Could the American Men Strike Out on Olympic Gold Medals at Paris 2024 Olympics?

In the history of the summer Olympic Games, there have only been three occasions where the American men did not win an individual Olympic gold medal in swimming: 1896, 1900, and 1980.

In 1896 and 1900, the US sent only one athlete in swimming. In 1896, Gardner Williams swam two races and won no medals. In 1900, Fred Hendschel swam the 200 free and 200 metre obstacle event, and didn’t advance to the final in either.

In 1980, the US didn’t send a team.

And that’s it. That’s the totality of years in which the US didn’t win a gold medal in men’s swimming at the Olympic Games.

Now, just-over a year away from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, there is a very real possibility that we see this again.

At the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, the American men won five individual gold medals. Three of those were in the stroke 50s (50 breast, 50 back, 50 fly) which are not events at the Olympic Games.

The other two were Bobby Finke, who swam 7:39.36 in the 800 free to win by less than three tenths of a second; and Ryan Murphy, who swam 1:54.52 in the 200 back to win by about half-a-second. Those two are probably the best chances, based on what we know right now, to win individual Olympic golds in Paris.

Murphy was the Olympic silver medalist in the 200 back, finishing almost a second behind the winner. The winner was Russian Evgeny Rylov, who is a focal point of the conflict over whether to allow Russian athletes to compete in the Paris 2024 Olympics after he made an appearance on stage at a rally in Moscow in support of the Russian government’s war in Ukraine.

While Murphy has seen a resurgence in his career coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rylov is a year younger than Murphy. If Russia is allowed into the Olympics, and if Rylov maintains his motivation during that time, he probably reattains his status as favorite.

If that doesn’t happen, however, there’s not an obvious challenger to Murphy – if he can continue his form through Paris. Among the swimmers who have been faster than Murphy’s 1:54.52 from the World Championships last year, most are retired. A few others are on the tail-end of their careers, or focusing on other events, and haven’t been those times in years (Radoslaw Kawecki, Ryosuke Irie, Mitch Larkin, and Xu Jiayu, for example).

Great Britain’s Luke Greenbank seems like the biggest international threat on paper right now, outside of the Russians. He took silver at last year’s World Championships, has been consistently in the 1:54 range since coming out of the pandemic, and is two years younger than Murphy (meaning he’ll be sort of at a prime age of 26 as the Paris Olympics come around).

Murphy’s other biggest challengers might be domestic: Shaine Casas, the Worlds bronze medalist, was 1:55.35, seems to have a deep pool of talent, and will hit Paris a few years into his earnest pro-level training; and the young teenager Daniel Diehl, who ranks 3rd in the world this season at just 17-years-old, .03 seconds faster than Murphy.

But overall, there might be some clean water there for Murphy. That’s probably the Americans’ best bet based on what we know right now.

As for Finke, the other World Champion, he faces a very good field in both of the distance freestyles from the likes of Florian Wellbrock, Mykhailo Romanchuk, Gregorio Paltrinieri, Guilherme Costa, and Daniel Wiffen, among many others.

Given his age (23), Finke still has as good of a chance as any of those swimmers at gold in Paris, but with so much talent in the events — arguably the most talent we’ve had in men’s distance freestyles in decades — there’s very little margin of error there for the double Tokyo Olympic Champion.

When looking across the board otherwise, though, it’s hard to see where the Americans might have great medal chances otherwise.

If it’s still not clear to anyone why American swimming fans are so interested in the return of Caeleb Dressel, this is why. Before he left the 2022 World Championships early, Dressel felt like the American mens’ surest bet to keep the gold medal well from running dry in Paris. With rumors that he’s back in training and will join an American training camp in Colorado Springs in a few weeks flying, an athlete of his caliber isn’t going to just disappear after a 6 month break, but we also don’t know where, exactly, he’ll be when he returns, if he’ll be that same ‘overwhelming favorite’ that he’s been.

