# Should Olympic swimming be limited to just one stroke? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 10, 2015, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058 "2015-12-10T10:18:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/21 "2015-12-10T20:36:22Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > Ab-so-lutely! > > I’m not saying we should ban soccer or basketball; people should be free to kick the ball if they like or shoot it into a little circle 10’ above ground level to score. But they should just be aware that everyone else is allowed to pick up the ball and run with it in order to score the greater number of points (by getting it into a ground-level goal some ten feet high and twenty feet wide or whatever). > > You want to perfect your kicking technique or free throw skills and try out for the team? go for it! > > 🙂 Those are completely different sports with completely different rules, playing areas, team sizes, scoring methods and equipment Swimming is simply get from point A to B in a 50 metre pool as fast as you can. They try and fail to make it interesting by saying you have to do it in a variety of inefficient ways. Still, more medals for everyone eh? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/22 "2015-12-10T20:41:14Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > \*\*Should Olympic swimming be limited to just one stroke? \*\* > > You better make the pool a lot shorter if you do that. Hey, I was gonna say that! ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/23 "2015-12-10T20:41:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Do those other strokes have any advantage at all? Nope, not a single advantage. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/24 "2015-12-10T20:48:04Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > We can make the same argument about most ball games as well. Why should we have such a variety? Why have soccer, in which the point is to get the ball in the goal, and field hockey, in which the point is to get the ball in the goal, and team handball, in which the point is to get the ball in the goal, and basketball, in which the point is to get the ball in the goal, when the only difference is the specific ways in which you are allowed to get the ball in the goal? But there’s no professional ‘walking’ football. In all the above games, you can play as efficiently as possible. However in swimming, you can’t use the best stroke… ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/25 "2015-12-10T21:03:28Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I don’t think anyone is saying we should ban the different strokes, people should be free to use whatever stroke they like and perform it in whatever style they like in order to cover the relevant distance. They are only “free” to do so in the sense that they are free to lose. If you use any stroke other than the front crawl, you will lose. Why shouldn’t there be other events? Yeah, it’s kind of weird if you compare it to track… well, it’s not that weird, I guess, as track DOES have race walking and hurdles. So it’s kind of weird if you compare it to skiing - but skiing has downhill and Super G and slalom and giant slalom and even skiing where there’s no mountain. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/26 "2015-12-10T21:06:14Z")
Why did they add beach volleyball when they already had volleyball? I think the group that voted that in was probably a bunch of men who like bikinis. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/27 "2015-12-10T21:08:39Z")
> [@kk\_fusion](#): > > Keep in mind that “freestyle” isn’t exactly free-for-all. You have to break the water surface after a couple meters. You could be faster if you stayed submerged for longer, but that’s considered too dangerous. It’s not more dangerous, it’s just a lot faster. [Here’s a video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5Q6SjXPieA) of a guy doing it on backstroke. He’s way ahead of the rest of the field. I can’t remember what even this was from, but I do remember it was an upper level event, might have even been a college final. > [@JSexton](#): > > My kids’s swim coach tells them that he once coached a kid whose backstroke was fastrer than most people’s crawl, and so that’s what he swam. I never saw it myself, no idea if he’s telling tall tales or not. I swim with a guy like this, his backstroke is fast as hell. I’m not 100% sure he’s faster then free, but he’s close if he’s not. As for the OP, how many running events are there? I can think of the 100, 200, 400, mile, 3000 (I think), 10,000, marathon, steeple chase, the couple of hurdle events. Why not just run a couple of those and be done with it? I count 13 swimming events in the pool, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800/1500 free (women swim 800, men 1500), 100 and 200 of each stroke and the 200 and 400 Individual Medley. Plus a couple of relays. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/28 "2015-12-10T21:20:48Z")
There has been talk about race walking being kicked out of the olympics. One reason may be that they try to limit each games to 10,000 athletes and they are adding new sports such as golf. ---
