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CONTENTS
SWIMMING WORLD BIWEEKLY AUGUST 2021 | ISSUE 16
008 5 LINGERING AND UNANSWERED QUESTIONS FOLLOWING THE OLYMPIC GAMES by John Lohn With the Olympic Games in the rearview mirror and the start of the third season of the International Swimming League in front of us, here are five questions to contemplate, the answers to be revealed in due time. 010 TORRI HUSKE BECOMES FIRST COLLEGE SWIMMER TO SIGN WITH TYR, THANKS TO NEW NIL RULES by David Rieder As Olympian Torri Huske is about to begin her college career at Stanford, she took advantage of new NCAA rules that allow student-athletes to monetize on their name, image and likeness (NIL) rights and signed a deal with swimwear company TYR. 012 RYAN LOCHTE UNDERGOES KNEE SURGERY TO REPAIR TORN MENISCUS by David Rieder Four-time Olympian Ryan Lochte, who turned 37 earlier this month, underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus after hurting his knee while racing down an inflatable water slide, likely while playing with his two children who are 2 and 4 years old. 013 CHUCK BATCHELOR TAKING OVER AS HEAD COACH AT SWIMMAC CAROLINA by David Rieder Chuck Batchelor, the longtime head coach and co-owner of Bluefish Swim Club in Attelboro, Mass., has agreed to move to North Carolina to take over as head coach of SwimMAC Carolina in Charlotte. 014 VIETNAM SWIM COACH HUANG GUOHUI FOUND DEAD IN QUARANTINE UPON RETURN FROM OLYMPICS by Matthew De George Huang Guohui, the coach of Vietnam’s swim team at the Tokyo Olympics, died in a hotel in Hanoi during a 14-day isolation after returning from Tokyo. The cause of death had not been determined for the 57-year-old, but VnExpress reported that it is being investigated as a possible suicide. 016 THE OUTSTANDING, BUT OVERLOOKED MEN’S SWIMS FROM THE TOKYO OLYMPICS by David Rieder There were several impressive men’s performances at the Tokyo Olympics, but perhaps not “headline-grabbing”—a silver or bronze medalist or even someone just off the podium...or maybe a relay contributor. Here are a few swims on the men’s side that went a bit under-reported.
026 AMAZING GRACE: MOTHER, VICKI BUNKE, SWIMMING IN 14 SWIM-ACROSSAMERICA EVENTS TO HONOR HER DAUGHTER by David Rieder When Grace Bunke was 11, she was diagnosed with bone cancer in her left femur, which metastasized into both of her lungs. Grace beat the cancer into remission, but the disease returned in her lungs and spine when she was 14, and she passed away the day before her 15th birthday. More than three years later, swimming is the means by which her mom, Vicki, and her family honor Grace, by their full support of a cause near and dear to Grace’s heart: Swim Across America. 030 5 EYE-POPPING STATS THAT DEFINED THE TOKYO OLYMPICS, INCLUDING FASTEST MEN’S 100 FREESTYLE EVER by David Rieder What do Caeleb Dressel, Kyle Chalmers, Regan Smith, Kristof Milak, Michael Phelps, Katinka Hosszu, Yui Ohashi, Ahmed Hafnaoui, Bobby Finke and Lydia Jacoby have in common? They were all part of various storylines dealing with Olympic races in Tokyo that featured some crazy, unimaginable statistics. 032 AFTER SECOND GOLD, ASHLEIGH JOHNSON EXPOUNDS ON “MISSION” OF PROMOTING INCLUSION by Matthew De George Ashleigh Johnson won her second gold medal as the goalie of the U.S. women’s powerhouse water polo team. One of the few Black players in an overwhelmingly white sport, she is doubling down on her commitments to inclusion in the sport. 033 MAGGIE STEFFENS: MENTAL HEALTH “HUGE PART” OF JOURNEY BACK TO WATER POLO GOLD by Matthew De George For Maggie Steffens, one of the leaders of the U.S. women’s water polo team, a major reason that the Americans re-ascended the podium in Tokyo for their third straight Olympic gold medal was their ability to recognize and cope with the mental challenges. 034 PARTING SHOT
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018 THE TOP UNDER-THE-RADAR WOMEN’S PERFORMANCES FROM THE TOKYO OLYMPICS by David Rieder The Tokyo Olympics produced many stars, but here Swimming World focuses on a handful of women’s performances that, perhaps, didn’t receive as much attention as they should...in case their exploits from a long week of swimming went unnoticed. 020 POST-OLYMPICS RANKINGS: SWIMMING WORLD’S TOP 25 FEMALE PERFORMERS by David Rieder With the Olympics just concluded, it seems only reasonable that the ranking of the best swimmers in the world should be based on the performances we witnessed over nine days in Tokyo. We begin with our list of the top 25 women’s swimmers in the world.
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INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENTS Americas: Matthew De George (USA) Africa: Chaker Belhadj (TUN) Australia: Wayne Goldsmith, Ian Hanson Europe: Norbert Agh (HUN), Liz Byrnes (GBR), Camillo Cametti (ITA), Oene Rusticus (NED), Rokur Jakupsstovu (FAR) Japan: Hideki Mochizuki Middle East: Baruch “Buky” Chass, Ph.D. (ISR) South Africa: Neville Smith (RSA) South America: Jorge Aguado (ARG)
PHOTOGRAPHERS/SWTV Peter H. Bick, USA Today Sports Images, Reuters, Getty Images
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COVER PHOTO: ERICA SULLIVAN & KATIE LEDECKY BY ROB SCHUMACHER/USA TODAY SPORTS
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>> Caeleb Dressel & Kristof Milak
5 Lingering and Unanswered Questions Following the Olympic Games BY JOHN LOHN
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he Olympic Games are now two weeks in the rearview mirror, the competition at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre providing plenty of highlights amid an extremely different competitive environment. The lack of spectators was an unfortunate aspect of the Games, but a necessary decision given the COVID-19 challenges facing Japan. The typical post-Olympics lull that we are currently experiencing in the sport will come to an end shortly, thanks to the start of the third season of the International Swimming League in Naples. As we turn our attention to the resumption of action in the pool, here are five questions to contemplate, the answers to be revealed in due time. 1. Will Ahmed Hafnaoui Bolster an American College Program? One of the surprise performances of the Tokyo Games was turned in by Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui, whose triumph from Lane One in the 400-meter freestyle brought energy to the first morning of finals. Hafnaoui became just the second Tunisian to capture Olympic gold in the pool, joining Ous Mellouli, the titlist in the 1500 freestyle at the 2008 Games in Beijing. Following his triumph, Hafnaoui suggested he will bring his distance-freestyle skills to the United States next year and join a collegiate program. Where will Hafnaoui land? That is the question that remains to be answered. What is known is this: Whichever school secures the services of the 18-year-old 8
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will significantly bolster its roster with an Olympic champion with a huge upside. 2. Will the European Women Bounce Back? Out of the 42 medals available in the individual women’s events in Tokyo, only four were claimed by European athletes – and none were gold. That was a major dropoff from the 17 medals won by European women at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the 14 medals earned by Europeans at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. In Tokyo, the Europeans’ four medals all came from freestyle events, which means the continent was shut out in the stroke disciplines. Credit must be given to Sarah Sjostrom, whose silver medal in the 50 freestyle was collected on the heels of the Swede suffering a fractured elbow during a fall that prompted surgery and intense rehab just to compete at the 2020 Games. Sure, cycles are a part of the sport, and all nations – and continents – go through ups and downs. Look at Australia. In Tokyo, it rebounded from a pair of sub-par Olympics to shine. Consequently, it is a matter of time until the European women rally. The question: How soon? 3. Can Kristof Milak Catch Caeleb Dressel in the 100 Butterfly? In the 200 butterfly, Hungarian Kristof Milak knows no peer.
He owns the four-fastest times in history and won Olympic gold by more than two seconds over Japan’s Tomoru Honda. Moving forward in the 200 fly, it seems Milak is racing the clock, and chasing his world record of 1:50.73. But, can he catch Caeleb Dressel in the 100 fly? As Dressel roared to a world record of 49.45 in the shorter distance in Tokyo, Milak became the No. 2 performer of all-time with a European record of 49.68. That Milak demonstrated that type of speed augurs well for his future and sets up some exciting duels between Dressel and the Hungarian in the future, the next big clash hopefully arriving at the 2022 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
Time might have caught up with Hosszu, who also lacked her former pop in the leadup to the Games. Maybe Hosszu will rebound and put together another toptier run. Or, maybe the end of international contention has arrived. 5. When Will a 2:05 200 Breaststroke Appear? Heading into the Olympic Games, there was considerable discussion about the possibility of seeing a sub-2:06 performance in the men’s 200 breaststroke. With several athletes going 2:06 during their Olympic preparation, the barrier seemed in threat. Ultimately, Australian Zac StubbletyCook prevailed in an Olympic-record time of 2:06.38, but not one else cracked 2:07.
4. Can Katinka Hosszu Muster a Final Hurrah? Five years ago, Hungarian Katinka Hosszu was the headliner of the women’s competition at the Olympic Games. In Rio, Hosszu grabbed gold medals in both individual medley events and the 100 backstroke and added a silver medal in the 200 backstroke.
Surprisingly, world-record holder Anton Chupkov was off the podium in fourth place, and more than a second off his global standard of 2:06.12. Meanwhile, Japan’s Shoma Sato – under 2:07 on multiple occasions – was more than two seconds off his best and failed to advance to the final.
