After Rocky Roads Since London, Canada & the U.S. Delivered In Rio

2016 RIO OLYMPIC GAMES

• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Swimming: August 6-13
• Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Barra Olympic Park, Rio de Janeiro
• Prelims – 9:00 a.m/12:00 p.m PST/EST (1:00 p.m local), Finals – 6:00 p.m/9:00 p.m PST/EST (10:00 p.m local)
• SwimSwam previews 
• Rio Schedule & Results
• Live Stream (NBC)

Two countries. One, a swimming super power for as long as anyone can remember. The other, having gone through a series of highs and lows throughout their swimming history, stuck in a very drawn-out never-ending low.

The United States and Canada, both very different in so many ways in the world of swimming and otherwise, had one thing in common here at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio.

After back-to-back dominant Olympic performances with 31 medals each at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, the Americans success began to dim in the years after. They followed a so-so 2013 World Championships with an abysmal 2015.

The Americans had their fewest medal total since 2009 (23), and their fewest gold medal total (8) since 1994.

There were several reasons for this debacle; Michael Phelps was suspended from the team after his DUI arrest, the selection process wasn’t what it should have been, with athletes being selected a year prior, but most of all many of the athletes just weren’t at their best.

Katie Ledecky was a shining star for them as she always is, but the rest of the team produced a dud of a meet with just one year before the Olympics.

Coming off a dominant 16 gold 31 medal performance in London, there was uncertainty and skepticism abound about how the U.S. would fare in Rio.

On the other hand, the Canadians were in a completely different position. They had struggled mightily…seemingly forever. Since an outstanding 1984 Olympics where they won 4 golds and 10 total medals, the team slowly declined into the 2000s.

Coming into Rio they had won just five Olympic medals in this century, and zero gold. It was draining. After what seemed like a breakthrough 2011 with four medals at the World Championships they got pushed back down again.

Just two medals in 2012, which was their highest since 1996, but still fell well short of lofty expectations. It wasn’t until 2015 when things began to change.

Canada seemed to be rejuvenated with the opportunity to host the Pan Am Games in Toronto, and the swimmers responded. They brought in 28 medals and optimism for Rio started to creep in.

Though the 2015 World Championships weren’t anything special (they won four bronze medals), it was their highest total since they hosted Worlds back in 2005 in Montreal. They knew they had more, especially since all of the swimmers had to taper twice in one summer, something that’s not easy to execute.

So with optimism rising in Canada and skepticism all over the U.S., what did the two swimming opposites have in common here in Rio? Both countries, who had their fair share of bad run-ins over the past few years, delivered better than anyone could have predicted.

The Americans doubled the amount of gold medals they won in Kazan here in Rio, particularly remarkable considering two of their gold medals in 2015 came in non-Olympic events (women’s 1500 free, mixed free relay). That total tied their gold medal count in London, and their total medal count of 33 was their most since 2000 in Sydney when they got that same amount.

Big contributions came from expected personnel; Phelps, Ledecky…but the rest of the team stepped up as well, and swam over their heads. They amazingly only missed a medal in 3 out of 32 events, and in two of those they finished 4th.

While the overwhelming success for the Americans was a surprise (due to the extent, not the fact they did well), the Canadians triumph was something that no one really saw coming.

Penny Oleksiak became an instant star, winning a record four medals including Canada’s first gold in swimming since 1992 in the loaded women’s 100 freestyle.

They came away with a total of six medals, their most at any Olympics or World Championships in 32 years. They won double the amount of medals in Rio than they won combined over the previous three Olympics. All this while their former Olympic star Ryan Cochrane struggled and wasn’t able to make the podium for a third straight time.

So while both teams took very different paths to get to Rio, they both had one very similar thing in common: they both shined brighter, in their own ways, than any other nation at these Olympics. The Americans announced they are still untouchable at the top of the swimming hierarchy, while the Canadians declared that, for the first time in over 30 years, they are real players on the world stage.

Highlights & News from North Americans On Day 8:

• American Connor Jaeger won silver in the 1500 freestyle, breaking his own American record in 14:39.48.
• Simone Manuel won her second individual medal of these Games, winning silver in the 50 free after taking gold in the 100 free a few days ago.
• Both American medley relays dominated, with the women claiming gold in 3:53.13 and the men in 3:27.95.
• Ryan Murphy led off the medley relay in a new world record of 51.85, erasing Aaron Peirsol‘s 51.94 from 2009 off the books.
• The medley relay victory gives Michael Phelps 23 career Olympic gold medals and 28 all-time medals, both, as you know, are the most in history.
• The Canadians were vying for another medal or two tonight, but fell short. Ryan Cochrane had a disappointing 1500 and finished 6th, while the women’s medley relay lost a close race for bronze in 5th.

As mentioned before, the U.S. dominated the medal standings with over three times the medals of the next highest country, Australia (10). They added two golds and two silvers on the final night.

And the Canadians, with six medals, have their best major international performance in 32 year. A terrific achievement, the youth of this team indicates nothing but good things for the future.