Steve Buckley, better known to the swimming community as “pullbuoy,” has released his latest documentary: a three-part series on the British men’s 800 free relay over the last decade.
An event dominated by the Americans for most of the last 40 years, the British men have won the last two Olympic gold medals in the 800 free relay. They have also won three of the last five long course World Championships in which they sent their full team (aka excluding 2024), among a plethora of other international medals.
The run has survived multiple generations, with the initial World Championship relay including Daniel Wallace, Robbie Renwick, Calum Jarvis, and James Guy. Guy has been the constant, teaming with Tom Dean, Matt Richards, and Duncan Scott to win the Paris Olympic relay almost a decade later.
The series takes a deep dive into this British 200 freestyle legacy, with in-depth interviews from the athletes themselves.
All three episodes are live now.
Episode 1:
Episode 2:
Episode 3:
Buckley, who first began covering swimming online in 2000, has dedicated 25 years to covering swimming online. Last year, he dropped his first feature-length swimming documentary following breaststroker Imogen Clark as she juggled her swimming career and non-swimming career.
Great discussions. Thanks. Did I hear correctly, only relay team to ever defend a title using the same quartet, in any sport, ever?
I asked Gemini, and it answered:
One of the most prominent and recently confirmed examples of a relay team defending a title using the exact same quartet is Great Britain’s men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team in swimming.
At the Paris 2024 Olympics, James Guy, Tom Dean, Matt Richards, and Duncan Scott successfully defended their Olympic gold medal in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, having previously won with the identical quartet at the Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021) Olympics.
Multiple sources from the time of their Paris 2024 victory stated that this was the first time in Olympic history that the same four individuals had defended a relay title in swimming. It was also noted as the first time a British… Read more »
Prime Jimmy Guy 🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐
Thanks Braden! 😎
Legend
I really loved this. So great to get the viewpoints you don’t usually see, like the heat swimmers watching the final. Stephen Milne and Dan Wallace gave particularly great/interesting insights.
is it though?