In Tokyo, Hosszu had a tough time, and her Iron Lady persona was dented. The 32-year-old finished fifth in the 400 medley, seventh in the 200 I.M. and failed to advance out of the prelims of the 200 backstroke. The undefeated Father
Perhaps the pressure of the Olympic Games affected some of the major players, but the event did not meet expectations. There is certainly plenty of talent in the event and the 2:06 threshold is within reach, but when will that day arrive? ◄
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[ Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher/USA Today Sports ]
Torri Huske Becomes First College Swimmer to Sign with TYR, Thanks to New NIL Rules BY DAVID RIEDER
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n one of the most impressive performances of this year’s U.S. Olympic Trials, 18-year-old Torri Huske dominated the women’s 100 butterfly, going out under world-record pace and setting an American record as she qualified for her first Olympic team. Six weeks later, Huske was in the hunt for gold in the event at the Tokyo Olympics up until the bitter end, only to finish fourth, one hundredth away from the bronze medal and just 0.14 away from gold. Later in the week, she would earn her first Olympic medal as she provided the butterfly leg on the U.S. women’s 400 medley relay, which captured a silver medal. And now, Huske is making more history as one of the first swimmers to sign a sponsorship deal while maintaining her NCAA eligibility. Huske will begin her college career at Stanford University next month, but taking advantage of new NCAA rules that allow student-athletes to monetize on their name, image and likeness (NIL) rights, Huske has signed a deal with swimwear company TYR. Huske wore a TYR suit in her races at the Olympics. “I’m really excited, and I could not be more thankful for this opportunity and for TYR’s support as I pursue my goals in my passion, and I look forward to a long relationship with TYR in the future. It’s very exciting that I get this opportunity,” Huske said. “I’ve worn other suits before, but at training camp in Hawaii, we suited up at practice one day, and in the middle of practice, I did a 100 fly, and I swam super-fast in the TYR suit. I wanted to try it out just to see. That’s partially
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the reason why I decided to swim in TYR, because I felt really good in their suit.” While Huske is the first college athlete on TYR’s roster of sponsored swimmers, she joins an impressive group that includes three of her teammates on the U.S. women’s Olympic team, Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel and Lilly King. Huske said that she began speaking with TYR about a deal before the Olympics, and she even got a recommendation for TYR from Ledecky at the Olympic team training camp. “We are beyond thrilled to have Torri as a member of the TYR family,” TYR Sport CEO Matt Dilorenzo said in a presss release. “As TYR’s first NIL athlete, Torri will have the opportunity to represent the brand at both international and national level competitions and pro meets. A fierce competitor, Torri’s grit and tenacity aligns perfectly with our core company values, and her talent and potential is unmatched as we look towards Paris.” The NCAA rule change allows Huske an opportunity not previously afforded to swimmers, to compete collegiately and represent a university while profiting off her likeness and her swimming success. After the 2016 Olympics, Manuel returned to Stanford and Ledecky joined Manuel on the Farm, and both competed collegiately through the 2017-18 season before choosing to go professional. King returned from Rio to Indiana University and swam all three of her remaining years of NCAA eligibility.
Each of those three won multiple gold medals in Rio, and all turned down substantial profits, between medal money and endorsement deals, to continue to swim in college. Missy Franklin faced the same dilemma after the 2012 Olympics, and she remained an amateur to swim two years at Cal before going pro. But now, Huske and her fellow NCAA-eligible swimmers — including Olympic and Stanford teammate Regan Smith — can profit where their predecessors could not. Given the circumstances, Huske is understandably thrilled about the change. “Obviously, it’s really beneficial to me, so I really am a fan of it. I think that I’m very fortunate. I don’t know what else to say other than how lucky I am because it’s falling into place at this time,” she said. Huske’s Olympic Experience Torri Huske going off the blocks at the Tokyo Olympics — Photo Courtesy: Robert Hanashiro/USA Today Sports
that culminated with the women’s 400 medley relay, where Jacoby gave the United States a lead with her breaststroke split, but Australia’s Emma McKeon closed down on Huske and star relay anchor Cate Campbell got past American anchor Abbey Weitzeil to win gold for Australia. The relay brought intense emotions for the U.S. foursome (that also included Smith on backstroke) a combination of joy in winning an Olympic medal (Huske’s first), disappointment in coming up short in such a tight finish and ending up just 0.13 away from gold and even relief that a long Olympic campaign was finished. “It was a really cool moment. It was really emotional for all of us. I feel like seeing Abbey get so emotional right after she got out of the water was almost comforting, in a way, because I feel like we all felt what she was feeling. In a way, it was comforting knowing we’re all going to the same thing and we all felt the same way. We got second by 0.13, and that was really hard. In the heat of the moment,” Huske said.
When Huske looks back on her first Olympic Games, she will fondly remember the two-week training camp in Hawaii — “It’s not a vacation. It’s a lot of work, and it’s a lot of training, but it’s also a lot of fun,” she said — and walking through the Olympic village and seeing the flags of different countries adorning the different buildings. In the village, Huske livedwith roommate Rhyan White and suitemates Lydia Jacoby, Claire Curzan, Catie DeLoof, Erika Brown, Katie Grimes and Bella Sims, and the group bonded over card games like Uno.
“I felt like, ‘What could I have done better?’ I feel like we all took a step back and were like, ‘This is amazing that we got silver. This is so cool.’ At least that’s how I thought. I can’t see the rest of them, but that’s how I viewed it. I wanted to go faster for the team, and I was kind of upset that I didn’t. 0.13, that’s nothing. I feel like I kind of had to take a step back and realize that this is a really amazing accomplishment, and everyone swam so well on that relay. And Abbey brought it home like a champ. She did so well.”
Regarding her performance, Huske is not upset, but getting fourth place in the 100 fly by one hundredth certainly stung and still stings. “There were definitely things I could have done better at the meet, but I feel like this will help me,” she said. “I’m happy that things happened the way they did happen, even though getting fourth, it obviously really hurts. But I don’t know if I would have it any other way because I feel like I took away so much from the meet and I learned so much that I feel like I will be even more motivated in the future.”
Now, Huske is on a break from swimming, resetting before she heads off to Stanford next month to begin her college career, with the support of her new sponsor TYR. She was able to connect with Stanford coach Greg Meehan while at the Olympics as Meehan was both head coach of the U.S. women’s team and Huske’s personal coach in Tokyo, while both were in contact with Huske’s club coach at Arlington Aquatic Club, Evan Stiles. Even though Huske leaves soon for the west coast, she admitted that she is a little behind on her preparations for the big move.
Huske then had four days off racing before she returned to the pool for the mixed 400 medley relay. The Americans ended up a disappointing fifth after they employed a different strategy to the rest of the field. Huske swam the butterfly leg and touched eighth by a wide margin after her leg, leaving Caeleb Dressel racing seven women but a whopping eight seconds to make up. Huske said that she did not feel like she was battling massive wake despite being so far behind, but she admitted she was completely in her own zone. Huske was so zeroed-in that as she tracked Jacoby into the wall at the end of the breaststroke leg for the relay exchange, she did not notice that Jacoby’s goggles had fallen down into her mouth. The week of racing in Tokyo was emotional and draining, and
Meanwhile, Huske is fired up about being part of an exciting future for the U.S. women’s swim team. With 10 teenagers competing in Tokyo and only three years to go until the next Olympics in Paris, many of those competitors could be back representing the United States in 2024 with the valuable experience of racing through the difficult, pandemic-affected Tokyo Games. “It’s really exciting for the future, just think of how fast this team is going to be,” Huske said. “These are the people who I’m going to be going on trips with in the future, and I’m so happy that I got to know them. And I think it’s so exciting for the future of swimming and seeing what we’re going to do. Because I know we’re all capable of going faster and that we’re still improving, so it’s very exciting.” ◄ BIWEEKLY
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[ Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick ]
Ryan Lochte Undergoes Knee Surgery to Repair Torn Meniscus BY DAVID RIEDER
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yan Lochte underwent surgery Friday to repair a torn meniscus, according to Instagram posts from both Lochte and his wife, Kayla Rae Reid. Lochte, who turned 37 earlier this month, hurt his knee while racing down an inflatable water slide, likely while playing with his two children, four-year-old son Caiden and two-year-old daughter Liv. Reid told the world the source of Lochte’s injury in an Instagram post, and she revealed the details in her Instagram story. Lochte is less than two months away from coming up short in a bid to make his fifth Olympic team. After racing at the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Games and earning at least one relay gold medal on each occasion — along with two individual golds and six other medals — he ended up seventh in the 200 IM at the 2021 Trials and then reflected on his attempted comeback in an emotional press conference shortly after. Lochte is no stranger to freak injuries, including to his knees. He has suffered from foot, shoulder, knee and groin injuries throughout his career. Before his impressive 2010 season,
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when he was named Male World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World for the first time, he barely competed in breaststroke and IM events all year after injuring his knee breakdancing, and when his knee was finally returning to full strength, he suffered a groin pull days before the 2010 U.S. Nationals, but he quickly overcame that to win National titles and Pan Pacific Championships gold medals in both IM events shortly thereafter. Then, in 2013, Lochte tore his MCL and sprained his ACL when a female fan jumped into his arms and the two fell onto concrete. The five years since Lochte’s last Olympics have been tumultuous, beginning with his suspension for his role in the infamous Rio gas station incident, where he falsely claimed he and three U.S. Olympic teammates had been robbed at gunpoint, and Lochte was also suspended in 2018 after he posted a photo of himself receiving an illegal intravenous IV infusion, and that made him miss out on his chance at qualifying for any major meets in 2018 or 2019. Lochte also did a stint in rehab for an alcohol addition. ◄
“Then, why SwimMAC? I think that’s actually pretty obvious. It’s a pretty incredible program. Kathy McKee and Russ Kasl are two of the finest coaches and people on the planet. It’s clear to me that the success of that program, it’s certainly a combination of a lot of things, but those two people being there for such a long time and just constantly doing a great job with athletes and putting great systems in place. There’s so much good there, so I’m really excited. It’s an honor to try to add something that’s already really awesome.”
