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[Korey]

Hardcore Olympics fans may already know this, but more casual followers may find this fact interesting:

The USA swim team is so dominant/deep that they regularly have their B team swim the preliminaries so that their best swimmers can rest for the finals and their individual events.

What many people don't know is that swimmers who only compete in the preliminaries (and get swapped out for the finals) also get the medal...not just the people who swam the finals. So even though you see 4 guys or girls on the podium, up to 4 other people also got medals.

Therefore, winning a single relay event means that up to 8 American swimmers get a gold medal.



This is especially true for the medley relay (4 people, each who do a different stroke): USA always sends their #2s (for each stroke) to do the prelims, and then have their #1s (completely different people) do the finals. So for example, both #1 and #2 American breaststroke swimmers can get a gold medal in the same event.

For the freestyle relay, this means you can just be the 6th or 7th fastest American freestyle swimmer and still get to go to the Olympics and get a gold medal. That's exactly what happened this year with prelim-only swimmers Jimmy Feigen, Blake Pieroni, Clark Smith, and Gunnar Bentz.



At the 2016 Rio Olympics, USA won gold in 5 out of 6 swimming relay events (and silver in one).

4×100 freestyle relay (men)

Prelims:

Jimmy Feigen,

Blake Pieroni,

Anthony Ervin; Finals:

Caeleb Dressel,

Michael Phelps,

Ryan Held*,

Nathan Adrian

4×200 freestyle relay (men)

Prelims:

Clark Smith,

Jack Conger,

Gunnar Bentz; Finals:

Conor Dwyer,

Townley Haas,

Ryan Lochte*,

Michael Phelps

4×200 freestyle relay (women)

Prelims:

Missy Franklin,

Melanie Margalis,

Cierra Runge; Finals:

Allison Schmitt*,

Leah Smith,

Maya DiRado,

Katie Ledecky

4×100 medley relay (men)

Prelims:

David Plummer,

Kevin Cordes,

Tom Shields,

Caeleb Dressel; Finals:

Ryan Murphy,

Cody Miller,

Michael Phelps,

Nathan Adrian

4×100 medley relay (women)

Prelims:

Olivia Smoliga,

Katie Meili,

Kelsi Worrell,

Abbey Weitzeil; Finals:

Kathleen Baker,

Lilly King,

Dana Vollmer,

Simone Manuel
​

So in just these 5 events this year, 33 Americans got gold medals even though only 17 people swam in the finals. Doing this basically doubled the number of Americans who went home with a gold medal.

 

[Drazgul]

Maybe it sounds scummy on paper, but if it's allowed by the rules then why not?

 

[Wanda/Wander]

I feel like I just learned "one cool trick" the fat cats at the IOC didn't want us to now about.

 

[Fat4all]

Get what you can get, in the world of the olympics...

Spoiler

it's sink or swim.

 

[plagiarize]

Maybe it sounds scummy on paper, but if it's allowed by the rules then why not?

How awful would it be if they didn't do this? Imagine, you put America into the finals, and then get bumped from the team for a bigger name like Phelps... and they give you nothing.

It still only counts as one gold in the medal tallies, so I don't really have a problem.

 

[andythinkpad]

Do people know why ping pong double have three names on the team now. Is it following the same rule?

 

[King_Moc]

...Doesn't that just count as one gold medal in the standings though? I'm pretty sure it does?

 

[Fatalah]

OP knows how to write a headline, wowee!

 

[Transistor]

How awful would it be if they didn't do this? Imagine, you put America into the finals, and then get bumped from the team for a bigger name like Phelps... and they give you nothing.

It still only counts as one gold in the medal tallies, so I don't really have a problem.

Exactly this.

 

[EscoBlades]

It still only counts as one gold in the medal tallies, so I don't really have a problem.

Yup and same.

 

[John Caboose]

...Doesn't that just count as one gold medal in the standings though? I'm pretty sure it does?

I think it does but for the individual team members it's probably pretty valuable.

 

[Cookie18]

So long as it is only one in the medal table this seems fair.

 

[Diprosalic]

not a biggie.

what's worse is the nonsensical amount of swimming events.

