2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
Big Shout-Out to Laura Rosado and Sophie Kaufman for helping me narrow this list down before our Slack conversation devolved into tomfoolery.
Over the coming week, there will be more coverage and opinion pieces about these Olympic Games, but for now, let’s recognize the crème de la crème of the performances. Time may temper and alter one’s opinions, so it is best to hand these awards out sooner rather than later.
It is important to note that these are opinions. Therefore, they combine the subjectivity of the author (me) with the objectivity of the results so that one could potentially look at the same times and draw different conclusions. Of course, I invite you to agree or disagree with my selections in the bastion of intellectual discourse that is …the SwimSwam Comment Section.
Swimmer of the Meet –Leon Marchand, France
4 Individual Gold Medals in Olympic Record Times.
3 National Records.
2 European Records.
Need I say more? No, but I will anyway. The Frenchman, with his four individual golds, enters rarefied air, joining a list of just three other swimmers to have accomplished said feat: Mark Spitz in 1972, Kristin Otto in 1988, and Michael Phelps in 2004 and 2008 (Phelps won five in 2008). However, what Marchand pulled off may be more memorable than the others is that he did it in front of a home crowd.
The partisan Parisian crowd made itself known and was easily a factor in helping him win the golds; as Marchand said, speaking about the 400 IM,
“The atmosphere was amazing, I don’t know how to explain it, I had goosebumps before, and during the race too. On the breaststroke section I could hear everyone just cheering for me. That was special and winning today was really amazing for me. I opened my eyes, I listened to everything going on around me, and that really pushed me to do a good race.”
Marchand’s wins in both IMs, the 200 breast and 200 fly, are all worthy of note, but I’m going to focus on the 200 IM. In the last of his individual events, Marchand squared off against the defending Olympic Gold and Silver medalists, Wang Shun and Duncan Scott, but blew them out of the water, winning by over a second. His time of 1:54.06 was just .06 off Ryan Lochte’s unworldly 1:54.00 World Record from 2011 and in a pool mentioned left and right as being slow, becoming the second fastest performer ever and the only person to be within half a second in the past decade speaks volumes of the swim (and swimmer).
Despite some people believing that Marchand was done after his fourth gold medal, the Frenchman stepped up for his country, swimming in the finals of the mixed medley relay as well as in the prelims and finals of the men’s medley relay. He helped to set national records in both and earned a bronze medal in the latter, his fifth medal of the games, far outpacing every other male swimmer.
Honorable Mentions, Male Swimmer of the Meet:
- Bobby Finke: The USA’s Bobby Finke saved face for much of his nation. Not only did he help the Americans claim victory on the medal table, but he was also the lone American man to stand atop the podium in an individual event. After running out of room in the 800 and unable to catch Daniel Wiffen, Finke opted to upend his tried and true strategy of chasing opponents down and just went at the race from the get-go, leading from start to finish. It was such a bold and inspiring move that his coach, Anthony Nesty, was in tears mid-race. Such courage and tenacity often sadly ends up fading, but the American had just enough left in him to break the 12-year-old world record by .35 of a second to earn his first World Record and truly become one of the great male distance swimmers of all time.
- Pan Zhanle: Whereas the other two names on this list won two individual medals, Pan walked away from the pool with just one individual medal; but it was gold and in an otherworldly, World-record-shattering 46.40. Not only was it the first World Record of the meet, again in what has been called a slow pool, but the massive .40 chunk taken out of the previous best is unheard of in such a short distance. Pan also became the owner of the fastest 100 free relay split, becoming the first to swim sub-46, as his 45.92 helped China move from 3rd to 1st in the medley relay and end the USA’s dominance in the event.
- Kristof Milak: Braden only had two HMs for this category on the Women’s Awards and maybe I should have done so as well because the big struggle I’m having is between Milak and Wiffen. Wiffen won gold and bronze, while Milak won gold and silver, but Wiffen’s 800 win was an Olympic record. However, I’m giving the edge to Milak because not only are his two medals a sign of his perseverance in overcoming his struggles with mental health, but his 100 fly gold was less than half a second off the WR, and his 200 fly gold was only taken away by some guy named Marchand. With the medal, Milak became just the 2nd man to win four medals in the Butterfly events at the Olympics, joining only Michael Phelps with such an honor.
Swim of the Meet – Men’s 1500 Freestyle
With just two individual World Records broken and both on the men’s side the swim of the meet was going to come down to one of them and we think the 1500 gets the edge.
In 2021, Bobby Finke surged from behind to win both the 800 and 1500 Olympic titles. Stymied in the 800 by Wiffen’s strong backhalf, Finke entered the 1500 with only a silver medal to his name and was swimming out of lane 7.
It is a shame that his come from behind, last 50 surge was coined being “Finked”. It should have been called being “Bobbied” in an homage to Ricky Bobby’s “Shake and Bake” slingshot technique of drafting until late in the race and being flung into the lead. Therefore, leaving the term “Finked” to be used for his 1500 strategy.
It wouldn’t be a Mark Wild article without some esoteric quote or pun, so this situation seems perfect for Sun Tzu’s “Those who are able to adapt and change in accord with the enemy and achieve victory are called divine.”
