2024 was an Olympic year, and the Olympics are swimming’s biggest stage. It’s unsurprising, then, that many of the most-read SwimSwam articles of the year were related to the Games. While the major concern in the lead-up to the start of the Olympics in Paris—and as it turns out, during the Games—was the cleanliness of the Seine, SwimSwam’s most-read article of the year was about a different Paris controversy: the depth of the La Defense competition pool.
The Olympic pool was built at 2.15 meters, deeper than the minimum standard but more shallow than current World Aquatics recommendations and the depth of the pools where many senior international meets have been held in recent years. SwimSwam’s article ran before the Olympic swimming schedule began, and the discourse on the topic only got more heated as the competition began; there were no world records set through the first four days of competition and a few shockingly slow Olympic finals. However, swimmers will tell you that when you’re racing for gold, the time doesn’t matter—it’s all about getting your hand on the wall first. Ultimately, Pan Zhanle snapped the world record drought by smashing the men’s 100 freestyle mark in 46.40.
Of course, the shallow pool was far from the only highly clicked headline from the Olympics. After news broke in April that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for TMZ, a banned substance, stories about drug tests at the Games garnered a lot of attention, like when Leon Marchand missed a morning drug test after a tester error.
Other highly read pieces from the Games include Brazilian swimmer Anna Carolina Viera getting sent home from the Games, Adam Peaty opining “there’s no point in winning if you’re not winning fair,” after China’s win in the men’s 4×100 medley relay, the Swedish team’s Olympic caps getting scrutinized by officials, U.S. swimmers testing positive for COVID-19, Alex Walsh getting disqualified from the 200 IM Olympic final, and the Olympic village running out of food. One theme throughout this list is that the most highly read pieces aren’t about specific Olympic swims, but rather the hot-button issues of the Games.
The one NCAA piece of news that made the top 50 most-read articles in this Olympic-heavy year was Owen Lloyd getting disqualified for his post-race celebration at the ACC Championships.
Owen Lloyd should be number 1!!!!!!! He’s the best, fastest, cutest swimmer ever!!!
Could we break the story by reading this one the most before the 1st?
Yes, honestly if that happens we have to delete every article from 2024 and start the year over. It would be a chore. Please don’t.
I’m surprised 1-2 House vs NCAA stories did not make the list. Having said that, I don’t think the short and long-term impact on men’s swimming and Olympic sports has been well covered by any media. Maybe we’ll see more in early 2025 so the swim community knows what is happening to their sport.
Would be interesting to know the specific view count of each article to know how much topics resonated with people but I understand that could be quite sensitive and revealing information lol
Agreed. Would be cool to see the most commented articles too