Pan Pacific Swimming Championships

The Pan Pacific Swimming Championships is a long course swimming event first held in 1985.^[1] The meet was initially staged biennially (every odd year), to allow for an international championship-level meet in the non-Olympic and non-World Championships years.^[1] However, beginning with the 2002 championships, due to the changing of the World Championships from every four years (even year between Olympics) to every two years (every odd year), the meet is a quadrennial event, held in the even year between Summer Olympics.^[1]

History

The meet was founded by its four Charter nations: Australia, Canada, Japan, and the United States. As part of the Charter, hosting of the meet is to rotate among these four nations, with the meet being held in Japan every other championship.

The meet was founded as an alternative to the European Championships, for those countries that could not swim in those championships, in a manner similar to the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships which provide a similar 'continental' championships for non-European nations. Initially, the meet was open to all countries that border the Pacific Ocean, giving the meet its name. This since has been expanded/opened to include other non-European countries wishing to participate, such as Brazil and South Africa.

The meet is considered to be one of the toughest international swimming competitions outside the Olympic Games, World Championships and European Championships, due in part to the presence of swimming power-house nationals like the United States and Australia, the first and second most medals winners, respectively.

Unlike the World Championships and Olympic Games, nations can enter as many people as they like in the preliminaries of each event (in most international meets, only two swimmers from each nation are permitted). However, only two swimmers per nation can qualify for the Championships' semi-finals and finals. Prior to FINA's creation of semi-finals in the late 1990s, a total of 3 swimmers per country could qualify for the final and consolation heats of an event, with no more than 2 swimmers per country in a final or consolation.

List of championships

Edition	Year	Location	Dates	Medal table winners
1	1985	Tokyo, Japan	15–18 August	United States
2	1987	Brisbane, Australia	13–16 August	United States
3	1989	Tokyo, Japan	17–20 August	United States
4	1991	Edmonton, Canada	22–25 August[2]	United States
5	1993	Kobe, Japan	12–15 August	United States
6	1995	Atlanta, United States	10–13 August	United States
7	1997	Fukuoka, Japan	10–13 August[3]	United States
8	1999	Sydney, Australia	22–29 August[4]	United States
9	2002	Yokohama, Japan	24–29 August[5]	United States
10	2006	Victoria, Canada	17–20 August[6]	United States
11	2010	Irvine, United States	18–22 August[7]	United States
12	2014	Gold Coast, Australia	21–25 August[1]	United States
13	2018	Tokyo, Japan	9–13 August	United States
14	2022	City TBA, Canada	TBA

Note: The 1995 and 1999 editions served as the swimming test events for the Olympic venues, for the next year's Games.

Medal table (1985–2018)

All-time Pan Pacific Championships medal table (Updated after 2018 Championships)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	277	192	140	609
2	Australia (AUS)	98	136	107	341
3	Japan (JPN)	31	49	73	153
4	Canada (CAN)	18	45	74	137
5	China (CHN)	5	10	12	27
6	South Africa (RSA)	5	5	6	16
7	New Zealand (NZL)	4	6	16	26
8	South Korea (KOR)	4	2	1	7
9	Brazil (BRA)	3	4	9	16
10	Costa Rica (CRC)	3	2	4	9
11	Puerto Rico (PUR)	1	0	1	2
12	Suriname (SUR)	1	0	0	1
13	Venezuela (VEN)	0	1	0	1
14	Chile (CHI)	0	0	1	1
Totals (14 nations)		450	452	444	1346

Medalists

References