Olympic: Since the Melbourne Olympics in 1956, the USA has always topped the Olympic swimming medal table.
Australia, the queen of the pool. Their women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team started with Mollie O’Callaghan, the new 200m champion of this Olympics, and finished with Ariarne Titmus, the 400m champion. Between them, Lani Pallister, the short-distance 400m world champion, and Brianna Throssell, holder of six relay world championships, kept the team’s momentum. Considering all this, perhaps the most impressive aspect of the race was that it was really competitive, with the American and Chinese teams finishing just a few body lengths behind.
This was an unequivocal confirmation of the Australian women’s superiority in the pool, though it needed no proof. All five of Australia’s gold swimming medals in these games have been won by women, either individually or as a team.
However, this was also a step towards a bigger goal: to snatch the title of the number one swimming nation from the USA. The last time the Americans failed to top the Olympic swimming medal table was in 1988, when they lost to East Germany, whose athletes were loaded with Turinabol. For the last reasonable and acceptable defeat of the USA, you have to go back to the 1956 games in Melbourne, where they lost to Australia.
Olympic, Australia’s head coach, Rohan Taylor, told The Guardian before the games: “There’s a reason the Americans haven’t lost since 1956. When it comes to the Olympics, they’re very adept. This is where they rise up – they have depth, a large number of athletes, and experience.”
The total number of top American medals in the Paris pool confirms this depth, having won 20 medals so far compared to Australia’s 11. But after this race, the USA is behind in the color that matters – gold – and time is running out to maintain its championship crown.
There are still two more nights left at the La Défense Arena, and the American team still has some cards to play. The women’s 4x100m medley relay will be much tighter than this race, with Canada also in the mix. Bobby Finke is a gold medal contender in the men’s 1500m final, Katie Ledecky has a chance to win the women’s 800m final, and the USA is also eyeing the men’s 4x100m medley relay.
End Of The USA’s 68-Year Reign Over The Olympic Pool
Olympic, But Australia still has arrows in its quiver, especially with sprinter Cameron McEvoy competing against Britain’s Ben Proud in the 50m freestyle final. McEvoy is the world champion, and the two had exactly the same time in Thursday night’s semi-finals.
This could mean that everything ultimately depends on one race, like the women’s 200m backstroke final. Australia’s Kaylee McKeown, with four Olympic gold medals and four world titles, is the best backstroker in the world. She is the current world champion in the 200m, but she faces two Americans: her perennial shadow, Regan Smith, whose long list of silver medals is mostly due to McKeown, and Smith’s perhaps lesser-known teammate, Phoebe Bacon, who reached the final with the fastest time.
Olympic, The result of this competition won’t be clear until the last moment. The USA will finish the games with the most medals, but the Olympic currency is gold. After the dazzling performances of O’Callaghan, Pallister, Throssell, and Titmus, after nearly 70 years of all eyes being on the USA, it is now Australia leading in the gold count.
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