 m freestyle	August 14	Heat 12	Amaury Leveaux	France	21.46	OR	6
Men's 100 m butterfly	August 14	Heat 7	Jason Dunford	Kenya	51.14	OR	6
Men's 100 m butterfly	August 14	Heat 9	Milorad Čavić	Serbia	50.76	OR	6
Men's 50 m freestyle	August 15	Semifinal 1	César Cielo	Brazil	21.34	OR	7
Men's 1500 m freestyle	August 15	Heat 3	Ryan Cochrane	Canada	14:40.84	OR	7
Men's 1500 m freestyle	August 15	Heat 5	Grant Hackett	Australia	14:38.92	OR	7
Men's 200 m backstroke	August 15	Final	Ryan Lochte	United States	1:53.94	WR	7
Men's 200 m individual medley	August 15	Final	Michael Phelps	United States	1:54.23	WR	7
Men's 50 m freestyle	August 16	Final	César Cielo	Brazil	21.30	OR	8
Men's 100 m butterfly	August 16	Final	Michael Phelps	United States	50.58	OR	8
Men's 4 × 100 m medley relay	August 17	Final	Aaron Peirsol (53.16) Brendan Hansen (59.27) Michael Phelps (50.15) Jason Lezak (46.76)	United States	3:29.34	WR	9

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* World record split from the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay

Note: At the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay final, anchor Jason Lezak swam the fastest 100 m split (46.06); however, this is not considered an official FINA record, as he did not swim the first leg.

Women

More information Event, Date ...

Event	Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Time	Record	Day
Women's 400 m freestyle	August 10	Heat 5	Katie Hoff	United States	4:03.71	OR	2
Women's 400 m freestyle	August 10	Heat 6	Federica Pellegrini	Italy	4:02.19	OR	2
Women's 100 m backstroke	August 10	Heat 5	Anastasia Zuyeva	Russia	59.61	OR	2
Women's 100 m backstroke	August 10	Heat 6	Reiko Nakamura	Japan	59.36	OR	2
Women's 100 m backstroke	August 10	Heat 7	Kirsty Coventry	Zimbabwe	59.00	OR	2
Women's 100 m breaststroke	August 10	Heat 7	Leisel Jones	Australia	1:05.64	OR	2
Women's 400 m individual medley	August 10	Final	Stephanie Rice	Australia	4:29.45	WR	2
Women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay	August 10	Final	Inge Dekker (54.37) Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.39) Femke Heemskerk (53.42) Marleen Veldhuis (52.58)	Netherlands	3:33.76	OR	2
Women's 100 m freestyle	August 10	Final leadoff*	Britta Steffen	Germany	53.38	OR	2
Women's 200 m freestyle	August 11	Heat 4	Pang Jiaying	China	1:57.37	OR	3
Women's 200 m freestyle	August 11	Heat 5	Sara Isaković	Slovenia	1:55.86	OR	3
Women's 200 m freestyle	August 11	Heat 6	Federica Pellegrini	Italy	1:55.45	WR	3
Women's 100 m backstroke	August 11	Semifinal 2	Kirsty Coventry	Zimbabwe	58.77	WR	3
Women's 100 m breaststroke	August 12	Final	Leisel Jones	Australia	1:05.17	OR	4
Women's 200 m individual medley	August 12	Semifinal 1	Kirsty Coventry	Zimbabwe	2:09.53	OR	4
Women's 200 m freestyle	August 13	Final	Federica Pellegrini	Italy	1:54.82	WR	5
Women's 200 m breaststroke	August 13	Heat 5	Rebecca Soni	United States	2:22.17	OR	5
Women's 200 m individual medley	August 13	Final	Stephanie Rice	Australia	2:08.45	OR	5
Women's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay	August 13	Heat 1	Alena Popchanka (1:58.27) Céline Couderc (1:58.92) Camille Muffat (1:57.32) Coralie Balmy (1:55.86)	France	7:50.37	OR	5
Women's 800 m freestyle	August 14	Heat 4	Rebecca Adlington	Great Britain	8:18.06	OR	6
Women's 200 m backstroke	August 14	Heat 4	Kirsty Coventry	Zimbabwe	2:06.76	OR	6
Women's 200 m butterfly	August 14	Final	Liu Zige	China	2:04.18	WR	6
Women's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay	August 14	Final	Stephanie Rice (1:56.60) Bronte Barratt (1:56.58) Kylie Palmer (1:55.22) Linda Mackenzie (1:55.91)	Australia	7:44.31	WR	6
Women's 100 m freestyle	August 15	Final	Britta Steffen	Germany	53.12	OR	7
Women's 200 m breaststroke	August 15	Final	Rebecca Soni	United States	2:20.22	WR	7
Women's 800 m freestyle	August 16	Final	Rebecca Adlington	Great Britain	8:14.10	OR	8
Women's 200 m backstroke	August 16	Final	Kirsty Coventry	Zimbabwe	2:05.24	WR	8
Women's 50 m freestyle	August 17	Final	Britta Steffen	Germany	24.06	OR	9
Women's 4 × 100 m medley relay	August 17	Final	Emily Seebohm (59.33) Leisel Jones (1:04.58) Jessicah Schipper (56.25) Lisbeth Trickett (52.53)	Australia	3:52.69	WR	9

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