And while the U.S. has other veteran swimmers returning to the Games, the men’s and women’s teams as a whole are much younger than in recent Olympics. Ten of the 26 women on Team USA are teenagers, four of whom have yet to enter college. Taking up Phelp’s mantle as a leader of the men’s team will be 24-year-old Caeleb Dressel, who has several chances at gold.
Lucky for you, Downtime is here to get you up to speed on the swimmers and races to look out for when competition starts on Saturday, July 24.
New Events, More Medals!
For the first time in decades, three new events have been added to the Olympic swimming lineup. (No, there isn’t a new stroke in the mix.)
Previously, the distance events available every four years were the 1,500m freestyle (also referred to as the mile) for men, and the 800m freestyle for women. And if your reaction is, “Well, that’s some sexist bullshit,” you wouldn’t be alone! Thankfully, Katie Ledecky will rightfully have a shot at an additional gold medal this year in the mile, an event she’s been able to swim at other competitions and has broken the world record in six times. It’s also wonderful that male distance swimmers will get to compete in the 800m, of course.
But the third new event is definitely the most interesting: the 4x100 mixed medley relay. Each country will select two men and two women to compete on the same team. On top of that, since it’s a Medley, each member will swim a different stroke, making for several different permutations of relay teams depending on the strength of individual swimmers and the strategies chosen by coaches.
Do you send both your men out for an early lead? Put in a dominant female breaststroker rather than a middle-of-the-pack male one? FINA, the international swimming governing body, has already implemented the race in World Championships, which occur in the years when the Olympics don’t occur. With lots of lead changes, it’s really fun to watch.
And now for the names to look for.
The Ones You’ve Heard Of
Katie Ledecky
As if you needed a reminder. Remember when she was just a 15-year-old in London, winning her first gold medal by over four seconds? Before she’d swum the 20 fastest women’s 800m freestyle times in history? Or the fastest 10 in the 1500m freestyle?
Well, she found time during a pandemic to graduate from Stanford and grinded (ground?) through a tough training schedule to qualify for her third Olympics. Ledecky will have a busy schedule: in addition to the new 1500m, she’ll swim the 200m, 400m, 800m freestyles, and the 4x200m freestyle relay.
Ledecky also has a new challenge this time around in Australia’s Ariarne Titmus, who is four years Ledecky’s junior and the first real threat to the 400m freestyle world record Ledecky has held since 2014. At Australian Olympic Trials, Titmus swam 3:56.90, coming within a half-second of the record.