[ Photo Courtesy: Sinapore Swimming Federation ]
Batchelor will be returning to the Tar Heel state after he attended and swam for the University of North Carolina in the 1990s.
Chuck Batchelor Taking Over as Head Coach at SwimMAC Carolina BY DAVID RIEDER
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huck Batchelor, the longtime head coach at Bluefish Swim Club in Attelboro, Mass., has agreed to move to North Carolina to take over as head coach of SwimMAC Carolina in Charlotte. Batchelor takes over a program that has seen a lot of transition in the past year with hopes of providing stability and leadership for one of the country’s top clubs. Batchelor is best known for coaching U.S. Olympian Elizabeth Beisel when she qualifed for her first senior national team at age 13 and her first Olympic team at age 15 and for the entirety of her age group career before she departed for the University of Florida, and Batchelor continued to play a role in Beisel’s training until the end of her career. Batchelor also coached U.S. national champion breaststroker Laura Sogar at Bluefish, and he continued to guide strong high school-aged swimmers in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts through this past season. Batchelor and his wife, Christie, own and manage the Bluefish Swim Club. “Bluefish, it’s more than just a job or a team. Sixteen years, and I think it was time. Really excited about a new adventure. It kind of frees Christie up to pursue some other things that she’s interested in, whereas at Bluefish, that would have been harder to do,” Batchelor said.
SwimMAC has gone through a year of major transition. Following previous head coach Terry Fritch’s departure, Eric Lane was interim head coach last fall before Megan Oesting began in the head coaching role on Nov. 1, 2020. But Oesting left the club on July 1, 2021, because of “differing management and cultural styles,” and Kathy McKee and Russ Kasl became the interim head coaches. SwimMAC produced five U.S. Olympic swimmers in 2016 when David Marsh coached a group of professionals under the club’s banner, and in the years since, the club has still produced elite teenage swimmers regularly. At the Speedo Summer Championships in Greensboro just last week, SwimMAC relays broke a pair of National Age Group records. Regarding the future of Bluefish Swim Club, off a year that Batchelor considers “absolutely wonderful” and “one of the best years we’ve ever had,” he said he expects the club to “row and evolve but basically that the fundamental philosophies are kept intact. We have a couple of good options of people that we’re talking to. There’s going to be good people involved that are like-minded. We’re not super motivated to make a killing off a sale of it. We’re not going to turn around and sell to the highest bidder or anything like that. It’s going to be taken care of, and we’ll be excited to watch.” At SwimMAC, Batchelor will no longer have full autonomy over the club with a parent board of directors and a leadership team including McKee, Kasl and executive director Brandi Jones in the mix, but Batchelor is excited to manage the operations with a group with the club’s and the swimmers’ best interests at heart. “They care about the success of the program and the swimmers more than anybody,” he said. “I felt like, how is that a bad thing? I’m sure, at times, there might be a difference of opinion on how to get to the end, but if we’re both trying to get to the same end, I can work with that.” ◄ BIWEEKLY
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“Coach Huang passed away on August 11,” Vietnam Chef de Mission Tran Duc Phan said in a statement. “We are in isolation, so we don’t know the situation yet and we are waiting for the result of the police investigation.”
Vietnam Swim Coach Huang Guohui Found Dead in Quarantine upon Return from Olympics BY MATTHEW DE GEORGE
Huang Guohui, the coach of Vietnam’s swim team at the Tokyo Olympics, was found dead during a quarantine upon his return to Vietnam. He was 57 years old. Huang, who is from China and also known by the Vietnamese name of Hoang Quoc Huy, died in a hotel in Hanoi during a 14-day isolation after returning from Tokyo. The news was first reported by VnExpress. The cause of death has not been determined, though a Vietnamese spokesman said in a media report that Huang had been vaccinated for COVID-19. Vietnamese Express is reporting that it is being investigated as a possible suicide.
Huang has been working with Vietnamese swimmers since 2003. He’s led them through several successful campaigns at the Asian Games and the Southeast Asian Games, which are the more important barometers of the program’s growth. Vietnam is due to host the 2021 SEA Games in Hanoi starting in late November. Huang’s pupils included Nguyen Huy Hoang and Nguyen Thi Ahn Vien. Hoang won the men’s 800 freestyle at the Youth Olympic Games in 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He had won five medals over the last two installments at the SEA Games. Vien also authored standout performances going back to the 2015 SEA Games. Hoang finished 20th in the men’s 800 free and 12th in the 1,500 free. Vien finished 26th in the women’s 200 free and 30th in the 800 free (last among the swimmers who participated in the race). ◄
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[ Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher/USA Today Sports ]
>> James Guy & Adam Peaty
The Outstanding, but Overlooked Men’s Swims From the Tokyo Olympics BY DAVID RIEDER
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t the Tokyo Olympics, Caeleb Dressel stormed to three individual Olympic golds, a total only Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps had ever previously achieved in one Olympics, and he shepherded the U.S. men to a pair of gold medals in the 400 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay. He set a world record in the 100 butterfly. Kristof Milak and Adam Peaty were among the expected stars to win Olympic gold in Tokyo, and swimmers like Evgeny Rylov and Bobby Finke joined that list with amazing performances. But which performances were very impressive but maybe not headline-grabbing — a silver or bronze medalist or even someone just off the podium, maybe a relay contributor? There were plenty of those moments over the nine days of racing in Tokyo, and after the women got their just due, here are the swims on the men’s side that went a bit under-reported.
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1. Italian Men Put Pieces Together for Medal-Winning Medley Relay Outside of distance star Gregorio Paltrinieri, Italy’s men were not expected to reach the Olympic podium much in swimming. Nicolo Martinenghi was a 100 breast medal threat, and maybe someone like Federico Burdisso in the 200 fly or Alessandro Miressi in the 100 free had a shot. Indeed, Italy’s men won three individual medals in Tokyo. But relays? Almost no one considered Italy a serious medal threat in those events, but the men ended up earning silver in the 400 freestyle relay and bronze in the 400 medley relay and taking fifth in the 800 freestyle relay. The 400 free relay silver was a total surprise as Lorenzo Zazzeri and Manuel Frigo joined Miressi and Thomas Ceccon for a briliant performance, but by the time the medley relay rolled around, we should not have been surprised to see Italy
So very quietly, Italy built a well-rounded bunch that they could deploy in the 400 medley relay, and the foursome came through. Ceccon touched second after his leg behind the United States, Martinenghi kept Italy in second (behind Great Britain), and Burdisso swam the split of his life (51.07) to hold on to third. That left Miressi to swim a gutty anchor leg and hold off Russia’s charging anchor, Kliment Kolesnikov, to win a bronze medal by five hundredths. Italy had one just one previous Olympic medal ever in a men’s relay, in the 800 freestyle relay at the 2004 Olympics, before winning two in Tokyo. Relay medals are a mark of a country’s depth and, in the case of the medley, abilities across all stroke. So Italy’s success here marked a big step in that country’s development as a swimming power. 2. James Guy Plays Key Role in Golden Moments When Great Britain began to emerge as a global swimming powerhouse in 2015, the two headliners and World Championships gold medalists were Adam Peaty and James Guy. Peaty, of course, developed into an all-everything breaststroker, while Guy has not topped the podium in an individual event at a major international meet since winning gold in the 200 free and silver in the 400 free at the 2015 World Championships. He ended up fourth in the 200 free at the 2016 Olympics. In 2017, he actually tied for World Championships bronze in the 100 fly with Joseph Schooling, but otherwise, Guy’s primary medal value has come in relays. In Tokyo, Guy was not one of Britain’s two representatives in the individual 200 free, where Tom Dean and Duncan Scott finished 1-2. But he was a huge reason why the Brits’ 800 free relay became a big favorite, and while swimming the second leg, he pulled Britain into the lead with a 1:44.40 split, second-quickest in the field behind Scott’s anchor split (1:43.45), and the gold medal was never in doubt after that. Guy’s other role at the Olympics would be to provide the butterfly leg for Great Britain’s 400 medley relays, mixed and men’s. He was scheduled to swim the 100 fly, and Guy certainly is capable of beating the 50.74 that Noe Ponti swam for bronze, but he was saving his energy for the relays. That paid off as he delivered a 50.00 split on the mixed relay to
[ Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia ]
in the hunt. Ceccon took fourth in the 100 back in 52.31, and he improved his time to 52.23 leading off the mixed medley relay. Martinenghi took bronze in the 100 breast in 58.33, and he ranked fourth all-time in that event. He had posted a 57.73 split on the mixed 400 medley relay, faster than any other man in history aside from Adam Peaty. Burdisso got bronze in the 200 fly and then barely missed the 100 fly semifinals in 17th place, but he was still capable of at least a 51-mid split. And Miressi had multiple 47.4 100 free performances to his credit before he placed sixth in the 100 free.
