Olympic Team Selection Process

I've been reading up on the Olympic Team Selection process. It's very interesting. The document is available on the USA Swimming website. This link takes you to the 31 page information packet. Here are the cliff notes I found interesting:

• There were only 22 FINA approved meets a swimmer could have possibly qualified for the trials and olympic games during 2007 and 2008.
• Swimmers may qualify for the Trials up until June 27th (two days before the trials begin).
• The USA Olympic Team can consist of no more than 26 men and 26 women. This basically means 2 swimmers per event, up to 4 can be taken for relays in certain situations.
• Once the team is chosen on July 6th, they only train together in Palo Alto, California for 13 days before leaving for a training camp in Singapore.
• They train in Singapore for 7 days.
• They train in Being for 4 days.
• The Olympic Games Begin on August 8th.

Other countries handle the trials differently. Some choose to hold trials much earlier to allow the team to practice together once they are chosen (the chosen ones). I just thought some of that was interesting.