As is tradition at this point, the big meet of the summer is upon us and your favorite SwimSwam GMs are back in their drafting chairs. SwimSwam is proud to present the 2024 Olympic Games Fantasy Draft.
In this SwimSwam fantasy draft, five GMs gather to draft a team of swimmers competing in Paris. Each GM acquires a team of eight swimmers to create a team that will score the most points according to the scoring system below.
Scoring System for the 2022 SwimSwam Fantasy Draft
- Individual Gold Medal: 6 points
- Individual Silver Medal: 5 points
- Individual Bronze Medal: 4 points
- Relay Gold Medal, Swam in Finals: 4 points
- Relay Silver Medal, Swam in Finals: 3 points
- Relay Bronze Medal, Swam in Finals: 2 points
- Any relay medal, Only Swam in Prelims: 1 point
- Made an Individual Final, Didn’t Medal: 1 point
- World Record Bonus: 3 points
- DQ: -2 points
The 2024 Olympic Fantasy Draft took place on Wednesday, July 10, (notably before preliminary entries were released). Each of the five GMs had to select one swimmer from North America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania, and one from either South America, Central America, or Africa. GMs also had three wild card spots, which could be filled in with swimmers from any nation. Yanyan Li had the first pick, followed by David Clossy, Loretta Race, Coleman Hodges, and then Barry Revzin.
Check out the live draft here:
- 0:00 Fantasy Draft Introduction
- 2:30 Round 1
- 5:05 Round 2
- 7:43 Round 3
- 11:15 Round 4
- 14:57 Round 5
- 18:42 Round 6
- 23:23 Round 7
- 27:50 Round 8
- 32:12 Team Names and Final Rosters
Teams have been finalized and you can see which eight swimmers each GM will be relying on for points during the 2024 Olympic Games:
| YanYan | David | Loretta | Coleman | Barry | |
| The District Tap Lives On | Finke’s Lucky Duckys | Swim Shady | Coleman’s Cowbell Carpool | The Chicago Current | |
| NA | Caeleb Dressel | Summer McIntosh | Bobby Finke | Kate Douglass | Regan Smith |
| SA/AFR | Guilherme Costa | Jordan crooks | Pieter Coetze | Tatjana Schoenmaker | Gui Caribe |
| EUR | Kristof Milak | Thomas Ceccon | Duncan Scott | Matt Richards | Leon Marchand |
| ASIA | Li Bingjie | Qin Haiyang | Pan Zhanle | Zhang Yufei | Siobhan Haughey |
| OCEAN | Mollie O’Callaghan | Sam Short | Kaylee McKeown | Ariarne Titmus | Kyle Chalmers |
| WILD CARD | Ryan Murphy | Katie Ledecky | Shayna Jack | Carson Foster | Gretchen Walsh |
| WILD CARD | Maxine grousset | Josh Liendo | Hwang Sunwoo | Hunter Armstrong | Chris Guiliano |
| WILD CARD | Jack Alexy | David Povovici | Lukas martens | Simone Manuel | Torri Huske |
Let us know in the comments RESPECTFULLY who you think has the best team and who made a questionable pick (I’ll call myself out now, I think should have used my last pick for Meg Harris over Simone Manuel. The pressure got to me).
Additionally, check back in during the swimming portion of the 2024 Olympic Games to keep track of the fantasy draft scores as well as all of SwimSwam’s coverage of the biggest meet of the year.
Jordan Crooks is Caymanian, wouldn’t that classify him as NA?
Kind of surprised Jack and Chalmers went so early to be honest. Both have potential for good points, but Chalmers really isn’t guaranteed any medals, and Jack is only certain to swim finals of one relay.
barry all the way!!! regan smith? siobhan haughey? those wild card choices? this draft is unstoppable!!! not to mention leon marchand too lol
Who will be highest scoring non selected swimmer?
Xu. Chance at 100 back, medley and mixed medley gold. Are there any non-picks with three gold chances?
Maybe Yang junxuan? Mixed medley gold, and can medal on more 3 relay plus 2 individual finals?
I can’t think of anyone else either, tho I don’t think there’s many swimmers picked that I would have taken him over. (He could definitely outscore a few, like Haughey and Li Bingjie and some of the WC picks.)
He’s sort of a low floor / low upside pick – the two medleys will prolly medal, but I wouldn’t bet on him medaling individually. Guys like Liendo and Grousset are prolly not gonna score any relay points, but have a shot at scoring p high in a few individual events
David killed it. His team will clear all the others easily. Mcintosh, qin, ledecky, and pop all on the same team is Stacked.
This is also just my opinion from first glance and zero serious analysis so apologies if I just presented the coldest take ever.
I agree as well without further calculations. 7/8 of his swimmers I expect to contend for one or multiple gold medals, and I would be stunned if they leave without at least a medal.
“Coleman’s Cowbell Carpool”
No shortage of biting wit in the SwimSwam bullpen.
Only five participants?
Who do we think the individual MVP will be?
McIntosh is the only one swimming 4 individual events and is a gold shot in all of them, but is unlikely to get any relay points. 4x gold and 1 WR would give her 27 points. Marchand has basically the same ceiling.
MOC only has 2 individuals, but is a gold and WR threat in both. Then she is likely gold in 2 free relays and likely medal in 2 medley relays. 1 individual gold with WR, 1 silver, 2 relay gold and 2 relay bronze would give her 26 points.
Titmus is a solid shot at 3 individual medals plus a relay gold. 2 gold (1WR), 1 silver plus 1… Read more »
Seems like it’ll take more than 20 pts to get into consideration, which would be 2 individual golds and 2 relay golds. (So anyone just in 2/2 events would really have to nail it and hit a WR in one to get up past the McIntosh/Marchand/MOC/Titmus/McKeown group.)
Of people you didn’t list, I think Murphy and Ceccon could get closest – either could win both backstrokes, and both could be on two medal-winning relays – but not v likely. (And guys like Milak and Popovici would need to win two events and set WRs in both just to get to 18, which…lol.)
Liendo also can maybe sneak up there if only b/c I think he’s in 3 individual events but… Read more »
I did think about Murphy, but having 2 individual plus 2 relay seems unlikely to be MVP even with gold in all 4 (and I feel like at least one of those won’t be a gold). Ceccon seems unlikely to win 4 medals as does Liendo…
Walsh is a bit of a wild card right now. She could medal in all 3 individual events but realistically could miss 2/3. Then the 100 free and medley relay medals are very solid but unknown whether she’ll be included in mixed medley.
Oh ya, it’s super unlikely Murphy gets up there. It’ll definitely be someone in 5+ total events
I love how your scenario gives McIntosh all 4 golds (I’d say 400IM and 200 fly are her only likely golds) but you only give MOC 1 win and only a bronze in the women’s medley (does China have a backstroker?)
I was giving McIntosh the benefit of the doubt as she has no real relay potential.
I still have MOC 6/6 medals and a WR so I don’t think I was too pessimistic for her haha.
China’s medley relay add ups are faster than Australia’s right now…
In saying that, I do expect MOC to get the most points. Her getting 6/6 medals seems much likelier than McIntosh getting 4/4 golds