>> David Popovici
propel Britain into the lead, and Anna Hopkin secured gold with her sterling anchor split. The next day, Guy was just behind his mixed medley split with a 50.27 fly leg on the men’s relay. The Americans would beat Great Britain into second place in that event, but Guy finished the Olympics with an extremely respectable medal haul of two gold medals and one silver. He may not be the star of Brtain’s swim team anymore, but his value in these relay efforts was obvious. 3. Teenagers Popovici and Hwang Come Close in Freestyle Events Romania’s David Popovici, 16, and South Korea’s Hwang Sun-Woo, 18, both missed the medal podium at the Tokyo Olympics but not by much. In the 200 freestyle final, Hwang went out in a crazy 49.78 halfway split, well under worldrecord pace and one of the fastest splits in history. He could not hold it together, and he fell to seventh with a final 50 split (28.70) more than a second behind anyone else’s. At the same time, Popovici was surging home, and his 1:44.68 put him fourth, just two hundredths behind Brazilian bronze medalist Fernando Scheffer. Two days later, Hwang finished fifth in the 100 free and Popovici seventh. But as we move into the next quadrennium and look ahead towards the 2024 Olympics in Paris, you have to consider both of these men prime contenders for some big acomplishments. In the 200 free, Hwang’s best time of 1:44.62 (from prelims in Tokyo) ranks him 11th all-time, and Popovici’s 1:44.68 is good for 15th. In the 100-meter race, Popovici sits 11th ever at 47.30, and Hwang ranks 20th at 47.56. And remember, these men are both teenagers, neither in the conversation or even present at the 2019 World Championships. Both Popovici and Hwang benefitted massively from the oneyear delay of the Olympics, but with three additional years to prepare for the next Games plus this experience under their belts, they should be central figures come Paris. ◄ BIWEEKLY
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[ Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher/USA Today Sports ]
>> Kaylee McKeown & Emily Seebohm
The Top Under-the-Radar Women’s Performances From the Tokyo Olympics BY DAVID RIEDER
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he Tokyo Olympics swimming competition produced many stars, some old and some new, some expected and some surprising. On the women’s side, you think of Emma McKeon’s seven-medal performance, Ariarne Titmus‘ sensational victory over Katie Ledecky in the 400 freestyle, Ledecky winning the inaugural gold medal in the 1500 free and capturing her third straight title in the 800 free, Yui Ohashi becoming Japan’s star of the swimming portion of the Games with her two IM wins, Kaylee McKeown affirming her status as the world’s premier female backstroker and Tatjana Schoenmaker’s emergence that culminated with a world record in the women’s 200 breaststroke. But in this space, we will focus on a handful of performances that did not get so much attention, maybe a swimmer who took silver or bronze or even fourth place. This is by no means an exhaustive list of impressive swimmers from the Olympics but a few that deserve another nod in case their exploits from a long week of swimming went unnoticed. 1. Emily Seebohm Returns to Olympic Podium in 200 Backstroke McKeown’s gold medals in the 100 and 200 back were the first ever for Australia in women’s backstroke, an honor Emily Seebohm came very close to accomplishing in 2012.
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In her second Olympics, Seebohm set an Olympic record of 58.23 in the 100 back prelims but could not match that time through the next two rounds, and American Missy Franklin would edge out Seebohm for gold in the final, although Seebohm would collect her first individual Olympic medal with a silver. Four years later, Seebohm arrived at the Rio Olympics as the reigning world champion in both backstroke events and as the heavy gold-medal favorite in the 100 back, having almost broken the world record multiple times over the previous year, but she ended up a surprising seventh in the 100 back final. She ended up 12th in the 200 back. Seebohm would rebound in 2017 to earn bronze in the 100 back and an impressive gold in the 200 back at the World Championships, but by 2019, she was struggling again, and she failed to qualify for the World Championships as McKeown and Minna Atherton claimed Australia’s two slots in both backstroke events. And that’s why it meant so much for Seebohm to return to the Olympic team this year — for her fourth Games — and to earn the second individual Olympic medal of her career. Seebohm, now 29, finished fifth in the 100 back in 58.45 (matching the gold-medal winning time from 2016) and then earned a surprising bronze in the 200 back, her final time of 2:06.21 beating American Rhyan White for the last spot on the podium by two tenths.
“Pretty unbelievable. I didn’t think I would get this (medal) again,” Seebohm said. “I’m just so grateful because it’s so hard, getting on this team every year, and it’s something that I hold so special to my heart these days. I’ve had the time of my life here.” 2. After Disappointing 1500 Free, Simona Quadarella Rebounds with 800 Bronze In 2019, Italy’s Simona Quadarella was the world champion in the 1500 freestyle, claiming the honor in the absence of an ill Katie Ledecky. Quadarella came close to winning the 800 free world title, too, as she and Ledecky battled for 750 meters before Ledecky managed one final surge on the last 50 to pull away and claim gold. After her 2019 success, many expected the 22-year-old Quadarella to be in the hunt for medals in the 1500 free in Tokyo, but after a strong start had her in second and third place for much of the race, Quadarella faded and finished fifth, more than 11 seconds out of the medal picture and more than 13 seconds slower than her world-title winning time from 2019. Quadarella still had one more chance at capturing a medal in Tokyo, in the 800 free, so she pulled off one of the hardest feats in swimming: put a bad swim in the past and refocus for the next one. “I tried to delete the performance in the 1500, and the 800 was another chance for me,” Quadarella said. “I tried to reset my head. I wanted to get this medal.” And indeed she did get that medal. Ledecky and Ariarne Titmus finishing first and second (in some order) was basically a foregone conclusion before the race, so Quadarella would have to take on swimmers like 15-year-old American Katie Grimes, 1500 free bronze medalist Sarah Kohler and Chinese star Wang Jianjiahe to try to earn a medal. Quadarella was fourth or worse for the first half of the race, but she moved ahead of Grimes on the ninth of 16 lengths and never surrerendered that advantage. Quadarella finished in 8:18.35, more than three seconds off her best time, but she had secured that elusive Olympic medal. 3. Teenagers From USA and UVA Rush the Podium in Individual Medley The United States had been in a dry spell in the women’s IM events, with only one World Championships medal (Madisyn Cox’s 200 IM bronze in 2017) since the 2016 Olympics. That changed in a big way in Tokyo as a trio of teenagers along with veteran (but IM newcomer) Hali Flickinger swept all the podium spots behind gold medalist Yui Ohashi. And that
[ Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher/USA Today Sports ]
To cap off the immensely satisfying moment, gold medalist McKeown invited Seebohm to the top step of the podium as “Advance Australia Fair” echoed through the Olympic Aquatic Centre.
>>Alex Walsh & Kate Douglass
happened in very impressive fashion. In the 400 IM on day one in Tokyo, 19-year-old Emma Weyant was fourth at the halfway point and moved up to second on the breaststroke leg behind Ohashi. She still trailed by two seconds at the last turn, but she made up more than half of that deficit to put a scare into the Japanese gold medalist. Weyant claimed silver in 4:32.76, her time good enough to move her to 17th all-time in the event and fifth ever among Americans. Three days later, two other 19-year-old Americans joined Ohashi on the podium in the 200 IM. Alex Walsh led the field after 150 meters by just seven hundredths over Ohashi, with Kate Douglass in close pursuit. On the last 50, Walsh faced the tall task of trying to hold off Ohashi while Douglass was surging ahead of everyone else in the race. At the finish, Ohashi barely got ahead of Walsh to win gold, 2:08.52 to 2:08.65, and Douglass took bronze in 2:09.04. In their first Olympic final, both women swam their lifetime best performances, with Walsh moving to 17th all-time (fourth among Americans) and Douglass to 23rd in history (eighth among Americans). And all three of those Olympic medalist teenagers, Weyant, Walsh and Douglass, swim for the University of Virginia. Douglass is a rising junior, Walsh a rising sophomore and Weyant will begin her first year in Charlottesville after deferring in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That trio represents the present and the bright future in the IM events for the United States. “We’re doing really well, but I think it’s a huge learning opportunity for us. I am really excited for the rest of my career having this meet under my belt,” Walsh said. “I couldn’t be prouder of us. We’re making a statement, which I think is great.” Douglass added, “It has been great watching my USA teammates medal (and) do amazing things, so it was a nice chance for us to do that together. It was awesome we were able to do that.” ◄ BIWEEKLY
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[ Photo Courtesy: Robert Hanashiro/USA TODAY Sports ]
Post-Olympics Rankings: Swimming World’s Top 25 Female Performers BY DAVID RIEDER
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ith the Olympics just concluded, it seems only reasonable that the ranking of the best swimmers in the world should be based on the performances we witnessed over nine days in Tokyo. The Olympics are swimming’s apex, so Olympic success defines career résumés, and the athletes certainly deserve the opportunity to rest on their Olympic laurels for a while. So now that we have had some time to process the results of the Games, who are the top swimmers in the world? As usual, we will begin with the women, and the obvious candidates for the top five spots are the five swimmers who each won two individual gold medals in Tokyo. Coincidentally, three of those five swimmers are Australians, and they led Australia to a resurgent Olympics, so it should be no surprise to see a heavy Australian presence atop this list. Each of those five swimmers produced some magical, emotional moments at the Games, but based on a full body of work, including relays, there is an obvious choice for the top spot. 1. Emma McKeon, Australia Emma McKeon is not a new face to the international swimming scene. She has been on every Australian relay at an international meet since 2013! But only in recent years has she finally started to emerge as a renowned contender individually. She took bronze in the 200 freestyle at the 2016 Olympics, but her development in the 100 butterfly and, more recently, the 100 freestyle and 50 freestyle convinced McKeon to skip the 200-meter race for Tokyo. Instead, the 27-year-old McKeon took bronze in the 100 fly and then
