1998 World Aquatics Championships

The 1998 World Aquatics Championships or the 8th FINA World Swimming Championships were held in Perth, Australia between 8 January and 17 January 1998.

The championships were contested by a total of 1,371 athletes with 16 events each for men and women, held in an outdoor pool.

Michael Klim was named as the leading male swimmer of the meet, winning the 200 m freestyle, 100 m butterfly, 4×200 m freestyle, 4×100 m medley relay, as well as silver in the 100 m freestyle, 4×100 m freestyle relay and bronze in the 50 m freestyle.

Ian Thorpe became the youngest ever male to become world champion when he won the 400 m freestyle event aged 15 years and three months.

During a routine customs check on Chinese swimmer Yuan Yuan's luggage, enough human growth hormone was discovered to supply the entire women's swimming team for the duration of the championships. Only Yuan was sanctioned for the incident, with speculation that this was connected to the nomination of Juan Antonio Samaranch by China for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. Tests in Perth also found the presence of the banned diuretic masking agent triamterine in the urine of four swimmers, Wang Luna, Yi Zhang, Huijue Cai and Wei Wang. The swimmers were suspended from competition for two years, with three coaches associated with the swimmers, Zhi Cheng, Hiuqin Xu and Zhi Cheng each suspended for three months.