 

[Cheebo]

Were you trying on purpose to have a clickbait title? Weird.

 

[Zombine]

Vladimir Putin HATES them

 

[andythinkpad]

I think it does but for the individual team members it's probably pretty valuable.

It's like minor league player who played a few major league games and get sent back to AAA and get a championship ring later.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

Swimming already has too many events anyway, this just adds another layer of bullshit.

EDIT: Oh, same medal count in the tallies? Don't mind then. Little cheeky but whatever, the real problem is that there are like 20 opportunities to take Gold in swimming.

 

[The Elite]

If it only counts as one medal on the tally, I don't see a problem.

 

[soxinthebox]

I guess that's the kind of stuff you can do with a population of like 1 billion

 

[ShinAmano]

This is the same as the office assistant of a super bowl team getting a ring...one championship a bunch of awards to the folks that made it happen.

 

[boiled goose]

For "team" sports, the bench gets medals too right... so meh?

Same with backup players who never touched the ball in Super Bowl.

The medal counts count wins, not people with medals.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

It's only one on the tally so it's fine.

Bit weird to be one of the prelimers though. You've got to constantly be wondering if you really deserve it.

 

[Squalor]

I guess that's the kind of stuff you can do with a population of like 1 billion

America has about a third of that number as its population…

 

[King_Moc]

I think it does but for the individual team members it's probably pretty valuable.

Yeah, I mean, they participated so what's the problem here? Very strange thread.

 

[smokeandmirrors]

...so?

 

[Rocket Scientist]

In my opinion this is cheating. Do other countries do this as well? The rules should be changed. You shouldnt be allowed to rest and save your strenght for the final. Also ridiculous to give somone who didnt swim the final a medal. Did you pass the finish line? No. Olympics are a joke.

 

[Lkr]

It still only counts as 1 in the tally. If other countries want to get dominant they should probably pour money into HS and college level athletics at the insane level the US does.
The entire basketball team and soccer teams that get gold all get a medal but that counts for one as well.

So what is OP's point?


^to the post above, swimming is a team sport, hence swim team.

 

[eFKac]

Heh I didn't know that.

As long as it's legal that's ok, shouldn't be though imo.

 

[la_briola]

Marco Reus got a World Cup medal and he wasn't even in Brazil. SHOCKING NEWS!

 

[LakeEarth]

As long as every other country does this (or chooses not to), I'm ok with it.

 

[PuppetSlave]

The scummy part seem to be the resting swimmers until the final part.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

So they're competing on unequal terms then if USA swimmers are rested for the finals as they didn't have to do the preliminaries, while swimmers from other countries are not.

Doesn't sound right

 

[Lkr]

The scummy part seem to be the resting swimmers until the final part.

Is having a deep bench scummy in other sports? USA women's basketball has a 12 player rotation, I assume most other countries competing have issues putting together a starting lineup.
If the men's basketball team didn't play Melo or KD until the gold medal match, would you have a different opinion? It gives other countries a better shot to eliminate the US

Again, any country can do this. The focus on amateur athletics in the US is insane, there is so much government spending on it.

 

[Lulubop]

The secret to how US wins 8 golds in one event! Other countries hate them!

 

[bill0527]

So they're competing on unequal terms then if USA swimmers are rested for the finals as they didn't have to do the preliminaries, while swimmers from other countries are not.

Doesn't sound right

Who says other countries can't do the same?

 

[Nokagi]

So the US has a better and deeper bench for the team relays. And? It still only counts as one gold. So the back team who also put in work gets to take home a medal and that's suppose to be upsetting or something?

Btw the whole basketball team gets a medal too . Crazy I know.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

Who says other countries can't do the same?

Other countries can only do the same if they have an equally deep pool of relay swimmers, which is a pretty big ask. I must admit, it does seem unfair on reflection that the best possible hypothetical 4-person relay team could still not get Gold because they had to do two events. I feel like it would be pretty fair to restrict the relay team in the finals to the same time that swim in the preliminaries.

 

[Drazgul]

How awful would it be if they didn't do this? Imagine, you put America into the finals, and then get bumped from the team for a bigger name like Phelps... and they give you nothing.