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won gold medals in the 100 free and 50 free, swimming the second-fastest time ever in the 100 free and moving into the all-time top five in the other events. She was the strongest leg on gold-medal winning 400 free and 400 medley relays and provided important legs on 800 free and mixed 400 medley relays that each took bronze. McKeon won seven medals at the Olympics, more than any female swimmer at any Olympics ever. McKeon was the most valuable female swimmer of the Olympics, and she is the top female swimmer in the world. 2. Ariarne Titmus, Australia McKeon was dominant over the entirety of the Tokyo Olympics, but 20-year-old Ariarne Titmus got some consideration for the top spot since her performance in the 400 freestyle was the single best swim of any woman in Tokyo. Titmus stayed within range of world-record holder Katie Ledecky and then pulled ahead of her on the final two lengths, then held tough as Ledecky clawed back. It was an amazing race, and it took the second-fastest time ever for Titmus to win gold. She then won the 200 free in the thirdfastest swim in history and took silver behind Ledecky in the 800 while staying not very far behind. Titmus also led off Australia’s bronze-medal effort in the 800 free relay. 3. Kaylee McKeown, Australia It’s a clean sweep for the Aussies in the top three spots. Kaylee McKeown was not quite as sharp in Tokyo as she had been earlier in the year — when she broke the 100 backstroke world record and became the third-fastest swimmer ever in
[ Photo Courtesy: Robert Hanashiro/USA TODAY Sports ]
the 200 backstroke — but she was pretty darn close. McKeown won a highlyanticipated duel with Kylie Masse and Regan Smith in the 100 back and then pulled away to lead an Aussie 1-3 with Emily Seebohm in the 200 back. She led off Australia’s 400 medley relay and touched first after her leg, giving her team just enough of an edge to take down the Americans for gold by 0.13. McKeown skipped the 200 IM at the Olympics to focus on backstroke, but she still holds the world’s fastest time at 2:08.19. And had she swum the 400 IM in Tokyo, she likely could have challenged for gold there, too. >> Maggie MacNeil
4. Katie Ledecky, USA Thanks to the Australian dominance in Tokyo, Katie Ledecky falls a few spots from her position on this list at the start of the year, although she still has by far the strongest career résumé of any active female swimmer. If Ledecky was a shocking upstart at her first Olympics in London and then utterly dominant and recordsetting in Rio, her Tokyo performance was about resilience. When Titmus challenged her in the 400 free, Ledecky dug deep for her fastest performance in five years and the secondbest mark of her career. When she finished fifth in the 200 free final, she came back an hour later and took gold in the 1500 free. The next day, she posted a much faster split on the 800 free relay (the fastest in the entire field) to lead the Americans to silver. And finally, she added a bit of history when she won her third straight Olympic gold in the 800 free, becoming just the third woman to ever threepeat in any event. 5. Yui Ohashi, Japan A swimmer sweeps the individual medley events at an Olympics and is just the fifth-best swimmer in the world? Usually, such results would generate a better placement for Yui Ohashi, undoubtedly the swimming star of the Olympics for the home country, but the three Australians and Ledecky were a little bit better over the course of the week. Still, Ohashi was masterful in both the 400 IM and 200 IM, using mastery of all four strokes to fend off challenges from teenage American challenges (Emma Weyant in the 400 IM and Alex Walsh in the 200 IM). Prior to Tokyo, Ohashi had achieved so much success on all levels, but she had never won gold at a global competition and she had never swum at an Olympics, let alone win a medal. She checked off all those boxes in two impressive Tokyo performances. 6. Zhang Yufei, China China’s Zhang Yufei is not a new name to the international swimming scene. She was a bronze medalist in the 200
butterfly at the World Championships back in 2015, and she has won two other World Championships relay medals. In 2019, she tied for 13th in the 100 fly and 26th in the 200 fly. But in the interim two years, she took an enormous step forward, and that helped her earn for medals in Tokyo, two of them gold. She blasted a 55.64 for silver in the 100 fly to finish just five hundredths behind gold medalist Maggie MacNeil, and Zhang ranks third all-time in that event. She then dominated the 200 fly final, with her 2:03.86 moving her to third all-time in the event and making her the fastest swimmer ever in a textile suit. She also played key roles on China’s gold-medal winning 800 freestyle relay (despite hardly ever swimming the 200 free) and silver-medal winning mixed 400 medley relay. 7. Tatjana Schoenmaker, South Africa Tatjana Schoenmaker made her international debut in 2018, when she won gold in the 200 breaststroke at the Commonwealth Games. A silver in the event at the World Championships followed one year later. The 24-year-old owned the top time in the world in the 200 breast heading into the Olympics, but in the 100 breast? Outside medal shot at best. Well, she very nearly won the race, setting an Olympic record in prelims and earning a silver medal, ahead of defending champion and heavy favorite Lilly King. When she returned to her signature 200 breast, she came within hundredths of breaking the world record in each of the first two rounds before smashing through that record in the final, her 2:18.95 earning her Olympic gold and making her the first woman to ever break 2:19 in the event. Schoenmaker’s two medals made her the first South African woman to win an Olympic swimming medal since 2000 and the first to win gold since 1996 — when South Africa did not even enter a single female swimmer at the previous Olympics. Continued >> BIWEEKLY
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[ Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher/USA Today Sports ]
8. Maggie MacNeil, Canada Despite entering the Olympics as defending world champion in the 100 butterfly, it was easy to sleep on Maggie MacNeil when swimmers like McKeon, Zhang and Torri Huske had been dropping impressive performances in the event all year. MacNeil, meanwhile, swam the final from lane seven. Her most amazing efforts in the two years since the World Championships had all come in the short course yards format. But she put together an amazing swim when it mattered. She turned seventh at the halfway point, but her signature closing speed (a 29.09 split that was almost a half-second faster than anyone else in the field) allowed MacNeil to secure gold. Her >> Lydia Jacoby time was 55.59, making her the second-fastest performer in history. MacNeil actually won three and moving her into a tie for sixth all-time. medals in Tokyo as she helped Canada secure silver in the 400 freestyle relay and bronze in the 400 medley 11. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden relay, where her fly split of 55.27 was the fastest in the field Sarah Sjostrom left Tokyo with a single silver medal. And and second-fastest in history. that’s a phenomenal performance for the 27-year-old from near Stockholm. Sjostrom fractured her elbow in February 9. Lilly King, USA and went through a months-long recovery process to try to Tokyo was not the Olympics Lilly King had expected. She get back to close to top form prior to Tokyo. She ended up was unbeaten in the 100 breaststroke for six years, but finishing seventh in the 100 fly and fifth in the 100 free, both both Schoenmaker and American teenager Lydia Jacoby events where she holds the world record, but her best chance finished ahead of King in that event. She was more than a at a medal in this comeback was in the 50 freestyle, and there half-second off her season-best time and a full second off she earned the silver in 24.07. Her abilities to swim very her lifetime best. But King still secured a bronze medal in respectable times with less-than-perfect preparation indicate that race, and she was brilliant in the 200 breast, capturing that Sjostrom still has a lot left in the tank, which we could the first international medal of her career in the longer race. see in the next few months on the short course circuit. The She had spent years struggling to master the right strategy in full picture of Sjostrom’s swimming career maintains her that event, and she chose to use her natural speed. She faded high ranking here. down the stretch, but it paid off in a 2:19.92, making her just the second American woman to ever break 2:20 and earning 12. Lydia Jacoby, USA her a silver medal. Even without being perfect, King was still Here we have the absolute breakout star of the Olympics. one of the best breaststrokers in the world this year. Lydia Jacoby was nowhere on the radar for even the most interested U.S. swimming fans as recently as early April, and 10. Siobhan Haughey, Hong Kong before Olympic Trials, she was merely a longshot contender Siobhan Haughey was certainly a medal threat heading into the Tokyo Olympics, particularly in a 200 freestyle where to qualify for the Olympic team in the 100 breaststroke. But she placed fourth and just two tenths off the podium at the it quickly became clear that this 17-year-old from Alaska — 2019 World Championships. But Haughey came close to not at all a swimming hotbed and a state which had never stealing the gold medal away from the favorites as she led at produced an Olympic swimmer — was the real deal. She the 100-meter mark and then led by more than a half-second entered the Olympics with medal potential in the 100 breast, at the final turn. Ariarne Titmus ended up passing her, but but gold was never on the table, at least not until she swam Haughey ended up with a very impressive silver medal and a in the final and turned very close to favorites King and final time of 1:53.92 that made her the fifth-fastest performer Schoenmaker. Then, Jacoby had the fastest second 50 split in history behind Federica Pellegrini, Titmus, Allison Schmitt with her 34.21, and she won a shocking Olympic gold medal. and Katie Ledecky. But where Haughey really surprised Later in the week, she performed very well swimming the people was in the 100 free, an event where she tied for 10th breaststroke leg on two American medley relays. Even with at the 2019 Worlds. In Tokyo, Haughey tried to stick with her goggles famously coming off on the mixed-gender relay, favorite Emma McKeon and ended up earning a silver medal, Jacoby still split 1:05.09. her time of 52.27 dropping seven tenths from her best time
13. Kylie Masse, Canada Kylie Masse was a breakout backstroker at the 2016 Olympics, when she earned bronze in the 100 back, and she has been a consistent international presence since. She arrived in Rio as the two-time world champion in the 100 back and she had gone under 58 for the first time in her career this year, but the path to gold was always going to be tough with Kaylee McKeown and Regan Smith in the race. Masse put together an awesome race to take silver, and she earned another silver in the 200 back with a gutty effort that saw her lead through 150 meters before McKeown accelerated to a different gear on the last 50. And Masse was the leadoff leg on Canada’s bronze-medal-winning 400 medley relay. She has been a rock for a young and still rising Canadian women’s program over the past few years. 14. Regan Smith, USA 2021 was a mixed bag for Regan Smith. She won her first Olympic medals and emerged as one of the world’s top 200 butterflyers as she stormed home to win Olympic silver in the event, her 2:05.30 moving her to 13th all-time and second among Americans. But in the backstroke events, she could not find the world-record-breaking form she showed in 2019. She ended up with an Olympic bronze medal in the 100 back, although at one point she did swim a 57.64 that is just seven hundredths off her best time, but she did not qualify for the U.S. Olympic team in the 200 back, where she still holds the world record. The one-year delay of the Olympics was definitely a detriment to Smith, but even though she has been on the international scene for years, she is still only 19 years old. 15. Penny Oleksiak, Canada Speaking of swimmers that have seemingly been around forever, Penny Oleksiak slots in 15th on this list. Oleksiak was the shocking co-gold medalist in the 100 freestyle in 2016 when she was just 16 years old, and she had some significant struggles during the five-year period between Rio and Tokyo, but she was really good this time. She anchored Canada’s 400 freestyle relay in 52.26 to pull her squad three hundredths ahead of the United States (and Simone Manuel, with whom she tied for the 100 free Olympic gold five years ago) for the silver medal. After taking silver in the 100 fly in Rio, she did not swim the event, but she did earn a bronze medal in the 200 free, plus another bronze on the 400 medley relay. Oleksiak also took fourth in the 100 free — despite beating her winning time from the last Games. She now owns seven Olympic medals, more than any Canadian Olympian in any sport, summer or winter, ever. 16. Cate Campbell, Australia Gone are the days when Cate Campbell is the consensus top female sprinter in the world, as she was prior to the 2016 Olympics. But at age 29 and in her fourth Olympics,