**Author:** ![sohvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sohvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sohvan)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/29 "2015-12-10T21:34:40Z")
> [@Edward\_The\_Head](#): > > As for the OP, how many running events are there? I can think of the 100, 200, 400, mile, 3000 (I think), 10,000, marathon, steeple chase, the couple of hurdle events. Why not just run a couple of those and be done with it? I count 13 swimming events in the pool, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800/1500 free (women swim 800, men 1500), 100 and 200 of each stroke and the 200 and 400 Individual Medley. Plus a couple of relays. 11 individual running events and 2 relays. 2 more if you count the walking events. There are 14 swimming events and 3 relays, so more swimming events than running, walking and hurdle events combined. If you count the marathon for running you might as well count the 10km open water for swimming. I wouldn’t axe all the different strokes, but the number of swimming events could easily be reduced. Perhaps axe either the 100m or 200m for each individual stroke, one medley, and one of the freestyle relays. That way swimmers who specialize in a stroke still have one distance they can focus on. It would screw over some swimmers, but that happens every time an event is removed from the olympics. At least swimmers can still focus on another event. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/30 "2015-12-10T21:49:47Z")
> [@glee](#): > > But there’s no professional ‘walking’ football. > In all the above games, you can play as efficiently as possible. > > However in swimming, you can’t use the best stroke… Right, and my point is that in basketball and soccer, you can’t use the most efficient way of moving the ball down the court/field. The rules don’t permit it. Come to think of it, why have running events at all? Bicycles are faster and more efficient. Look, I’m mostly joking here…of course field hockey has different strategies etc. from team handball. And that’s fine; I’m not advocating for folding all get-the-ball-into-the-goal sports into the most efficient possible (though I do like \*\*runner pat’\*\*s suggestion of Calvinball). But “efficiency” is a strange determinant. The thing is that in few if any sports do we ask participants to be “as efficient as possible.” In few if any sports do we tell people to go ahead and “use the best stroke” or strategy or method or whatever. We don’t, because a) that would whittle down our available sports to just a handful and b) because sometimes it’s fun to challenge ourselves to do things in less than optimal ways. Kicking and heading a ball is probably not the most efficient way of scoring a goal, but people love playing and watching soccer because efficiency is not really the point–it’s efficiency only within the confines of a somewhat inefficient system. Same with swimming. It’s fun to see how fast you or someone else can go when you are not allowed, by rules of the game, to use the fastest possible method. In a lot of ways that’s what sports are about. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/31 "2015-12-10T21:59:58Z")
> [@sohvan](#): > > 11 individual running events and 2 relays. 2 more if you count the walking events. There are 14 swimming events and 3 relays, so more swimming events than running, walking and hurdle events combined. If you count the marathon for running you might as well count the 10km open water for swimming. There are 13 pool events: 50, 100, 200, 400, and either 800 for women or 1500 for men. So 5 free events. 100, 200 fly. 100, 200 back. 100, 200 breast. That’s 6 more for 11. Plus the 200 and 400 IM, which is 13. I thought there were only 3 relays, but I couldn’t remember for sure. But asking someone to do just the 100 or 200 stroke is like asking the 100 meter runner to only concentrate on the 200. They are different events. Just because Phleps can do it doesn’t mean any one else really can. I don’t know what all the running events are, but there’s also all the other track events so I don’t think they are exactly apples to apples. ---
**Author:** ![sohvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sohvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sohvan)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/32 "2015-12-10T22:10:19Z")
> [@Edward\_The\_Head](#): > > There are 13 pool events: > 50, 100, 200, 400, and either 800 for women or 1500 for men. So 5 free events. > 100, 200 fly. > 100, 200 back. > 100, 200 breast. > That’s 6 more for 11. > Plus the 200 and 400 IM, which is 13. > > I thought there were only 3 relays, but I couldn’t remember for sure. > > But asking someone to do just the 100 or 200 stroke is like asking the 100 meter runner to only concentrate on the 200. They are different events. Just because Phleps can do it doesn’t mean any one else really can. > > I don’t know what all the running events are, but there’s also all the other track events so I don’t think they are exactly apples to apples. Those plus the 10km open water, for a total of 14 swimming events and 3 relays as I said. The 10km is essentially the swimming equivalent of the marathon. Sure the 100m and 200m are different events, but not every event needs to be represented in the olympics. There are a lot of events for swimming, running and other sports that are not represented. The fact that they are different events is not an argument for having them included in the olympics. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/33 "2015-12-10T22:36:28Z")
