Thursday, August 12, 2021
Olympic Rewind: Looking Back at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team's Performance in Tokyo
The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 was nothing short of amazing. The U.S. Olympic Swimming Team touched ground in Japan with a mix of veterans to Olympic racing and rookies to the international spotlight and returned to the U.S. with 30 total medals and a load of history-making swims.
While every member of this year’s U.S. Olympic Swimming Team has forever etched their names in the sport’s history, here are some high-level numbers and facts that add to how special this year’s team was.
Team Accomplishments:
• The U.S.’ 30 medals were comprised of 11 gold, 10 silver and nine bronze.
• This marks the fourth-consecutive Olympics where U.S. swimmers have won 30+ total medals.
• This marks the eighth-consecutive Olympics where U.S. swimmers have won 10+ gold medals.
• Swimming dominated the overall U.S. medal table, accounting for 27% of all Team USA medals in Tokyo. It was the most medals of any U.S. team this year, which is the seventh Olympics in a row that swimming has earned the most medals for Team USA.
• U.S. medaled in 30 of 67 maximum chances in swimming, giving the team a 45% medal rate. Other than Australia, who had a 31% medal rate, no other nation had more than a 12% medal rate.
• Going into Tokyo, there were 11 teenagers on the U.S. roster, nine of whom left Tokyo with medals.
• Going into Tokyo, there were 15 members of the U.S. roster who had never competed in a senior-level, long course international competition. Twelve of those 15 earned medals.
• There were 30 swims in Tokyo by U.S. athletes that landed inside the top-25 performances in history.
• Sixteen Americans moved into the top-5 list (or, if they were already inside the top-5, they moved to a higher rank) of fastest Americans ever due to their swims in Tokyo.
• There were seven individual events where two U.S. athletes stood the podium – no other country had more than two events where multiple representatives medaled.
Individual Accomplishments:
• Allison Schmitt and Katie Ledecky earned the tenth Olympic medals of their careers. They are now two of only 54 Olympians, across all sports, in history to have 10 or more medals. In the swimming medal table, they are tied for ninth all time (fourth among female swimmers) in total medals.
• Caeleb Dressel became just the fourth male swimmer to ever win five gold medals for the U.S. at a single Olympic Games.
• By swimming in the prelims of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay, at 16 years and 64 days of age at the time of swim, Bella Sims became the 19th-youngest individual female swimmer to medal for the U.S. at the Olympics. Schmitt, at 31 years and 52 days of age at the time of swim, swam on the same relay in the finals, making her the third-oldest U.S. female to win an Olympic medal.
• Before the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming this past June, Bobby Finke was ranked as the 17th-fastest 1500m freestyler and 24th-fastest 800m freestyler in the world this year. After his incredible performances in the past two months, he now has gold medals in both events and is the 10th-fastest 1500m freestyler and 13th fastest 800m freestyler in world history.
• Before Trials, 15-year-old Katie Grimes’ national events resume in the 800m freestyle consisted of three TYR Pro Swim Series appearances and two Toyota U.S. Open performances, two of those five performances did not even feature a finals swim. Now, she is an Olympic finalist in the event, is the 15th fastest swimmer in history and only the fourth American to ever go 8:17 in the event.
• At the 2016 Rio Olympics, the men’s 400m freestyle, women’s 200m breaststroke and women’s 200m butterfly were the only events that did not feature American medalists. The U.S. had strong swims in those events this year, with Kieran Smith capturing bronze in the 400m freestyle, Lilly King getting silver and Annie Lazor getting bronze in the 200m breaststroke and Regan Smith earning silver and Hali Flickinger earning bronze in the 200m butterfly.
• Ashley Twichell became just the third swimmer in history to represent the U.S. in an Olympic 10K. She also is believed to be the oldest Olympic rookie swimmer for the U.S. since 1908.
Suffice to say, the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team’s showing at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is an incredible sign for both the present and future of the sport.
While every member of this year’s U.S. Olympic Swimming Team has forever etched their names in the sport’s history, here are some high-level numbers and facts that add to how special this year’s team was.
Team Accomplishments:
• The U.S.’ 30 medals were comprised of 11 gold, 10 silver and nine bronze.
• This marks the fourth-consecutive Olympics where U.S. swimmers have won 30+ total medals.
• This marks the eighth-consecutive Olympics where U.S. swimmers have won 10+ gold medals.
• Swimming dominated the overall U.S. medal table, accounting for 27% of all Team USA medals in Tokyo. It was the most medals of any U.S. team this year, which is the seventh Olympics in a row that swimming has earned the most medals for Team USA.
• U.S. medaled in 30 of 67 maximum chances in swimming, giving the team a 45% medal rate. Other than Australia, who had a 31% medal rate, no other nation had more than a 12% medal rate.
• Going into Tokyo, there were 11 teenagers on the U.S. roster, nine of whom left Tokyo with medals.
• Going into Tokyo, there were 15 members of the U.S. roster who had never competed in a senior-level, long course international competition. Twelve of those 15 earned medals.
• There were 30 swims in Tokyo by U.S. athletes that landed inside the top-25 performances in history.
• Sixteen Americans moved into the top-5 list (or, if they were already inside the top-5, they moved to a higher rank) of fastest Americans ever due to their swims in Tokyo.
• There were seven individual events where two U.S. athletes stood the podium – no other country had more than two events where multiple representatives medaled.
Individual Accomplishments:
• Allison Schmitt and Katie Ledecky earned the tenth Olympic medals of their careers. They are now two of only 54 Olympians, across all sports, in history to have 10 or more medals. In the swimming medal table, they are tied for ninth all time (fourth among female swimmers) in total medals.
• Caeleb Dressel became just the fourth male swimmer to ever win five gold medals for the U.S. at a single Olympic Games.
• By swimming in the prelims of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay, at 16 years and 64 days of age at the time of swim, Bella Sims became the 19th-youngest individual female swimmer to medal for the U.S. at the Olympics. Schmitt, at 31 years and 52 days of age at the time of swim, swam on the same relay in the finals, making her the third-oldest U.S. female to win an Olympic medal.
• Before the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming this past June, Bobby Finke was ranked as the 17th-fastest 1500m freestyler and 24th-fastest 800m freestyler in the world this year. After his incredible performances in the past two months, he now has gold medals in both events and is the 10th-fastest 1500m freestyler and 13th fastest 800m freestyler in world history.
• Before Trials, 15-year-old Katie Grimes’ national events resume in the 800m freestyle consisted of three TYR Pro Swim Series appearances and two Toyota U.S. Open performances, two of those five performances did not even feature a finals swim. Now, she is an Olympic finalist in the event, is the 15th fastest swimmer in history and only the fourth American to ever go 8:17 in the event.
• At the 2016 Rio Olympics, the men’s 400m freestyle, women’s 200m breaststroke and women’s 200m butterfly were the only events that did not feature American medalists. The U.S. had strong swims in those events this year, with Kieran Smith capturing bronze in the 400m freestyle, Lilly King getting silver and Annie Lazor getting bronze in the 200m breaststroke and Regan Smith earning silver and Hali Flickinger earning bronze in the 200m butterfly.
• Ashley Twichell became just the third swimmer in history to represent the U.S. in an Olympic 10K. She also is believed to be the oldest Olympic rookie swimmer for the U.S. since 1908.
Suffice to say, the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team’s showing at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is an incredible sign for both the present and future of the sport.