Campbell got a measure of redemption after fading badly in the 100 freestyle final five years earlier by hanging tough and earning a bronze medal. Campbell also has history as a clutch and consistent relay performer for Australia, and she was just that in Tokyo, bringing home the 400 free relay and 400 medley relay to gold medals. Her splits were not in the 50-second-range she has previously touched, but just the presence of Cate Campbell on the anchor leg remains daunting for her opponent. 17. Hali Flickinger, USA Hali Flickinger swam in her second Olympics in Tokyo and earned two bronze medals, maybe a slight disappointment considering she had aspirations of gold in the 200 butterfly after recording the world’s fastest time in 2019, but consider how far Flickinger had come in five years. Back in 2016, she was barely an Olympic finalist in one event, and she did not make the World Championships final in the 200 fly in 2017. She has been front and center in every major final in that event ever since. Meanwhile, she swam the 400 IM internationally for the first time this year and earned a bronze medal — all after spending years insisting she hated the 400 IM and would not compete in it. Flickinger’s versatility and consistency across several years gives her this spot. 18. Alex Walsh, USA Alex Walsh had never qualified for a senior U.S. team before this year, when she won the 200 IM at U.S. Olympic Trials, but she completely looked like she belonged on that stage in Tokyo. She earned an Olympic silver in the 200 IM after holding the lead in the Olympic final through 150 meters. Freestyle is probably her weakest stroke, but she was fighting hard to keep pace with Japanese Olympic champion Yui Ohashi down the stretch. So now, Walsh is a 2:08 200 IMer — but what else? Well, she is actually extremely versatile, even if she did not show it this summer. She is an elite backstroker (2019 Pan American Games champion in the 200 back) and breaststroker (particularly in short course). We might see Walsh, now 20, emerge as a force in some other events down the line, too. 19. Emma Weyant, USA The third straight American on this list and the second straight University of Virginia Cavalier, Emma Weyant is another swimmer long considered an up-and-comer who looked the part in her Olympic debut. Weyant only swam one event at the Tokyo Olympics, the 400 IM, but she qualified first out of prelims and then posed a legitimate challenge to Yui Ohashi for the gold medal. She ended up swimming a 4:32.76 that ranks her as the fourth-fastest American ever in the event. Weyant deferred her enrollment at UVA for one year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so look for Weyant to continue her progression into one of the world’s top IMers and maybe add some events to the program while in Charlottesville. Continued >>
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20. Yang Junxuan, China While Zhang Yufei was the golden face of the Chinese women’s impressive Olympics, Yang Junxuan played a key role by setting the table for a stunning relay triumph. Yang had been 1:54 in the 200 free before, and she had placed fifth in the event at the 2019 World Championships as just a 17-year-old. She did not swim her best in the 200 free final at the Olympics, placing fourth in 1:55.01. But Yang rebounded majorly one day later by leading off China’s 800 free relay in 1:54.37, well ahead of the bronze-medal winning time in Tokyo and good enough to beat 200 free gold medalist Sarah Sjostrom to the wall. Yang gave China momentum in that relay, and that would pay off as three less-proven 200 freestylers lifted China to gold. And Yang would get another shot at relay heroics as she held off Emma McKeon for silver as the anchor swimmer in the mixed 400 medley relay.
Bingjie was the only individual medalist for the Chinese women in Tokyo. Li first emerged as a force internationally as a 15-year-old at the 2017 World Championships, when she took silver in the 800 free and bronze in the 400 free. Two years later, Li did not make the final in either event. But in 2021, the now-19-year-old Li brought her best form to the Tokyo Games. In the 400 free, with the world engrossed by the battle between Ariarne Titmus and Katie Ledecky for gold, Li produced a phenomenal final 100 meters to get past 14-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh and take bronze, her time of 4:01.08 improving her to seventh all-time and fourth-fastest ever in textile. A few days later, Li anchored the 800 free relay in 1:55.30, much quicker than her lifetime best and especially impressive with Ledecky anchoring for the Americans and closing fast.
21. Erica Sullivan, USA Every swimmer who won an individual gold or silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics is represented on this list, and Erica Sullivan is no exception. Sullivan, who turned 21 shortly after the Games, broke away from the 1500 freestyle field at the U.S. Olympic Trials to place second behind Katie Ledecky, and then overcame a large deficit to earn a silver medal in the final. In fact, Sullivan was as far back as seventh place at one point (at the 250-meter mark), and even one-third of the way through, she was four seconds out of second place. She was still fifth after 1100 meters. But she slowly chipped away and passed swimmer after swimmer, and her last 1000 was significantly quicker than anyone else’s, even gold medalist Ledecky. Sullivan earned silver in 15:41.41, sparking an emotional moment with Ledecky at the finish, and Sullivan now ranks fourth all-time in the 1500 free, ahead of Kate Ziegler and Janet Evans as the No. 2 American ever.
24. Torri Huske, USA Torri Huske did not win an individual medal at the Olympics, but she came really, really close in a very impressive effort. After swimming a 55.66 American record in the 100 butterfly at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Huske went out fast in the Olympic final and looked to be in the lead with five meters to go. But in a blanket finish, Canada’s Maggie MacNeil, China’s Zhang Yufei and Australia’s Emma McKeon got in just ahead of Huske, with all four swimmers separated by just 0.14. Huske’s time was 55.73, just 0.07 off her American record and a painful one hundredth behind bronze medalist McKeon. Huske would later rebound to earn silver as part of the U.S. women’s 400 medley relay with a respectable 56.16 fly split. At age 18, Huske is by far the youngest of that group of top finishers in the 100 fly, so expect to see her at the top level for a long time, and she also is talented in other events, like the sprint freestyles and even the 200 IM.
22. Simona Quadarella, Italy Simona Quadarella was one of the world’s top distance specialists in 2019, claiming the world title in the 1500 free (when Katie Ledecky missed the race with an illness) and picking up a silver in the 800 free after a hard-fought duel with Ledecky. In Tokyo, however, she did not have that same form. She was in second place through the halfway point but faded badly and ended up fifth, 11 seconds out of the medals. But three days later, Quadarella would dispatch a challenge from 15-year-old American rookie Katie Grimes to claim bronze in the 800 free. It was a remarkable show of perseverance and grit after her signature event did not go as planned at all. Even though Quadarella’s time in the 800 free (8:18.35) was more than three seconds off her lifetime best, her ability to bounce back and her track record over the past several years are worthy of our attention. 23. Li Bingjie, China Aside from 200 butterfly gold medalist Zhang Yufei, Li 24
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25. Summer McIntosh, Canada There are plenty of teenage swimmers scattered throughout this list, but Summer McIntosh is three years younger than any of them. She is just 14 years old, and while she did not earn any medals in Tokyo, she came really close. After smashing her best times all year, she chopped off another three seconds in the 400 freestyle to place fourth in 4:02.42, and she was actually in third place the entire race until Li bolted home over the final length. Then, after she narrowly missed the 200 free final with a ninth-place performance, McIntosh led off Canada’s 800 free relay in 1:55.74 to set up the Canadians for a medal run, although they ultimately finished fourth. Having that kind of improvement and success at just 14 has put McIntosh on everyone’s radar, and she will be on the list of contenders in the freestyle events as soon as next year’s World Championships. ◄
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[ Photo Courtesy: Swim Across America ]
>> Vicki Bunke
Amazing Grace: Mother, Vicki Bunke, Swimming in 14 Swim-Across-America Events to Honor Her Daughter BY DAVID RIEDER
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wimming was never part of the Bunke family’s life. Daughters Grace and Caroline played soccer and ran. Vicki Bunke, their mother, knew how to swim but never swam seriously. “I wouldn’t have drowned,” Vicki said. “But I splashed around. I didn’t swim. I had never swum a lap before.” But when Grace was 11 years old, she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (bone cancer) in her left femur, and it had metastasized into both of her lungs. That earth-shattering diagnosis would forever impact the family, but it also brought swimming into the Bunkes’ lives. Grace beat the cancer into remission, but when she was 14, the disease returned, this time in her lungs and her spine. Grace passed away the day before her 15th birthday. And more than three years later, swimming is the means by which Vicki and her family honor Grace, by their full support of a cause near and dear to Grace’s heart. When Grace’s cancer returned in 2017, she became acquainted with Swim Across America, which had made the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Children’s Hospital of Atlanta one of its beneficiaries. Since its first event in 1987, Swim Across America has held charity swims throughout the country to raise money for cancer research. Each swim raises money to donate to a local medical organization funding
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projects seeking new treatments and therapies for various cancers. Grace already knew her long-term prognosis was poor when she learned about the one-mile race taking place in Atlanta through Swim Across America, but she was desperate to participate. So she pulled out all stops to make sure she could swim. “She wanted to participate so badly and swim the mile that she stopped her chemotherapy regimen because the chemotherapy wasn’t allowing her to swim,” Vicki said. “So she swam the mile in Lake Lanier for Swim Across America. This is in 2017, September 2017, and she ended up being the top fundraiser in Atlanta. She swam with one of our nurses. And it was really kind of a magical day. It was awesome. “They have kindred passions, curing cancer and swimming” Grace was starting high school at the time, and she was even able to race for her team in a handful of high school meets before her condition worsened in early 2018. She had every intention of participating in Swim Across America when it returned to Atlanta later that year, but Grace realized she
would not be able to compete. So she presented her mother with a new plan.
little bit about her personality that she chose something that unique just because she wanted to be active,” Vicki said.
