Swim Ireland - Paris 2024 Olympic Games Nomination Policies for Swimming and Diving Announced

 

Swim Ireland are delighted to announce the Paris 2024 Olympic Nomination Policies for Swimming and Diving, which have been approved by the Olympic Federation of Ireland.

In swimming, the Policy provides for three opportunities for individual event qualification through the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan this July, the 2024 World Championships in Doha, Qatar in February 2024 and the Irish Open Championships, currently set for May 2024. Qualification for the World Championships in Fukuoka will take place from performances at the Irish Open Championships which takes place at the National Aquatic Centre from 1st – 5th April this year. In relay swimming, World Aquatics (formerly known as FINA) have decreed that on this occasion, only the two World Championships events can be used for relay qualification to the 2024 Games.

Swimming qualification for the Games is governed by World Aquatics who have set the Olympic Qualification Times (OQT) and the Olympic Consideration Times (OCT) for Paris. OQT’s are set from the Top-14 times achieved at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games and 2022 World Championships in Budapest. This level of qualification is set at the highest level to date for an Olympic Games and all nations are now challenged with what is the most challenging set of Olympic individual event qualification times ever published.

OCT’s have been set a mere 0.5% outside of each respective OQT, and in some cases are faster than the previous Tokyo Olympic Games qualifying times. With the OCT set at such high a level, these standards would see such athletes have an ability to qualify for semi-final positions at recent World Championships or Olympic Games if repeated once present. However, athletes may only attend an Olympic Games via an OCT if they are invited to do so by World Aquatics and the International Olympic Committee. The worldwide number of invites is expected to be very low, as such invitations are only offered once all other athletes have been offered their places at the Games (those via OQT’s, those from Universality nations and those who are ‘relay only’ athletes). In addition to this, World Aquatics have been allocated a lower number of overall athlete places for the 2024 Olympic Games than in previous times.

In Diving, opportunities for individual and synchro qualification are available at the 2023 EOC European Games in Rzeszów and, as for swimming, the Fukuoka and Doha World Championships.  Worldwide, a maximum of 136 places are available in Diving, with the European Games offering the first opportunity for qualification; only the gold medallists in Rzeszów from each Olympic event will secure a place for their nation on this occasion. At the World Championships in Fukuoka, the Top-12 individual event finishers and Top-3 synchro event finishers in each Olympic discipline will secure places, with the final qualification opportunity will taking place at the Doha World Championships in 2024, at which point the remaining places will be allocated based on the slots available to the sport at that point in time.

National Performance Director Jon Rudd commented, “We’re in a very good place to be able to confirm our nomination route for the Olympic Games at what is a relatively early stage and be able to provide athletes with three distinct options to be able to achieve this. Utilising the World Championships as part of our qualification routes was important as we felt that we had to endorse such performances at these events as that is ultimately what we are looking for at a Games – evidence that an athlete can deliver in the international arena at the time that truly matters. In Diving, the qualification events are directed by World Aquatics, but in swimming we have more flexibility. As such, we also felt that a qualification event on home soil was important for our athletes too. So, the opportunities are a good blend of this without attempting to qualify too frequently, which often compromises performances at the Games as a result.”

Rudd went on to say, “In swimming, the OCT is now pitched at such a high level that we feel the same as many other leading nations do having now viewed them; if invites via an OCT performance come our way (bearing in mind that there will be so few of them across the world as a whole) , such an athlete would be at a level to be highly competitive at the Games. On that basis, if any such invites come from performances at our three nomination competitions, our inclination will be to accept them. There is no doubt that it is a tremendously busy and exciting period for swimming and diving, with two World Championships occurring within seven months of each other as part of a run-in to Paris, and there seems to be something worth keeping up to speed with almost every month. So - keep your eyes and ears peeled and join us for the ride!”

Key Dates

Swimming

World Aquatics Championships  Fukuoka, Japan    23rd July - 30th July 2023

World Aquatics Championships  Doha, Qatar       11th February - 18th February 2024

Irish Open Championships      Dublin, Ireland   TBC

Olympic Games                 Paris, France     27th July – 4th August 2024

 

Diving

EOC European Games            Rzeszów, Poland   22nd June – 28th June 2023

World Aquatics Championships  Fukuoka, Japan    14th July – 22nd July 2023

World Aquatics Championships  Doha, Qatar       2nd February – 18th February 2024

Olympic Games                 Paris, France     27th July – 10th August 2024

The Swimming and Diving Nomination Policies have been approved by the Swim Ireland Board and the Olympic Federation of Ireland in consultation with the Swim Ireland Chief Executive Officer and the National Performance Director.

Trish Mayon

Head of Communications and Sponsorship Liaison