And adapt and change Bobby Finke did. Out first at the 100 and within a second or so of his best time, Finke kept up the pace and threw out the game plan, and led from start to finish. In what could have been a very foolhardy attempt had he been caught or tired, Finke held on to win not only a very healthy margin of 3.88 seconds over Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri but also soloing (and winning) his attempt to beat Sun Yang’s WR line to the wall. Last summer, in Fukuoka, Finke finished just short of the record but had Ahmed Hafnaoui there to push him, whereas this swim was all Bobby Finke.
Honorable Mentions, Male Swim of the Meet:
- Men’s 100 Free: The other WR-breaking swim, the men’s 100 free, pit the fastest two 100 swimmers ever, David Popovici and Pan Zhanle, against one another. Throw in the 2016 Olympic Champion, Kyle Chalmers, and the race seemed to be set up to be a barnburner. However, only Pan seemed to be on fire as he stormed out to the lead at the 50 (24.12) and only built upon it, coming home in the fastest last 50 (24.12) to touch in 46.40. Not only did he win by 1.08 seconds, but he smashed his own record by .40 of a second.
- Men’s 200 Fly: Perhaps more of a race of the meet than swim, the men’s 200 fly had a lot more scrutiny than some of the other events. Milak was looking to defend his Olympic title against Leon Marchand, who was starting in the first of his two 200-meter-long finals for the evening. Milak held the lead through the 100 52.86 to 53.46 and actually increased it by an additional .12 at the 150 turn, but chasing glory and inspired by the crowd, Marchand surged home in 28.97 to not only take the win by .54 but also lower the Olympic record by .04.
- Men’s 4×100 Medley: In a similar vein to the 200 Fly and more of the race than swim, save for one split, the Men’s Medley relay was an exhilarating and up and down race between four teams. China and Great Britain roared out to the lead at the halfway point, but France and the USA fought back with splits of 49.57 and 49.41, respectively, to take over by nearly three-quarters of a second, but WR holder Pan Zhanle exploded with a 21.57 opening 50 and surged home in 24.35 to record the first ever sub-46 split (45.92) and hand China the victory.
In a meet with so few double-medal winners, one would expect there to be more chances for young swimmers to punch through and nab a medal, but alas, with only three years between these Olympics and the last ones in Tokyo, many older swimmers may have decided to stick around and thus block many of the younger swimmers from getting those opportunities to make the finals.
That said, Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita, who at the Japenese Trials beat Tomoru Honda and Daiya Seto, was able to win the silver medal. Just the 8th seed, Matsushita, who turned 19 mid-meet, but after the 400 IM, was just 6th after the backstroke, managed to get himself into 5th at the 300 mark, but exploded with the fastest last 50 (27.67) to pass both Carson Foster and Max Litchfield to win the silver in 4:08.62, just .04 ahead of the American and .23 in front of the Brit.
Honorable Mentions, Junior of the Meet
- Kuzey Tunçelli: With so few opportunities to make the final, the 16-year-old Turkish swimmer Tuncelli made the most of his opportunity. After finishing 11th in the 800 free earlier in the week, the Turkish national record holder made that next step up, qualifying for the final of the 1500 in 5th place. The first Turk to make the finals of a swimming event at the Olympics, he chopped a further four seconds off his prelims time, finishing in 14:41.22. Not only rewriting the Turkish records but also the Junior World Record, which had been set back in 2019 at 14:46.09.
- Thomas Heilman: While perhaps not the results he was hoping for in the 100 fly, 17-year-old Heilman did make the semifinals of the 200 fly. After taking the 11th seed into the semis with a time of 1:55.74, the American dropped nearly a second, posting a time of 1:54.87 to finish in 10th, but only .25 away from 8th. He did, however, equal Matsushita’s medal count as he was a part of the USA’s men’s medley relay, swimming a 51.15 fly leg in the prelims.
- Rafael Fente-Damers: While he didn’t make a semifinal like Italy’s Alessandro Ragaini (14th- 200 free) or come close to making a final like Zhang Zhanshuo in both the 400 free (12th – 3:46.76) and in the 400 IM (10th – 4:12.71) the French athlete did pick up a medal. He split an impressive 47.95 freestyle anchor on the men’s medley prelims and earned a bronze as a result of the evening’s relay. In the prelims of the 100 free, he tied for 23rd in 48.82, well off his best of 48.14, but showed up when needed.
Breakout Swimmer of the Meet – Ilya Kharun, Canada
Courtesy: Swimming Canada/Ian MacNicol
(“Breakout Swimmer” could refer to a swimmer that came out of nowhere to place well or it could mean swimmers that had excellent meets that were not quite predicated to do so. For these purposes, we will use the latter term, but stay tuned for an article about the former)
Canada’s second-most decorated swimmer from these Olympics, Ilya Kharun, really pushed through and emerged as a formidable force. Despite having a strong junior career and winning two medals at the Short Course Worlds in 2022, Kharun, who just wrapped up his first year at ASU, had yet to break through and medal at the long course meet. However, a tie for fourth at the 2023 Worlds in the 200 fly, proved to be a good omen of things to come, as he smashed the Canadian record and earned bronze behind Marchand and Milak in a time of 1:52.80.
