Three in sprinting. And there are several events where athletes have won 4, 5 or 6 medals at one olympics. If we take Phelps out of the equation then swimming doesn’t look like such an outlier.
Well that was my IMHO position, so I won’t argue with this of course.
The thing I was arguing against was the idea that there should only be one, optimal swimming event.
And all the attempts to claim that different swimming strokes obviously constitute a smaller difference than adding hurdles, relaying etc.
OK that’s a consistent position.
I disagree, but it’s purely a matter of taste so there is no debate to be had there.
In the relays, as one swimmer touches the wall at the end of their leg, their teammate leaps over them and into the pool. I don’t know what they’d do for a backstroke relay, since backstrokers begin their event already in the water.
In medley relays, backstroke is the first leg, so it’s not a problem.
This is true.
But is there any reason why the 2nd, 3rd and 4th backstroke legs couldn’t also start from the blocks and rotate as they surface? Or even the 1st leg? It’s just a convention/regulation.
“To many” swimming events? For who? The casual Olympics viewer a few days every four years? What you are watching is the format for a typical international swim meet. Should it change just because it is being held in the same city at the same time as other sporting events? Why does it have to be comparable in number and types of events to any other sport featured in the Olympics?
Swimming only has the 100x4 and 200x4 freestyle and 100x4 medley relays. I’ve never seen other stoke relays. The medley and IM races were only added in 1960 after butterfly became an official stroke. A new race they are adding this year is the 4x100 mixed medley - this is trend for all Olympic sports to add mixed events.
Actually that is demonstrably not the case. That pantheon almost exclusively comes from the ranks of swimming and gymnastics.
So looking at those who have won 4 or more medals at a Summer Olympics since 1896:
Archery|1|
Athletics|10|
Cycling|2|
Fencing|3|
Gymnastics|49|
Shooting|5|
Swimming|44|
And since the 1956 Olympics it has become even more so:
Athletics|2|
Cycling|1|
Gymnastics|40|
Swimming|42|
Then from 1980
Athletics|2|
Cycling|1|
Gymnastics|13|
Swimming|31|
Everything you said, plus just a more general question: what does it mean to have too many swimming events? If you don’t want to watch every one of them, there’s a pretty easy solution, and it doesn’t involve cancelling events that other people enjoy watching.
So swimmers have more opportunities for medals than some other sport. Why is that unfair?
Are they hogging the pool and you were hoping to get a quick swim in before lunch?
That’s men and women tagging each other in? Neat, I had no idea. How is it determined which strokes are swum by men and which by women? Can each team do it differently?
Maybe the maniacs out there will now see that people don’t have to destroy themselves to satisfy their lust for Olympic glory. Life goes on, and others take up the banner.
Looks like the torch has been passed to the next generation of athletes now. Biles will, hopefully, still have influence on the sport thru other activities.
I have heard something about Biles somehow being penalized in scoring. Something about the more difficult/dangerous moves she does (purportedly) not receiving as much credit as they should.
Can someone explain or correct this? I know zip about gymnastics.