The Oldest Olympic Champions In Swimming History

This will be a part of a series featuring analyzing Olympic medalists in swimming by age, thanks to the data compiled by SwimmingStats guru Daniel Takata (@Swimming Stats).

After we took a look at the youngest Olympic champions in swimming history earlier this month, it’s now time to analyze the opposite end of the spectrum—the oldest Olympic gold medalists in the sport’s history.

As we discovered in the earlier article, swimmers tend to peak in their early 20s, with women sometimes doing so in their late teens.

As a result of that, it’s incredibly rare to see a swimmer experience success at the highest level after their 30th birthday. There have been just 11 swimmers in history to win Olympic gold after their 30th birthday, and only five of them have done so in an individual event.

The oldest Olympic champ in history is Anthony Ervin, who stunningly returned to the top of the podium in the men’s 50 freestyle in Rio (2016) 16 years after winning the same event in Sydney (2000) when he was. 19-year-old.

In fact, the seven oldest gold medalists have come in the last 20 years, due to legendary swimmers such as Dara Torres, Michael Phelps, Jason Lezak and Ryan Lochte having wrapped up their careers relatively recently. American swimmers feature heavily on the list, with the strength of the U.S. relays (and funding keeping American swimmers in the sport longer than other nations in certain cases) a factor.

Torres is the oldest female Olympic gold medalist, having won relay gold in Sydney at the age of 33. Eight years later, at 41, Torres won three silver medals in Beijing, including placing second in the 50 free by .01, which would’ve made her the oldest gold medalist by six years if she had pulled out the win.

Incredibly, with Torres missing that victory by a mere hundredth, the oldest woman to win gold individually is Inge de Bruijn, who was 11 years younger than Torres was in Beijing at the Athens Olympics in 2004 when she won the 50 free. Germany’s Ursula Happe is the only other woman to win individual gold after the age of 30, while Phelps and Duke Kahanamoku join Ervin as the other two men to do so.

20 OLDEST OLYMPIC SWIMMING GOLD MEDALISTS

Data Notes:

• Not surprisingly, relays and sprints are a common theme, with only the 200 breaststroke (in 1932 and 1956) and the open water 10km (2021) breaking that trend.
• There’s a fairly even split between men and women in the top 20—11 men and nine women—though 10 of the 13 oldest gold medalists are men.
• Fourteen of the top 20 won their Olympic gold medals in 1996 or later, perhaps an indication of how in the early days, it was much less common for a swimmer to continue competing past their early 20s/college age.

20 OLDEST INDIVIDUAL OLYMPIC SWIMMING GOLD MEDALISTS

Data Notes:

• The data skews more towards men when we take out relay gold medalists, with 14 of the 20 oldest individual Olympic champions being male.
• Fourteen of the 20 were also set in 2004 or later.
• There’s a wide range of events in the top 20—all four strokes and every distance (outside of the 800 free) is represented in some capacity.

20 OLDEST OLYMPIC SWIMMING GOLD MEDALISTS – FEMALE

20 OLDEST INDIVIDUAL OLYMPIC SWIMMING GOLD MEDALISTS – FEMALE

Data Notes:

• It’s notable how many women on the individual list won their Olympic gold medalists in 200-meter events.
• It speaks to how young female swimmers peak given that three swimmers on the individual list are ranked in the 20 oldest before having even turned 25.

20 OLDEST OLYMPIC SWIMMING GOLD MEDALISTS – MALE

20 OLDEST INDIVIDUAL OLYMPIC SWIMMING GOLD MEDALISTS – MALE

Data Notes:

• The ranking shows that it’s more common for male swimmers to achieve success at a later age than women, but not by much. The 20th-oldest individual male champion is just under one year older than the 20th-oldest female champion.
• In our earlier article looking at the youngest Olympic champions in history, only two of the 20 youngest men on the individual list came from 2000 or later–Ian Thorpe (2000) and Kyle Chalmers (2016). In the oldest category, 13 of the top 20 come over that time period. That tells us it’s much more common for swimmers to be successful at an older age now than previously.