David Popovici is way ahead of the world in the 100 and 200 freestyles; Kristof Milak has the 200 fly locked down; Leon Marchand, after his performances at the NCAA Championships, doesn’t look likely to give up any titles in the IM races; and there are active World Record holders in both breaststrokes (Adam Peaty and Zac Stubblety-Cook) without Americans as the most likely to pick up those wins even if either guy stumbles.

This is not to say that the Americans don’t have good young talent. Daniel Diehl and Maximus Williamson and Thomas Heilman and Rex Maurer and Will Modglin and a pile of other current high school swimmers will all be in their primes for LA 2028 and Brisbane 2032.

But 2024 looks like it could be a lull in the wave of American swimming.

There are chances, and the American men have gold medal opportunities (as laid out above) that aren’t too far-fetched. But 2024 also feels like the closest the American men have ever been to that edge. At a minimum, we can say that among the world’s peak male superstars, none are American right now – and that’s unusual.

But this lull brings about a pathway for young swimmers to stake their claims, to wrest spots away from established members of Team USA, and to see a clear pathway to podiums of their own – maybe now, and maybe in the future. That comes with a lot of excitement for the future and the possibility of the next great generation rising to the challenge, just in time to impress in front of a lucrative home Olympics.

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Bennett Clark Come See Me
7 months ago

What?!?!?! I came here for Garrett McCaffrey and not your hyperbole.

john26
1 year ago

We forget that in 08, the US men only won 2 individual golds (Lochte + Peirsol), apart from Phelps. No one remembers this because Phelps was so dominant.

Snarky
1 year ago

Click bait. US men will win 2/3 relays.

Troyy
Reply to  Snarky
1 year ago

The article is about individual medals.

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
1 year ago

In the post supersuit era, the lowest total is one individual gold medal (M 200 IM) at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships. So much for picking a national team one year in advance at the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.

Charles
1 year ago

Why is no one mentioning Nic Fink? The guy is getting better with age and literally moped up the sprint breastroke events at the recent SC World’s. Surely has to be considered as one of the favourites for Paris in the 100m at least?

Sub13
Reply to  Charles
1 year ago

The 50 breast isn’t at the Olympics and Fink isn’t in the conversation at all for the 200.

There are 5 active swimmers faster than Fink in the 100. Fink will be 31 in Paris so very unlikely he’ll set a new best there. He got bronze in Budapest with Peaty and Shymanovic missing.

Is he a chance? Sure. Is he one of the favourites? No.

jablo
1 year ago

I think that America is finally coming back to Earth in the sport. For years, we’ve been miles ahead of everyone- whether it’s in depth or in star talent. But over the years, ground has been stolen, inch by inch. And now we’re seeing true equal footing across the board, with multiple countries able to compare against us. Australia, Italy, Russia, Canada, Japan, putting up teams with as much talent as ours. Our talent pool is still great- it’s just getting more crowded at the top

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  jablo
1 year ago

That wasn’t the case at the 2015 FINA World Aquatics Championships:

USA Swimming
Male Contingent
Individual Gold Medals – 1
Relay Gold Medals – 1

USA Swimming
Female Contingent
Individual Gold Medals – 4
Relsy Gold Medals – 1

Basically, Katie Ledecky (5 finals, 5 titles) saved USA Swimming from a total debacle.

https://youtu.be/4QLRLeOeq3w

That’s how you close out your event program.

tom
1 year ago

i commented that Texas will be top 3 at NCAAs and everyone said I was crazy smh same thing here USA will win a few golds and everyone will forget about this

we still have Dressel in 100 fly 50 free
Solid backstrokers even tho we do not hold the WR in the 1 back we can still win I think
Bobby Finke is still a national hero and gold medal fighter
plus the relays are still dirty

Splash Kingdom
Reply to  Braden Keith
1 year ago

not an article, but he did comment on a swimswam video and everyone said he was crazy: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

claire curzan fan
1 year ago

Weird that everyone is sleeping on the 200 IM and 200 fly… Boomer Phelps is allegedly in the final stage of his training arc

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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