> [@Edward\_The\_Head](#): > > There are 13 pool events: > 50, 100, 200, 400, and either 800 for women or 1500 for men. So 5 free events. > 100, 200 fly. > 100, 200 back. > 100, 200 breast. > That’s 6 more for 11. > Plus the 200 and 400 IM, which is 13. > > I thought there were only 3 relays, but I couldn’t remember for sure. > > But asking someone to do just the 100 or 200 stroke is like asking the 100 meter runner to only concentrate on the 200. They are different events. Just because Phleps can do it doesn’t mean any one else really can. > > I don’t know what all the running events are, but there’s also all the other track events so I don’t think they are exactly apples to apples. If we want efficiency, let’s make all lengths just one race of the maximum length with split times for the various intermediate lengths. Why swim the race 5 times when you can do it just once? 😉 Since I don’t understand what problem we’re trying to solve, I can’t tell if this suggestion helps or not. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/34 "2015-12-10T22:49:12Z")
> [@sohvan](#): > > The fact that they are different events is not an argument for having them included in the olympics. But it’s not really an argument against it, either. These events are standard at pretty much all major swim meets. What would be the reasoning for making the Olympics different? ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/35 "2015-12-10T23:32:22Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Since I don’t understand what problem we’re trying to solve, I can’t tell if this suggestion helps or not. I think the main problem trying to be solved is that the swimming events are not that much different from each other as evidenced by one person winning about 1/2 them. If the same person wins the 50, 100, 200 and 400 free are they really showing off different skills. I don’t think that you see one person dominating the various running disciplines in the same way that you do in swimming. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/36 "2015-12-11T02:07:04Z")
Satisfying to realize that some people see it the way I do. And a lot of running event HAVE been discontinued. Several of Paavo Nurmi’s gold medal events are no longer around. Also there is now just one high jump event. There were several at the time of Ray Ewry. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/37 "2015-12-11T03:11:23Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > If the same person wins the 50, 100, 200 and 400 free are they really showing off different skills. Michael Phelps won the following at the 2008 Olympics [ul] [li]200 meter free[/li][li]100 meter fly[/li][li]200 meter fly[/li][li]200 meter IM[/li][li]400 meter IM[/li][li]4x100 free relay[/li][li]4x200 free relay[/li][li]4x100 medley relay[/li][/ul] Phelps is a fly specialist, which often overlaps with free. He won the IM because very few swimmers are as dominant as him in two of the four disciplines. The three relay wins are team victories and the US was loaded that year. Swimmers who win the 50 often win the 100 but rarely if ever with the 200 or 400. It’s the same with runners; the 100 meter winner isn’t going to do well in the 400 or 800. They really are different events requiring different skills and training. You can certainly make the case for eliminating some of the events. Swimming has a lot of them. But swimming is also one of the most popular televised events at the Olympics and gets the best ratings, so you’ll have to have a pretty good reason to get rid of proven money makers. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/38 "2015-12-11T03:32:06Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > Several of Paavo Nurmi’s gold medal events are no longer around. The entire discipline of cross country running has been eliminated from the Olympics, as well as the 3000 meter team event in 1924, the last year team events were held. Lots of events from the 20’s are no longer part of the games. But the number of Athletics medals has gone from 27 in 1924 to 47 in 2012. Granted, the number of swimming medals has gone from 11 in 1924 to 34 in 2012. The biggest jump was between 1964 and 1968 when the basically adopted the current scheme. Before that the men and women swam mostly different distances. The only changes since then were adding the 50, the marathon, and equalizing the events for men and women. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/39 "2015-12-11T04:19:05Z")
If you want to jazz up swimming, make it a winter sport. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058/40 "2015-12-11T15:25:41Z")
Or just put in different objectives. Like, maybe a freestyle slalom, where you need to swim around buoys on opposite sides. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-olympic-swimming-be-limited-to-just-one-stroke/740058.md?page=3)