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)
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- Prelims Live Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
- Finals Live Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
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.
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 | 167.5 |
| 2 | Australia | 148 |
| 3 | China | 105 |
| 4 | Canada | 102 |
| 5 | Great Britain | 65 |
| 6 | Italy | 46.5 |
| 7 | Japan | 45 |
| 8 | Sweden | 43 |
| 9 | France | 37 |
| 10 | Germany | 32 |
| 11 | Ireland | 29 |
| 11 | Brazil | 29 |
| 13 | South Africa | 28 |
| 14 | Netherlands | 27 |
| 14 | New Zealand | 27 |
| 16 | Hungary | 24 |
| 17 | Hong Kong | 20 |
| 18 | Czech Republic | 19 |
| 19 | Belgium | 16 |
| 20 | Denmark | 12 |
MEN’S RANKINGS
| Rank | Country | Points |
| 1 | United States | 136.5 |
| 2 | Great Britain | 112.5 |
| 3 | Germany | 111.5 |
| 4 | Italy | 102 |
| 5 | Australia | 99 |
| 6 | China | 83 |
| 7 | France | 46 |
| 8 | Hungary | 44 |
| 9 | Japan | 40 |
| 10 | Spain | 31 |
| 11 | South Korea | 30 |
| 12 | Canada | 28 |
| 12 | Greece | 28 |
| 12 | Brazil | 28 |
| 15 | Netherlands | 24 |
| 16 | Lithuania | 20.5 |
| 17 | Romania | 20 |
| 18 | South Africa | 14 |
| 19 | New Zealand | 13 |
| 20 | Poland | 12.5 |
COMBINED RANKINGS
| Rank | Country | Points |
| 1 | United States | 304 |
| 2 | Australia | 247 |
| 3 | China | 188 |
| 4 | Great Britain | 177.5 |
| 5 | Italy | 148.5 |
| 6 | Germany | 143.5 |
| 7 | Canada | 130 |
| 8 | Japan | 85 |
| 9 | France | 83 |
| 10 | Hungary | 68 |
| 11 | Brazil | 57 |
| 12 | Netherlands | 51 |
| 13 | Sweden | 47 |
| 14 | South Africa | 42 |
| 15 | New Zealand | 40 |
| 16 | Spain | 36 |
| 17 | South Korea | 30 |
| 18 | Ireland | 29 |
| 19 | Greece | 28 |
| 20 | Lithuania | 27.5 |
Observations
- Despite Australia holding the slight edge atop the medal table thus far with three gold medals, the U.S. has 11 total podium appearances and that depth is on display with the Americans leading the points standings for women, men and combined.
- The U.S. has notably won a medal in five of six men’s events, while the women have had two events with double medalists in the 100 fly (Torri Huske and Gretchen Walsh) and the 400 IM (Katie Grimes and Emma Weyant).
- Australia is a clear 2nd on the women’s side thanks to the relay victory, the 1-2 from Mollie O’Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus in the 200 free, and Titmus’ win in the 400 free.
- The British men hold down the 2nd spot for the men despite only two silver medals, with 4th-place finishes from Max Litchfield (400 IM), Duncan Scott (200 free) and a 5th in the 400 free relay boosting their tally.
- Germany is a somewhat surprise to sit 3rd for the men, thanks in large part to Lukas Märtens winning the 400 free, placing 5th in the 200 free, and the 400 free relay also taking 5th. Melvin Imoudu and Lucas Matzerath were also surprises to finish 4-5 in the 100 breast.
- China and Canada are jockeying for 3rd on the women’s side, which is no surprise, while the Italians sit 4th for the men, ahead of Australia, which not many would’ve predicted coming in.
- In the combined standings, the U.S. is well clear of Australia, Australia is 59 points ahead of China, and then there’s a massive drop-off after Canada in 7th. Among the top seven countries (USA, AUS, CHN, GBR, ITA, GER, CAN), Germany would have to be considered the biggest surprise. In addition the performances from their men, Angelina Köhler (4th in 100 fly) and Isabel Gose (5th in 400 free) have top-five finishes.
Sounds like coping mechanism to me
I think that this is interesting, but clearly favours larger nations (such as the US or China) where there is capacity for greater depth. It does not necessarily reflect the quality of a nation’s swimming performance programs.
The traditional medal scoring is a better indicator of this (i.e. Australia, despite having less depth in its athletes due to pop size, can be seen to have really good quality of athletes despite pop – this is also true for some of the smaller Euros etc.). This is also largely overcome by the sporting depth of a US, but it does even the table a little to give countries like Aus a sporting chance!
I’ve been working on sorting countries into division based on population. Under 10M, 10-99M, and 100M+. It changes the perspective greatly when you factor in a country’s population into performance.
Still nothing to hang our hats on. Team USA has floundered. Very disappointing…
I prefer either this or total golds as a way to measure who’s winning. Counting total medals with each of them weighted equally is silly.
Interesting perspective on this meet of meets. Thanks for the number crunching, Michael!
Wait till you add in the Chinese diving scores…
It’s what the NCAA does so it’s fair and for an analysis like this they should be included. I still hate it.
Perhaps because the requirements for the depth of the pool to hold diving changed just before my freshman year in high school. Our pool was no longer deep enough (as were about 35% of all pools that high schools used in WI) so we had no where for divers to practice and hence no divers. The majority of our meets were on the road. Any time we swam a dual against a team with divers we just spotted them 11 points, which lost us at least 3 meets. Sometimes the other coach was cool and just entered… Read more »
Indiana Diving and swimming
Very fun way to look at the meet.
This is the best way to measure depth, but the medal table is the most traditional way to measure who’s “winning” a meet.