The U.S. Has Never Been Disqualified In 103 Olympic Relay Appearances

by Daniel Takata / SwimmingStats

The United States has had some impressive feats in relays throughout the history of the Olympic Games.

For example, the longest winning streak by a country in the history of Olympic swimming, considering individual and relay events, belongs to the United States in the men’s 4×100 medley. The American team have 10 wins between 1984 and 2021. And this streak could be longer, if it weren’t for the boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. In fact, whenever they have swum, the American men’s 4×100 medley team has never lost the event since it was first held in 1960.

The United States has, considering all the relay events that are currently contested, 77 wins, compared to 33 for all other countries combined.

Another impressive feat was brought to light by Swimming Stats’ Instagram. The United States is the country that has the most relays appearances in Olympic history, 103. And, among the countries that have appeared in 40 or more relays, it is the only country that has never been disqualified.

Canada is the closest country, with 82 appearances and one disqualification, in the men’s 4×200 freestyle heats in 1976.

The next country with the most relay participations and that has never being disqualified disqualification is Spain, which has appeared 39 times.

On the other hand, Italy has been disqualified 7 times in 72 appearances, which corresponds to 9.7%. China has 5 disqualifications in 45 appearances, or 11.1%, the higher among countries with 20 appearances or more.

The United States has been disqualified in relays in other senior major meets. In the World Championships, for example, the United States has competed in 191 relay events and has been disqualified four times. The last time was in the men’s 4×100 medley, which was disqualified in 2013 after winning the final of the event.

In Short Course World Championships, the last disqualification occurred in 2016, in the men’s 4×100 medley final. In the last Pan Pacific Championships, in 2018, the men’s 4×100 freestyle was disqualified after winning the event. And the most recent disqualification in the Pan American Games was during the heats of the 4×100 mixed medley, in 2019.

Another impressive stat: in all 103 relays that it has competed, the United States has reached the finals in all of them. In fact, only in 2021 did American teams finish off the podium: men’s 4×200 freestyle (4th) and 4×100 mixed medley (5th).

(Technically, an American team finished off the podium in the 4×50-yard freestyle in 1904. But in times of different rules, the three fastest teams were also from the United States, so it really doesn’t count).

The fact that the United States has never been disqualified a in more than 100 relay appearances in Olympic history and has made the final in Every appearance is truly impressive, especially when compared to its own record in other major meets. Why does this happen? How do the Americans increase their level of focus in the Olympic Games in team events to reach a level of performance above their own average?