“When she knew she wasn’t going to be able to swim, she challenged me to swim in her place, and she wanted to be the top national fundraiser,” Vicki recalled. “She said, ‘I won’t be there in person, but I’ll be there in spirit.’”
Grace planned to have a special prosthetic built for running, but before that was completed, she tried swimming for the first time, simply to stay in shape. “But then she fell in love with swimming,” Vicki said.
So that’s how Vicki, she who “had never swum a lap before,” got involved in swimming. Vicki joined with Dr. Karen Wasilewski, one of Grace’s oncologists, to participate in a SwimAtlanta Masters group with Coach Pat Eddy, who had been Grace’s coach. The two would be preparing to swim one mile in just a few months.
Grace practiced and eventually competed with SwimAtlanta, and she also swam with an adaptive sports group called Blaze Sports and eventually connected with Paralympic swimming officials. But from the beginning of her life post-amputation, she chased any opportunity she could to swim, all the way up until her condition deteriorated in her final weeks.
“I actually went to the first practice wearing a scuba mask because I didn’t know how to breathe,” Vicki said. Eddy’s response was, “I don’t want to hear anything. All you need to do is get in the water and get to that end of the pool and back.”
By that point, swimming and Swim Across America had become so central in Grace’s life that Vicki’s excursion into the water would not be for just one single event.
After a few early hiccups, Vicki began to get the hang of swimming, and she did complete the swim in 2018, with Wasilewski swimming with her. And that’s how Vicki Brunke’s journey with Swim Across America began. Grace’s Inspiration When Grace was first diagnosed, she underwent a 10-month treatment protocol, and doctors realized her leg would have to be amputated. The diseased portion of Grace’s leg was above the knee, so she chose to undergo a unique procedure called rotationplasty. You had to get the tumor out, so it would have been up here,” Vicki said, pointing to the upper leg, “but why waste all the healthy leg?”
“We did the first year, and then Grace had wanted to do the 5K the next year, so we did the 5K in Atlanta,” Vicki said. “We used fins because there’s no way we would have finished on time. We’re slower. But we did it. With fins.” In late 2019, she thought of her next goal: complete 14 different swims in one year, representing the number of years Grace lived. She had originally intended to complete the daunting task in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled all SAA in-person events that year. So the challenge was pushed to 2021. “I’m doing it because I feel like I was compelled to do it. I was sitting in a Swim Across America sponsorship lunch in an auditorium. It is like someone, like a friend who is sitting next to me, leaned over and said, ‘Vicki, you need to do 14 of these next year,’ and that’s literally what happened,” Vicki said.
In rotationplasty, doctors amputate the leg near the thigh “I leaned over to the person next to me, and I said, ‘Are there but then turn around the calf and foot 180 degrees and reattach them. So the Continued >> backwards ankle and foot now serve SWIM MART as the knee joint, and a prosthetic can be attached below that. “She now has a knee, even though it’s her ankle, and it’s meant to bear weight, whereas your thigh isn’t,” Vicki said. “When her foot was in her prosthetic, you couldn’t tell that her foot was on backwards.” With this procedure, Grace would technically be a below-the-knee amputee, and she hoped she could participate in activities she had enjoyed prior to her diagnosis. “It shows you a
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[ Photo Courtesy: Swim Across America ]
especially impressive turnout. Wasilewski joined Bunke in the 1.5-mile swim, while Caroline Bunke, Grace’s younger sister, swam in the one-half mile event along with several of her friends. Caroline, now 16, is not a swimmer, but her mother described her as “athletic enough” to handle even the 1.5-mile swim, if she wanted to. The swim took place on a sunny Sunday morning, beginning just after 8:30 a.m. The race asked swimmers to swim straight out into the ocean and then go parallel to shore before turning towards the beach at the finish. Tropical weather offshore made conditions extremely choppy and difficult to swim through, but that did not dampen the mood of Grace’s friends and family swimming in her honor. Remaining swims on the tour include Chicago on August 21, followed by St. Louis, Denver, Seattle, Baltimore, Dallas and finally, at home in Atlanta on October 3. She will have a swim every weekend until then except for Labor Day weekend.
>> Grace Bunke in 2017
14?’ I just didn’t even know. It’s really an idea that originated outside of myself. I felt compelled that I actually had to do it. And then obviously symbolically, Grace lived for 14 years. That’s how it actually started. I kind of thought it was a crazy idea, and then Rob Butcher said, ‘I hear you’re willing to do 14.’ I’m like, ‘Willing? Oh my gosh. I want to do this.’ Just do support from different people, it’s been able to happen.” The “Amazing Grace” tour began on May 8, Mother’s Day weekend, in Tampa. Next up, Bunke swam three events in July, in Detroit, Nantucket and Larchmont, N.Y., followed by a pair of events the first weekend of August on Long Island and then in Fairfield County, Conn. Sunday, August 15, brought her to Kiawah Island, S.C., located 45 minutes south of Charleston. Bunke had flown to each of the previous stops on the tour, but she drove the five hours to the South Carolina coast for this ocean swim. When Swim Across America offers multiple distances of swimming at an event, Bunke has to do the one-mile swim or the distance greater than one mile. “I can’t do anything less than a mile because Grace would not approve,” she said. “I would never do less than a mile because it would insult Grace. It wouldn’t go well. I feel like I would be jinxing myself.” The Kiawah swim offered 1.5-mile and one-half-mile options, so Bunke swam in the longer one. Friends and family were joining her at each stop of the tour, and Kiawah brought an 28
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Symbolic reasons aside, why is Bunke swimming 14 open water races? For Caroline. “This sounds so cliché. I’m sure a lot of people say they’re best friends with their sibling. They really were. Caroline feels like they were meant to be that close because in the end, they weren’t going to have that much time together,” Bunke said. “Caroline was 9 (when Grace was diagnosed with cancer), so she lived a large part of her life watching Grace go through all this. I swim also for Caroline and to recognize the loss she experienced and hopefully, by raising money, fewer people will have to experience that same loss.” The purpose of Swim Across America, of course, is to raise money for cancer research, and for this 2021 season, Team Amazing Grace has raised over $88,000. Bunke said the original goal for the season was $100,000, but they are aiming higher now, for $115,000. And after this year, the Bunke family will not be done with Swim Across America, even if Vicki might not again attempt 14 swims in just a few months. “I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve actually been able to figure out a way to really carry on what I think Grace would want me to do in her memory,” Bunke said. “It hasn’t been easy, and it can be difficult because a lot of the events, I love sharing stories about Grace, but at the same time, it’s also difficult. It’s kind of like, I’m in the water and swimming, and this organization was Grace’s happy place. It’s kind of like I can borrow some of the joy that she experienced while I’m doing it.” ◄
[ Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher/USA Today Sports ]
>>Kyle Chalmers & Caeleb Dressel
5 Eye-Popping Stats That Defined the Tokyo Olympics, Including Fastest Men’s 100 Freestyle Ever BY DAVID RIEDER
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welve years ago, the 2009 World Championships saw the sport of swimming taken to insane new levels of speed as swimmers embraced full-body, polyurethane suits that would be banned from the sport months later. Swimmers broke 43 world records that week, seven of which still stand. Most of the finals and podiums were faster than any other heat in history. In particular, in the men’s 100 freestyle saw two-time defending world champion Filippo Magnini swim a 48.04 and finish ninth. You did not get into the final unless you swam under 48 seconds. That never happened again until the Tokyo Olympics. The cutoff time to make the 2016 Olympic final was 48.23. At the 2017 World Championships, 48.31, and two years later, 48.33. But in Tokyo, Serbia’s Andrej Barna swam a 47.94 in the semifinals — and placed ninth. Andrei Minakov, Zach Apple and Thomas Ceccon all swam 48.0s. Teenagers Jacob Whittle and Joshua Liendo were in the 48.1 range. Canada’s Yuri Kisil touched in 48.31, which would have at least tied for eighth at each of the past two World Championships, and that was good enough for 15th place. On the other side of the brutal cutline for the final, France’s Maxime Grousset placed eighth in 47.82 — the exact same time that won bronze at the World Championships just two years earlier. So while Caeleb Dressel and Kyle Chalmers almost exactly repeated their epic gold-medal battle, the rest of the field behind them had massively elevated the level of competition.