It still only counts as one gold in the medal tallies, so I don't really have a problem.

I meant scummy in that they get switched to begin with, of course if you participate you deserve a medal too.

 

[wrowa]

I feel like I just learned "one cool trick" the fat cats at the IOC didn't want us to now about.

You won't believe the shocking truth behind Olympic gold medals.

 

[SoRuffShoNuff]

Yeah Australia does this as well. In the prelim relays the announcers often tell you that these times arent indicative of how the finals will go as the US and Australia has the B team racing the event and other countries will have more of their A list swimmers in the prelims.

 

[Rocket Scientist]

It still only counts as 1 in the tally. If other countries want to get dominant they should probably pour money into HS and college level athletics at the insane level the US does.
The entire basketball team and soccer teams that get gold all get a medal but that counts for one as well.

So what is OP's point?


^to the post above, swimming is a team sport, hence swim team.

If it's a team sport there should be a maximum of 1 person competing per country per event, which as far as I see is not the case. There can be multiple people from one country in the final. The rules as they are are a joke as it is not a team sport nor an individual sport. It benefits countries like the USA which can use team sport tactics to increase their chances in a sport that is not actually team based.

 

[Cronen]

Topic title reads like a Buzzfeed headline.

 

[sangreal]

sounds like a team effort

 

[Lkr]

If it's a team sport there should be a maximum of 1 person competing per country per event, which as far as I see is not the case. There can be multiple people from one country in the final. The rules as they are are a joke as it is not a team sport nor an individual sport. It benefits countries like the USA which can use team sport tactics to increase their chances in a sport that is not actually team based.

Russia, India and China all have larger populations, it's easier for them to field a deep team.
Multiple entries from the same country can compete in track race so I don't see the difference.

 

[KodaRuss]

It wasnt like those swimmers never got into the pool to help earn the medal. Dont see a problem.

 

[mrklaw]

The scummy part seem to be the resting swimmers until the final part.

this. I suppose technically the 'team' qualified for the final. but it was those individuals that posted the time, and those individuals should be in the final.


You wouldn't be able to do such a thing in individual events - 'oh hey John, I can't be arsed to do the first couple of rounds of eliminations - you're pretty good, can you do them for me?'

 

[mre]

If it's a team sport there should be a maximum of 1 person competing per country per event, which as far as I see is not the case. There can be multiple people from one country in the final. The rules as they are are a joke as it is not a team sport nor an individual sport. It benefits countries like the USA which can use team sport tactics to increase their chances in a sport that is not actually team based.

Swimming is both a team sport and an individual sport. This is only referring to the relay races which are team races. You can't have someone else swim the prelims and qualify for a final and then swap them out for another in an individual race. That's not allowed.

This is akin to an NBA team resting a superstar in the final few games of the season so that they're fresh for the playoffs.

As long as the rules are the same for everybody, then it's fair.

 

[Pakkidis]

You need to win the preliminaries to make it to the finals correct? If so I don't see what the problem is. They contributed to the win.

 

[Rocket Scientist]

Swimming is both a team sport and an individual sport. This is only referring to the relay races which are team races. You can't have someone else swim the prelims and qualify for a final and then swap them out for another in an individual race. That's not allowed.

This is akin to an NBA team resting a superstar in the final few games of the season so that they're fresh for the playoffs.

As long as the rules are the same for everybody, then it's fair.

I misunderstood the OP then. Thought this was for all the events not just relay. Sure if it's just relay that's fair.

 

[Korey]

Yeah, I mean, they participated so what's the problem here? Very strange thread.

...so?

It still only counts as 1 in the tally. If other countries want to get dominant they should probably pour money into HS and college level athletics at the insane level the US does.
The entire basketball team and soccer teams that get gold all get a medal but that counts for one as well.

So what is OP's point?


^to the post above, swimming is a team sport, hence swim team.

The point is that this is an interesting little known fact.

Most people just see Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Nathan Adrian on the podium all the time without realizing that 4 other people they've never heard of also got the same medal for the same event.

I'm American, btw.