Yahoo Finance Australia’s swimmers lead pack closing gap on US in Tokyo
“You want to be first?” said Australia’s head coach, Rohan Taylor, at the end of the Tokyo 2020 swimming program. “Well usually you have to beat an American. They’re normally the people that get in the way.”
In nine days of action at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, that remained the case. But only just. The United States’ medal tally stood at 11 gold, 10 silver and nine bronze. By anyone else’s standards, it would be an almighty haul. For America, it was their worst Olympic performance since the 1992 Games in Barcelona.
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Over the past seven decades, America has slipped from top spot in swimming on three occasions: in 1988, when the East Germans triumphed, in 1980, when America boycotted the Moscow Games and in 1956, when Australia dominated on home soil. Otherwise, it has been a reign of excellence.
That reign did not end in Tokyo. The meet concluded with Australia narrowly behind with nine gold medals, while Great Britain landed four golds in their best Olympic swimming haul. But USA Swimming has been put on notice. The rest of the world has caught up.
There are several factors that explain the fall from absolute dominance to only relative success. One is the retirement of Michael Phelps. The most decorated Olympian won 23 gold medals across four Games; his absence was always going to be felt. But that does not explain everything. Caeleb Dressel won five gold medals in Tokyo, most in events previously dominated by Phelps.
America made strategic mistakes and no more was this evident than in the 4x100m mixed medley relay, a new event on the Olympic programme. Teams had to swim two men and two women, but could choose the order (and hence the stroke) they swam. With minimal data on the best strategyit was a test of tactical firepower.
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Great Britain led off with Kathleen Dawson in the backstroke, followed by Adam Peaty in the breaststroke. James Guy put in a big butterfly effort, before Anna Hopkin took it home to win gold. Australia, in third, followed this strategy of woman, man, man, woman. China, who took silver, went with man, man, woman, woman. The similarity between the approaches of all three medallists was that a man swam the breaststroke leg – the slowest stroke, with the largest gender-based time differential.
Team USA gambled with the 17-year-old Lydia Jacoby in the breaststroke, hoping Dressel could catch his female rivals in the final two laps of freestyle. The strategy did not pay off. America’s coaches admitted they had overanalysed” the situation; Dressel said: “We don’t have the pieces right now.” Those are not words that usually come from inside the powerhouse American swimming establishment.
Perhaps the main explanation is that other countries have improved significantly. “There’s some momentum happening around the world,” said Taylor. “We got a lot of help in bringing [the Americans] closer to us.”
Taylor’s team had their best Olympics – quite the achievement, given Australia’s record. The Dolphins, as the team are known, were led up the medal tally by three women – Emma McKeon, who won the 50m and 100m freestyle, Ariarne Titmus, who beat American rival Katie Ledecky in the 200m and 400m freestyle, and Kaylee McKeown, who secured gold in the 100m and 200m backstroke.
Two relay gold medals for the women and the men’s 200m breaststroke title for Zac Stubblety-Cook rounded out a better-than-expected outing for Australia.
America also found themselves bested by Great Britain in events of usual strength. The British men’s relay team won the 4x200m freestyle – a race the US has not lost since the 2000 Olympics, but in Tokyo they were not even on the podium. Peaty was his typically dominant self in the 100m breaststroke, while Tom Dean and Duncan Scott went one-two in the 200m freestyle (once a pet event for Phelps).
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Three gold medals to China, two to the Russian Olympic Committee and two to Japan, plus individual golds to Canada, Hungary, South Africa and Tunisia rounded out a meet without a dominant nation. The Americans still ended the week on top – but only just.
“They’re the standard,” Taylor said, despite a week of medals for his team. “We want to be better than them.” Roll on Paris.
Break-out swimmers
Zac Stubblety-Cook (Australia) “You can only be an underdog once.” So said the 22-year-old Zac Stubblety-Cook after winning the men’s 200m breaststroke. The Australian put his one chance at an upset to good use. Despite going into the race with the second-fastest time in history, Stubblety-Cook was a relatively unknown quantity in an experienced field. But he showed no signs of youthful exuberance in a perfectly executed tactical swim, spending most of the race outside the medal placings before a late surge took him to the wall first. Come the Paris Games, the Queenslander will be an underdog no more.
Tatjana Schoenmaker (South Africa) South Africa has a long and proud breaststroke tradition. Penelope Heyns won dual 100m and 200m gold at Atlanta 1996, while Cameron van der Burgh won 100m gold in London 2012 and silver in Rio. They now have a new breaststroke star, with Tatjana Schoenmaker winning gold and setting a world record in the 200m and grabbing silver in the 100m in her Olympic debut. Just 24, she is the Commonwealth Games champion in the two-lap and four-lap disciplines and will be hoping to defend those crowns in Birmingham.
Summer McIntosh (Canada) She did not win any medals, but Summer McIntosh has put her name on the map in a big way. The 14-year-old finished fourth in the final of the women’s 400m freestyle and only just missed out on a place in the 200m freestyle final. Ledecky and Titmus are the undisputed queens of middle-distance freestyle; come Paris, expect McIntosh to be challenging them for gold.
