U.S. Swimming Ends Paris Olympics on Top—Just Barely

After nine days of racing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the U.S. swim team managed to top both the medals count and gold tally in the pool. But the crucial golds didn’t come until the very last day.

Overall, the U.S. swimmers collected 28 medals, eight of them gold, which fell short of the 30 medals, 11 of them gold, that they won in Tokyo in 2020 and the 30 medals and 16 golds they earned in London in 2012. “I don’t think we’re getting any worse, per se,” said Caleb Dressel, who raced in the men’s 50m freestyle, of the U.S.’s final tally. “There are other countries that are getting very dominant, it’s just that the U.S. and Australia are the two most recognizable. The wealth has just been spread around.”

The last night of swim racing in La Defense Arena was one of ups and downs for the team. Gretchen Walsh missed a medal after touching just 0.01 of a second off the podium in the women’s 50-m freestyle. Her teammate, Simone Manuel, had failed to make it to the final.

Minutes later, however, Bobby Finke reenergized the team by setting a world record in the 1500 m, the longest pool race at the Olympics, with a blistering pace that put him in the lead from the first 50 m.

“At the 300-m mark, I was maybe like a body length ahead, and I was like, 'I can’t let go of this. I can’t be the guy who got run down after I do all the running down,'” Finke said, referring to his thrilling race strategy at the last Olympics in which he powered from third and even fourth place in the last 100 m to 50 m to win gold. Finke wasn’t able to defend his Olympic title in the 800 m in Paris, earning silver, so he was motivated to defend his gold in the 1500 m.

He was also aware that prior to his swim, no male swimmer on Team USA had won gold in Paris. “I was reading all the articles and all the comments,” he said. “I like reading that stuff; it kind of motivates me. I knew going into the race that I was the last individual swim for the guys. But the world is getting faster, and I think it’s a really good thing, a really healthy thing for the sport.”

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In the closing relays, the U.S. men couldn’t run down China, which earned its first gold in the 4 x 100m medley relay just 0.55 seconds ahead of the U.S. The U.S. holds both the Olympic and world records in the event, and hasn’t lost it in 15 Olympics (excluding the boycotted 1980 Games)—until Paris. France earned the bronze with the country’s new swimming star Leon Marchand, who swam the breaststroke leg and thrilled the crowd by pulling ahead of the U.S.’s Nic Fink.

“That was a close race, and it came down to the wire, and they had four great splits, and we had four great splits, and they were faster; it’s as simple as that,” said Dressel, who swam the butterfly portion.

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China’s win comes amid concerns raised by the U.S. Anti Doping agency about testing standards after more than a dozen Chinese swimmers who tested positive for performance enhancing drugs prior to the Tokyo Games but were allowed by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) to compete after the agency accepted an explanation that the drug came from contaminated food the athletes ate. For their part, the U.S. swimmers avoided addressing the issue, noting that they support efforts to strengthen a system that ensures a level playing field. “Our athlete committees and our leadership have been saying that it’s questions about the system, and is [the World Anti Doping Agency] doing everything they can,” said Fink, part of the U.S. relay team. “Nothing against the athletes who are competing, but when a bunch of anti-doping agencies are like, 'Hey, what was the process [of confirming the positive tests] and how does it work,' and stuff like that, it just kind of raises red flags. So we just want more clarity and transparency.”

The U.S. women continued their dominance in their relay event, winning gold and setting a world record. In the 20 times the U.S. has raced at the Olympics, the Americans have won 15 times, and earned silver the remaining five. Walsh, who swam the butterfly portion of the relay minutes after competing in the 50m freestyle, said Finke’s 1500m swim was “electric and he definitely got my energy going for the relay.”

But for other swimmers, it was an emotional Games. Dressel wasn’t able to swim fast enough to make the final in the 100m butterfly, the event he won in Tokyo, and in which he holds both the Olympic and world record times. He’s been open about the mental health struggles that led to his pulling out of the world championships in 2022 and taking eight to nine months off of swimming. After learning he wouldn’t be defending his title in Paris, Dressel broke down in tears.

On the women’s side, Alex Walsh finished third in the women’s 200m individual medley and thought she would join teammate Kate Douglass, who earned silver, for a medal, but was disqualified for an illegal turn from backstroke to breast stroke.

But for Katie Ledecky and Torri Huske, the pool proved more forgiving. Ledecky defended both her 800m and 1500m freestyle titles, continuing her dominance in the distance events. Huske, who just missed a medal in the 100m butterfly in Tokyo, and won a silver in the 400m medley relay from those Games, collected five medals in Paris—three gold, including in the 100m butterfly, and two silver. “I had a really rough summer last year, and knew they weren’t the best races I could put together,” she said. She took a year off from attending Stanford University to focus on swimming, and to give herself the recovery time she needed to race at her full potential. The decision paid off in Paris. “After my experience at the last Games, it really put into perspective how hard it really is to medal at the Olympics,” she said. “I think I was a little naïve going into [Tokyo]; I felt that I was on Team USA, and Team USA always medals, so if I get my hand on the wall I will be on the podium. But it’s a lot tougher than that. I know how hard it is to medal, so I am really thankful to be here [now].”

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The U.S. swimmers will leave Paris hungry for more, but knowing that the world is catching up. “I think it’s good for the sport,” said Finke of the strong swimmers from countries like China, France and Italy. “It shows how far the sport has come.” And how far it can go.