Young Blood Takes Over the London Aquatics Centre

The 2008 Olympics had really two themes: World Record swimsuits, and Michael Phelps.

These 2012 Games have shown an unparalleled depth of storylines, not the least of which has been the youth. Maybe the biggest, though, was a monstrous changing-of-the-guard.

There’s still one day to go, but in 24 individual events thus far, the World Record holders were entered in 17 of those races. They didn’t win a single gold, and only two medals total (bronzes from Cesar Cielo in the 50 and Rebecca Adlington in the 800). Three swimmers had to swim in a final as their World Records were broken. That shows that the turnover is not just because of retirements; the younger generation is rising up and taking over.

Here’s what’s even wilder to think about: only two swimmers in this whole meet have been able to repeat gold medals: Rebecca Soni (200 breaststroke) and Michael Phelps (200 IM/100 fly). It’s unlikely that we’ll see a repeat either in the men’s 1500 or women’s 50, the two races on Saturday, either.  That’s incredible to see.

Friday’s finals highlighted the youth too. The average age of the four gold medalists was just 20, including 15-year old Katie Ledecky and 17-year old Missy FranklinFlorent Manaudou is 21, but he was the youngest swimmer in the 50 free final.

Twenty years ago, this wouldn’t have seemed so odd. Many of history’s greatest swimmers retired far too young – think Mark Spitz, who was done at 22. Australia’s Shane Gould is perhaps the best example: she won 5 medals at the 1972 Olympics, and then retired when she was only 16.

In the modern day, though, where we’re told that swimmers have the ability to compete older-and-older because of advances in the commercial side of the sport and because of advances in nutrition and body science, it is still the youngest swimmers who have stolen the show.

There are plenty of exceptions. The American male medalists, for example, were almost all in their mid-to-late 20’s. But there are so many examples of swimmers who have exploded. Consider  Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania. She was a 15-year old who dropped 2.5 seconds in the last year to overtake a heavy favorite in Soni. Ledecky was only swimming an 8:36, and now dropped 21 seconds to rank as the second-fastest of all-time.

Swimmers like Meilutyte, American Breeja Larson, Ledecky, and others are making finals and winning medals on their first international teams. In many cases, these swimmers have never traveled outside of the country to compete before, and despite the huge lights of the Olympic stage, they are succeeding.

That’s what makes these young swimmers so exciting. They all “come out of nowhere,” which as 15-year olds they almost, by definition, have to. It energizes the swimming community, and it makes for great stories.

Now this group will have a tall task. They will have to prove if they can come back in Rio and defend their crowns. If another young crew comes in and can knock off this group, with how unbelievably talented they are, then we know we’re seeing a trend.

But for now, we must recognize what we are seeing. While many like to write off the accomplishments of young swimmers as flashes-in-the-pan, this is no longer possible for fear of missing the next great thing. In this modern era, the level of the sport has risen so dramatically that there are no fakers. If you are good, then you are good, regardless of age.

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john26
11 years ago

Additional statistic:
a big upset in 10/28 events contested so far:

Manaudou in 50free
Adrian in 100free
Clary in 200back
Le Clos in 200fly
Phelps missing medals in 400IM
France in 4x1free

Ledecky in 800free
Franklin in 100back (I guess this doesn’t actually count)
Meilutyte in 100breast
Australia in 4x100free

Have we EVER seen anything close to this? Beijing certainly wasn’t. At least half these would’ve been picks out of left field a week ago.

john26
Reply to  john26
11 years ago

Additionally, Phelps and Ye are the only swimmers to win more than 1 individual golds this games, with Kromowidjojo and Sun possibly joining them tomorrow.

This is a contrast to the WC’s we’ve seen leading up to this year and even in 2008.

Josh
Reply to  john26
11 years ago

Franklin. 100/200 back

Keith
Reply to  john26
11 years ago

Add Missy to the list.

Keith
Reply to  john26
11 years ago

It certainly has wreaked havoc with the picks contest. You could say Franklin was a mild upset after the gap between her and Seebohm during the heats, but nobody would consider the outcome an upset coming into the meet.

Jg
11 years ago

Yes . Time to get on with life . Heaven knows the future is looking bleaker in many nations now & maybe all soon.

WHOKNOWS
11 years ago

Having had the same names for 8-12 years, it will be refreshing to have a new slate of names to follow along with a few of the current ones!

StuartC
11 years ago

After this Olympics we are going to see a huge turnover in athletes with even more younger swimmers breaking through! So many in that 23-28 age group are retiring.

DanJohnRob
11 years ago

You forgot Phelps, WR holder in 200 fly, winning silver in the event, and ofcourse today he became the 1st WR holder (100 fly) to WIN a gold medal, but I understand your point and I’m not in disagreement. It’s hard to maitain your place at the top in this increasingly competitive world of swimming! However, I would suggest that Mr. Manaudou is the exception to the rule that the MALE swimmers are continuing to be successful later in their careers at this Olympics, but there has been a greater than usual number of very young breakout swimmers for the WOMEN. Anyway, that’s how I see it.

StuartC
Reply to  DanJohnRob
11 years ago

Phelps also did it yesterday in 200IM….

aswimfan
Reply to  StuartC
11 years ago

Phelps is not the WR holder in 200 IM.

StuartC
11 years ago

Most of these very young athletes never swam with the now banned suits. The older swimmers have had to back track. They remember how good they they felt in the pre-2009 suits and so now it is much harder for them to get back that high in the water feeling. Many of them actually put these suits back on when tapering to try and get that feeling back and especially with the guys it is so hard to duplicate that feel

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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