The Swimming competition at the 11th FINA World Aquatics Championships consisted of 40 long course events, swum July 24–31, 2005 at pools in Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Swimming's 40 events were split evenly between males and females and were:freestyle (free): 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1500; backstroke (back): 50, 100 and 200; breaststroke (breast): 50, 100 and 200; butterfly (fly): 50, 100 and 200; Individual Medley (IM): 200 and 400; and relay: 4×100 and 4×200 freestyle, and 4×100 medley.

Michael Fred Phelps II is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (23), Olympic gold medals in individual events (13), and Olympic medals in individual events (16). At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Phelps tied the record of eight medals of any color at a single Games, held by gymnast Alexander Dityatin, by winning six gold and two bronze medals. Four years later, when he won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, he broke fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Phelps won four gold and two silver medals, and at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won five gold medals and one silver. This made him the most successful athlete of the Games for the fourth Olympics in a row.