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World Aquatics is experimenting with new combined medal podium ceremonies at this week’s World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
CEO Brent Nowicki says that it is being trialed this week and results of that will determine if it’s kept for the future.
The emphasis of the change is more about “flow and pacing,” Nowicki says. The change didn’t actually significantly impact the length of the session, which was only about two minutes shorter than the same session at the 2022 World Short Course Championships. That will keep coaches of swimmers with multiple races in a night happy.
One member of the media* who was in Paris for the Olympic Games told SwimSwam upon seeing the change that “the medal ceremonies in Paris were putting people to sleep with how long they were,” so this change could address that. Similar to changes we’ve seen in sports like baseball, changing the pace of a sporting event can be as important as changing the overall length for fan experience.
*Who does not work for SwimSwam
Nowicki also pointed to another purpose of the test: “We also like the appearance of the men’s and women’s medal together. Trying to create some more harmony in the sport.”
Some SwimSwam readers expressed that they didn’t like the change and that it might have robbed gold medalists of some of their spotlight moment. One commenter said that “I feel like this only works when the gold medalists are from the same nation.”
Whether this is a change that sticks or not, it is worth applauding the attempt to try evolutions of the presentation of the sport – something that many in the swimming community have been begging for for years.
Easiest way to cut time is to stop the walk-arounds after the anthems.
This double ceremony takes away from the individual award winners. Let them have their moments on the podium with the anthem and a few pics, and then move on. That would accomplish both things of properly recognizing the individuals without them having to share the time on the podium with someone they didn’t race against as well as speed things up within the session.
Why? Why everything needs to be rushed, sped up and shortened? Where are we rushing? I was already angry in Paris when they cut out the ceremonies, just to show some random TV analyst talking nonsense for 10 minutes.
WHY?
What do the affected coaches and athletes think?
Is it for the spectators?
Cut out the national anthems.
create national jingles
Maybe they should try something similar to what the Winter Olympics do for many sports. Move the medal ceremonies away from not only the session but the comp setting entirely. Glam & glitz it up, make it more appealing. A separate spectacle unto itself. Schedule these ceremonies at a cool nearby location in the host city when the athletes aren’t competing. Then have it all available to watch on demand streaming or post them on the WA site/yt.
Utter woke nonsense
Save the “woke” whining, it’s so tiresome.
Sarcasm is hard to communicate on the internet. Even if this is jest we just watched a man win the US election on the platform of resisting “the totalitarian cult known as the Great Awokening”…
Do you know what ‘woke’ means? This is a corporate, timing, TV, audience thing, nothing to do with ‘wokeness’.
It’s different and many different things don’t feel right initially. I’m still reserving judgement for when a session has mostly double ceremonies. We’ll get 2 tomorrow which shouldn’t have the winners from the same country, and then we get 3 the next day. That should inform me better.
I do agree it’s worth a try. I don’t think this will really help, though when it’s different countries that win, maybe have the other gender step down for the anthem to keep it clear. Who knows that may be the plan. I’m good with the announcing and awarding together. It’s just the anthem part that feels really off to me currently.
I like medal ceremonies at the major international meets.… Read more »
Good take
I’ve decided I like them just as much as the split ones. It’s different but it’s no worse or better in my opinion. There are some cool moments like the double champs from the same country, having 2 new WR holders right next to each other. You get some interactions between the men and women you might not otherwise.
It does take a bit away from each persons moment. It is still a bit weird with the back to back anthems mostly because of the time everyone has to be respectful and quiet since most anthems are designed to be that way, and I appreciate that. Being able to do more of the celebration and less of the solemn respect… Read more »
How do the athletes feel about it? They’re the ones that have to work around the ceremonies in between all of the other meet/swim related obligations they have so who cares about the spectators’ opinion
“Who cares about the spectators’ opinion” – swimming, never change(s).
I dream that one day we as a sport try to balance opinions of the many stakeholders of swimming. Coaches, administrators, media, athletes, and yes even spectators. But here we are.
I too am curious what the athletes thing, and Aglaia is going to ask some tomorrow.