Swimming at the 1981 Summer Universiade
The swimming competition at the 1981 Summer Universiade took place in Bucharest, Romania.
Men's events
'''Legend:'''Women's events
Legend:; Men's 100 m freestyle
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| Kris Kirschner | 51.39 | |||
| Serhiy Krasyuk | 51.86 | |||
| Jorge Fernandes | 52.06 | |||
| 4 | Jerry Spencer | 52.17 | ||
| 5 | Yuri Prisekin | 52.38 | ||
| 6 | Gerd Kohlat | 53.63 | ||
| 7 | Per-Alvar Magnusson | 53.71 | ||
| 8 | Graeme Brewer | 53.73 |
; Men's 200 m freestyle
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| Andy Schmidt | 1:52.62 | GR | ||
| Jorge Fernandes | 1:52.92 | |||
| Djan Madruga | 1:53.00 | |||
| 4 | Yuri Logvin | 1:53.01 | ||
| 5 | Yuri Prisekin | 1:53.93 | ||
| 6 | Daniel Machek | 1:54.93 | ||
| 7 | Dennis Corcoran | 1:55.82 | ||
| 8 | Hiroshi Sakamoto | 1:56.39 |
; Men's 400 m freestyle
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| Daniel Machek | 3:58.08 | |||
| Djan Madruga | 3:58.54 | |||
| Sergey Kalashnikov | 4:00.95 | |||
| 4 | Graeme Brewer | 4:04.03 | ||
| 5 | James Lee | 4:04.95 | ||
| 6 | Ron McKeon | 4:05.85 | ||
| 7 | Eugene Gyorfi | 4:08.71 | ||
| 8 | Marcelo Jucá | 4:08.88 |
; Men's 1500 m freestyle
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| Aleksandr Chayev | 15:22.25 | GR | ||
| Sergey Kalashnikov | 15:40.62 | |||
| Monte Brown | 15:48.70 | |||
| 4 | Marcelo Jucá | 15:57.80 | ||
| 5 | Eugene Gyorfi | 16:04.58 | ||
| 6 | Robert Bylis | 16:09.41 | ||
| 7 | Hiroaki Kaneko | 16:11.22 | ||
| 8 | Tizoc Guemez | 16:31.89 |
; Men's 100 m backstroke
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| Sergei Zabolotnov | 58.09 | |||
| Vladimir Dolgov | 58.19 | |||
| Rômulo Arantes | 58.24 | |||
| 4 | Dave Wilson | 58.69 | ||
| 5 | Zbigniew Januszkiewicz | 59.56 | ||
| 6 | Clay Britt | 59.63 | ||
| 7 | Miloslav Rolko | 59.76 | ||
| 8 | Hidetoshi Takahashi | 1:00.01 |
; Men's 200 m backstroke
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| Sergei Zabolotnov | 2:03.65 | |||
| Djan Madruga | 2:03.73 | |||
| Zbigniew Januszkiewicz | 2:05.37 | |||
| 4 | Vladimir Dolgov | 2:05.97 | ||
| 5 | Hidetoshi Takahashi | 2:07.07 | ||
| 6 | James Fowler | 2:09.10 | ||
| 7 | Josef Kuf | 2:09.40 | ||
| 8 | Mihai Mandache |  Romania|1965Gold1USASilver2FRGBronze3URSUSACHNURSCANJPNGold1URSSilver2USABronze3URSCHNJPNCANGold1USAGold1USABronze3URSJPNSWEBRACHNCANGold1URSSilver2CANBronze3URSJPNJPNBRANED |