2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
- Pool Swimming: July 27 – August 4, 2024
- Open Water Swimming: August 8 – 9, 2024
- La Défense Arena — Paris, France
- LCM (50 meters)
- Meet Central
- Full Swimming Schedule
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Pick ’em Contest
- How To Watch
- Entry Lists
- Live Results
From a macro perspective, medals are the be-all and end-all in quantifying success at the Olympic Games, but we all know an athlete or nation can flourish even if it means they don’t ultimately make it onto the podium.
Thanks to Michael White, the head coach and CEO of Storm Aquatics in Wisconsin, we’re able to see how the standings in the 2024 Olympic pool swimming competition would look if we used the same scoring format we see at several domestic meets, including the NCAA Championships.
See the standings after Day 3 here.
Scoring Format
- 16-place scoring system: 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
- Relays are worth double points
- 9th through 16th-place finishers come from semi-finals
- If semi-finalist who missed final was faster than someone in the final, that was corrected
WOMEN’S RANKINGS
| Rank | Country | Points |
| 1 | United States | 259.5 |
| 2 | Australia | 218 |
| 3 | China | 156 |
| 4 | Canada | 132 |
| 5 | France | 85 |
| 6 | Great Britain | 71 |
| 7 | Sweden | 70 |
| 8 | Italy | 67.5 |
| 9 | Germany | 59 |
| 10 | Netherlands | 46 |
| 11 | Japan | 45 |
| 12 | Brazil | 41 |
| 13 | Hong Kong | 36 |
| 14 | New Zealand | 32 |
| 15 | Ireland | 30 |
| 16 | South Africa | 28 |
| 17 | Hungary | 26 |
| 18 | Belgium | 23 |
| 18 | Czech Republic | 23 |
| 20 | Spain | 14 |
MEN’S RANKINGS
| Rank | Country | Points |
| 1 | United States | 204.5 |
| 2 | Australia | 166 |
| 3 | Italy | 155 |
| 4 | Germany | 143 |
| 5 | China | 131 |
| 6 | Great Britain | 117.5 |
| 7 | France | 113.5 |
| 8 | Hungary | 82 |
| 9 | Japan | 69 |
| 10 | Canada | 50 |
| 11 | Netherlands | 40 |
| 12 | South Korea | 39 |
| 13 | Poland | 36.5 |
| 14 | Romania | 36 |
| 15 | Brazil | 35 |
| 16 | Spain | 32 |
| 17 | Greece | 28 |
| 18 | Tunisia | 24 |
| 19 | Lithuania | 20.5 |
| 20 | Ireland | 20 |
COMBINED RANKINGS
| Rank | Country | Points |
| 1 | United States | 464 |
| 2 | Australia | 384 |
| 3 | China | 287 |
| 4 | Italy | 222.5 |
| 5 | Germany | 202 |
| 6 | France | 198.5 |
| 7 | Great Britain | 188.5 |
| 8 | Canada | 182 |
| 9 | Japan | 114 |
| 10 | Hungary | 108 |
| 11 | Netherlands | 86 |
| 12 | Sweden | 79 |
| 13 | Brazil | 76 |
| 14 | Ireland | 50 |
| 15 | Spain | 46 |
| 16 | New Zealand | 45 |
| 17 | Poland | 44.5 |
| 18 | South Africa | 42 |
| 18 | South Korea | 39 |
| 20 | Romania | 37 |
Observations:
- The United States led for men and women after three days, and they’ve extended the advantage after two more nights despite Katie Ledecky being their only gold medalist on Day 4 or 5.
- The gold medals have been relatively spread out thus far, with 12 nations winning at least one of the 20 events thus far. Australia, USA, France and Italy are the only countries with multiple golds.
- Despite Leon Marchand‘s three wins, the French women are actually outperforming the men in terms of ranking using this scoring system, sitting 5th compared to 7th for the men (though the men have more points).
- The French women have moved up from 9th to 5th in two days thanks to a silver medal from Anastasiia Kirpichnikova in the 1500 free and finals appearances from Emma Terebo and Beryl Gastaldello in the 100 back.
- The women’s side has a clear top four in the U.S., Australia, China and Canada, while the men is more evenly dispersed between the top seven.
- The German men continue to surprise, sitting in 4th with 143 points, ahead of China, with recent performances including finals appearances from Josha Salchow in the 100 free, Sven Schwarz in the 800 free, and the men’s 800 free relay.
Additionally, we’ve got the countries ranked based on the size of their population:
WOMEN’S SCORES BY POPULATION
MEN’S TEAM SCORES BY POPULATION
Would love to see the analysis of US-trained athletes vs Aus vs UK vs etc. that would be an eye-opener
See? We would have won
Using this scoring system to compare the US to China might make sense, but comparing the US to Australia with a scoring system based upon depth is like comparing Texas against Amherst College! Of course Australia doesn’t have the depth that the US has; what makes them so remarkable is the way they have developed the talented athletes they have, not the sheer number of top level athletes they have.
Depth not as much a factor when you can only take two swimmers per event.
This is an unfair comparison for Australia since they have such high qualifying standards. They would definitely have several more semifinalists if they brought everyone who made the Olympic minimum standard. Australia has depth, they just leave it at home.