While that medal wasn’t totally unexpected, his bronze in the 100 fly certainly was as he swam a mark of 50.45 to claim his second medal of the meet, beating out the likes of Maxime Grousset, Noe Ponti, and Naoki Mizunuma, all of whom had medaled in the 100 fly before.
Honorable Mentions, Breakout Swimmer of the Meet
- Apostolos Christou: After taking advantage of the smaller field in Doha, Greece’s Christou, could have been seen as a potential medalist in the 100 back, as he was the defending World bronze medalist. But it was in the 200, an event which he did not contest at both the 2023 and 2024 worlds, that the Greek struck metal, silver to be exact. In a rather topsy-turvey event, which saw no repeat finalist from 2021, the 27-year-old swam to a new personal best of 1:54.82, finishing .56 behind the gold medal-winning time.
- Luke Hobson: While it wasn’t the fastest of finals, the men’s 200-free was certainly one of the more entertaining races. Germany’s Lukas Martens led from the start through the 150, but it was David Popovici and Matt Richards who were close behind. American Luke Hobson was just 7th at the 100 but surged in the last 100 to pass past medalist Duncan Scott, among others, to nab the bronze in 1:44.79. In addition to that medal, Hobson led off the USA’s 4×200 free relay, adding a silver medal to his collection.
- Caspar Corbeau: Like Christou and Hobson, Caspar Corbeau gained some confidence and hardware from his silver medal performance in Doha. However, in a much larger and more experienced field in Paris, the Dutchman was not favored to medal. After a strong showing and PB in the 100, Corbeau took up the reigns for his nation as compatriot Arno Kamminga withdrew with an injury. In the 200, he successfully managed to qualify for the final ahead of two world record-holders and, in the final, set a new PB of 2:07.90 to win the bronze medal.
- Matsushita could naturally also fit here, but is already mentioned above, as could Kim Woo-min, but he was picked to medal in this event, so seems much less of a break-out
Clutch Relay Performer – China’s 4×100 Medley Relay
It would be hard to separate the team’s individual performances from one another to determine fully who had all the responsibility for the win. You may be screaming that it should be Pan Zhanle‘s otherworldly 45.92 anchor, as it is the fastest split ever, and he is the first to ever break 46. However, had the other legs been just a combined second slower, China would have won the bronze instead.
Xu Jiayu was slower than his silver medal-winning performance by .05, but so too was Ryan Murphy, and this was the first time that Xu had ever beaten Murphy head to head on a relay, and touching first in 52.37 may have inspired those behind him.
Qin Haiyang‘s 57.98 doesn’t seem remarkable, considering he entered into the meet with a 57.69, but after finishing just 7th in the individual final in 59.50 and failing to make the final of the 200, a sub-59 split was no guarantee.
Sun Jiajun‘s 51.19 was the second-slowest split of the field, but was enough to keep the Chinese in contact with France and Great Britain and is a marked improvement on the 52.35 he swam on this relay in Fukuoka.
Additionally, this appears to be the first time in history that China recorded a time in an Olympic final, as they had been disqualified in both 2021 and 2016 and had never made the final before then, so I’d say pretty clutch.
Honorable Mentions, Clutch Relay Performer
- James Guy: This guy (Yes, okay, it’s a pun) put his all into making the British team, taking out the 200 at Trials at a blistering pace and barely holding on, but did so and allowed the victorious British foursome from Tokyo to repeat the feat in Paris. Out in 1:45.04 in the prelims and 1:45.09 in the finals, the Brit was faster than both the silver and bronze medalists in the event and gave Team GB the lead they needed to win their second consecutive gold medal in the event. His split was the fastest flying start and the 4th fastest out of all 32 splits.
- Hunter Armstrong: The backstroke sprinter having the fastest split for the Americans in the prelims wasn’t that unexpected as he was the 4th fastest at Trials, but his 47.50 didn’t go unobserved, especially as he was surrounded by 48s. However, in finals, his 46.75 did shock many as it opened up what had been less than half a second lead to nearly a two-second lead on the nearest competitor, sealing the gold medal for the 4×100 free relay. While unable to exactly duplicate that time, his 47.19 on the 4×100 medley was enough to grab the silver medal.
- Florent Manaudou: Just the 6th fastest split amongst the anchor legs, the Frenchman’s 47.59 doesn’t seem all that impressive, but for a man that only trains for the 50 and just recently set a PB in the 100 free of 47.90 (9 years after his last PB), the time is clutch. Not only did his performance help erase the super-suited national record of France by over a second, but it also helped France win the bronze medal and gave the French team the ability to thank all their fans from the podium. Arguably, Maxime Grousset‘s 49.57 or Caeleb Dressel‘s 49.41 fly splits are much more impressive, but A. Manaudou’s 100 was more clutch as in 2013 and 2015, Manaudou split just 47.93 on World Championship-winning relays, B. it also seemed more unexpected and C. I wanted to give him an award. (the tomfoolery mentioned at the start, originated with my mentioning of Manaudou).
