Pan Pacific Games

The Pan Pacific Swimming Championships is a long course swimming event first held in 1985. 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. 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.

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. 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.

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