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But the men’s 100 free was not the only Olympic race that featured some crazy statistics. Here are four more. Regan Smith Faster Than Any Other 100 Backstroke World or Olympic Champion In 2019, Regan Smith led a gigantic leap forward in the 100 backstroke when she swam a 57.57 leading off the women’s 400 medley relay at the World Championships. But in 2021, Smith struggled in the backstroke events while Australia’s Kaylee McKeown and Canada’s Kylie Masse caught up. In the Olympic final, Smith could not keep pace with those two rivals as McKeown won gold in 57.47, just two hundredths off her month-old world record, and Masse was second in 57.73. Smith earned bronze in 58.05. That time would have won every previous major international final ever. At the last World Championships, Masse’s gold-medalwinning time was 58.60. The world record at the time belonged to Kathleen Baker at 58.00, and at the Worlds before that, Masse had broken an eight-year-old supersuit world record with her 58.10. Smith finishing three tenths away from silver shows just how much that event has improved in an incredibly short period of time. So while Smith’s time did not stack up to her previous remarkable swims, it was still remarkable by any standard other than this year’s. Kristof Milak Beats Almost Every Phelps Winning Margin Prior to the men’s 200 butterfly final in Tokyo, Kristof Milak’s suit ripped, and he had to change last-minute. The
But he merely swam a 1:51.25, breaking Michael Phelps’ Olympic record and swimming faster than any other man ever had. And he >> Yui Ohashi won by 2.48 seconds over Japan’s Tomoru Honda. Phelps won three Olympic golds in the event in 2004, 2008 and 2016, and the biggest margin of victory in those races was 0.67 in 2008. So Milak’s margin was three times greater! In an off race. Meanwhile, Phelps won five world titles in the 200 fly (2001, 2003, 2007, 2009 and 2011), and while three of those victories were by more than a second, only once did he win by more than 2.48 seconds. That was in 2007, at arguably his best meet, when he smashed the world record by 1.61 seconds and won by 3.04. Hosszu’s Dropoff Leads to Slower IM Finals A lot of events at the Tokyo Olympics included unprecedented displays of speed. Not the women’s IMs. Katinka Hosszu was incredibly fast in both IMs at the 2016 Olympics, with her 4:26.36 in the 400 IM (a world record) and 2:06.58 in the 200 IM (just off her world record of 2:06.12), and she was still strong in sweeping the world titles in both events in 2017 and 2019, with 2:07s in the 200 IM and 4:29s and 4:30s in the 400 IM. No one was close to those marks in Tokyo. Japan’s Yui Ohashi won both gold medals, but her winning times were the slowest times required to secure a global-level gold medal in a long time, 4:32.08 in the 400 IM and 2:08.52 in the 200 IM. times barely surpassed the silver-medal times from the 2019 Worlds. She was well off the times required to win silver at the 2016 Olympics (Maya DiRado’s 4:31.15 in the 400 IM and Siobhan-Marie O’Connor’s 2:06.88 in the 200 IM). Ohashi herself has been faster in the 200 IM in the past. In fact, Ohashi’s winning 200 IM time in Tokyo was slower than the winning time at the last three Olympics and slower than the winning time at every World Championships since 2011. In the 400 IM, every world champion has been faster since Katie Hoff at the 2007 World Championships. Of course, who cares? Ohashi has the most important
[ Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher/USA Today Sports ]
21-year-old Hungarian competing at his first Olympics said that messed with his focus and killed his chances of going after the world record of 1:50.73 he set at the 2019 World Championships. Based on his amazing 100 fly performance (49.68, making him the second-fastest man ever), you have to believe Milak could have pushed for a 1:49 200 fly, as insane as that sounds.
accolade, the two Olympic gold medals that are the crowing achievements of her great career. Gold Medalists Not Present at the Last World Championships In Tokyo, two men and one woman stood atop the podium in an individual event after not competing at all at the 2019 World Championships. Both were freestylers: 18-year-old Tunisian Ahmed Hafnaoui, who won the 400 freestyle, and 21-year-old American Bobby Finke, who was stormed past the field on the last length of the 800 free and 1500 free to win two gold medals. That comes with a slight caveat, however, as Finke actually swam at the 2017 Worlds (as a 17-year-old) before missing the team in 2019. The surprise women’s winner was, of course, American Lydia Jacoby, whose shocking emergence culminated with her upset win in the 100 breaststroke in Tokyo. Every other gold medalist had competed in Gwangju two years earlier, while at the last Olympics, all men’s champions had been at the previous year’s World Championships while one women’s champion who was making her major meet debut. That was Canada’s Penny Oleksiak, the 16-year-old who tied for gold in the women’s 100 freestyle. Ten additional swimmers got onto the Tokyo podium after not qualifying for Gwangju, and those swimmers all had different circumstances. Seven made their major meet debut in Tokyo at the age of 21 or younger: Australia’s Brendon Smith, Japan’s Tomoru Honda, Switzerland’s Noe Ponti and Americans Emma Weyant, Alex Walsh, Kate Douglass and Erica Sullivan. The USA’s Annie Lazor was also making her debut at a major meet, albeit at the age of 27, while Australia’s Emily Seebohm rebounded in her fourth Olympics after failing to qualify for the 2019 Worlds. France’s Florent Manaudou was in his first major meet back after a three-year retirement. ◄ BIWEEKLY
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[ Photo Courtesy: Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports ]
After Second Gold, Ashleigh Johnson Expounds on ‘‘Mission’’ of Promoting Inclusion BY MATTHEW DE GEORGE
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shleigh Johnson’s journey to water polo stardom is well known by now. She’s won two gold medals as the goalie behind the U.S. women’s powerhouse team. A native of Florida and a graduate of Princeton, she’s a rare nonCalifornian in the upper echelon of American water polo, and she’s one of the few Black players in an overwhelmingly white sport. Johnson has never run from that identity in her time as an elite player. And with her second gold medal and her place in the sport’s pantheon secure, she’s doubling down on her commitments to inclusion in the sport. “I realized it’s a huge responsibility, but it’s a responsibility that I have the opportunity to welcome and that I could welcome by literally just being here,” Johnson said on an appearance on CBS This Morning last week. “I could just a be a mirror that a young Black girl or young Black boy could look to to see themselves in and I realized how powerful that was and how powerful that could be for someone who is coming into our sport and maybe has heard the stereotype that Black people don’t swim or looked and didn’t see anyone who looked like them and got discouraged. It’s part of my mission to change that.” Ashleigh Johnson grew up not knowing about the history of exclusion of people of color from aquatic spaces. One of five children, she learned to swim in her family’s backyard pool and grew up in a community that was supportive. It wasn’t until she got to high school, college and levels beyond that she understood “other people’s perceptions” about what a
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swimmer typically looks like. With those realizations came a conscious effort for Johnson to educate herself about the, “context of exclusion and inclusion in aquatic spaces for people of color.” A psychology and social psychology major, she has become an eloquent spokesperson for diversity and inclusion in sport. She’s also founded the Johnson Sisters Swim Clinic in the Miami/For Lauderdale area that puts the theory into practice. In addition to all that she’s accomplishing in the pool for the U.S., she’s doing it with the weight of helping an entire historically excluded population try to break through. It’s work that she knows is heavy, but something she doesn’t shy away from. “When I left in high school, going to the national team, going to college, I became more and more aware of other peoples’ perception of me and whether or not I should be there,” she said. “But I was already developing the protective mechanisms: The things that I told myself about myself, the stories that I had about myself that I knew didn’t confirm those stories. ‘You probably shouldn’t be swimming. What about your hair? What about all of these things?’ “I hope that me being here kind of breaks through those stories that other people tell young Black kids in aquatics about themselves so that they don’t even have to doubt, they don’t even question whether or not they belong here. Because we belong here, we’re strong, we excel in aquatics and there’s so much opportunity.” ◄
[ Photo Courtesy: Robert Deutsch/USA Today Sports ]
Maggie Steffens: Mental Health ‘‘Huge Part’’ Of Journey Back to Water Polo Gold
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BY MATTHEW DE GEORGE
he expectations entering the Tokyo Olympics were heavy for the United States women’s water polo team. Being the clear No. 1 team in the world for most of the last decade and the two-time reigning gold medalist brought stress and strain to the players, on top of the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic’s delay of the Games. But for Maggie Steffens, one of the leaders of the U.S. squad, one of the big reasons that the U.S. re-ascended the podium in Tokyo was its ability to recognize and cope with the mental challenges. “Mental health is a huge part of this journey,” Steffens said after the U.S. clinched gold with a rout of Spain. “The Olympics have a lot of pressure, a lot of weight, and I think a lot of people when they think of health just think of what you can see. They think of the physical health, or needing to see a doctor for an injury, but what people don’t see is what’s going on inside your brain, what’s going on inside your heart, and this is a really tough journey. “If you ask any team, you have to go through a lot to get to this point and be able to realize your dream. I think there’s been a great amount of athletes who have demonstrated how to put your health first and use the resources that you have.” The U.S squad is exemplary for its talent in the water. Steffens was the most outstanding player at the London Olympics in 2012 and Rio Games in 2016, before teammate Maddie Musselman took home that honor from Tokyo. They are backed by arguably the best goalie in the world in Ashleigh Johnson. In Tokyo, they set Olympic records for the largest margin of victory in a gold-medal game (nine goals) and the most goals scored in one Olympics (109). They have won the most Olympic matches (27) and scored the most goals (366) since the women’s game was added to the Olympic docket in 2000. At this Olympics, the U.S. lost for the first time since the 2008 gold-medal game, dropping a group-stage match with Hungary. It was just the fourth loss in 138 games since the end of the 2016 Olympics, a record of excellence that breeds
intense pressure. But the team is equipped to help each other shoulder that load, via its focus on the mental side of the game. “There are sport psychologists we have as a team, and what’s so great about being a team sport is that you can rely on your teammates and use them as support, but at the end of the day you do need to put your health first,” Steffens said. “I’m grateful for a lot of the women who have demonstrated that and been a great leader in showing that it’s not just about what people can see. There’s always more to the picture than what meets the eye.” That focus on the mental aspect of the games is what had the U.S. playing its best at the right time. Steffens was hampered by a broken nose in the group stage, but she came out firing in the knockout rounds. The U.S. was plus-38 in four group games, then plus-24 in three knockout games that were rarely competitive. “They’re unwavering in their approach,” coach Adam Kirkorian said. “Obviously, when you’ve had success before it gives you some confidence going into a game like this. We’ve talked a lot about the fine line between confidence and complacency. But we’ve done a fantastic job of just staying focused through this process and it’s amazing.” “I think with the pandemic, the postponement, so many challenges, so much adversity, individually and as a group, we kept coming out of those stronger and always stronger together,” Maggie Steffens said. “Today, I think that was just a show of who we are as a team. That no matter the adversity that is thrown our way, we stick together as a team, and we rise up and we thrive in those moments. It was really amazing to see the balance and the full team effort. “You could see it from every single player on our team. It’s about the unit that you build, the unit you create and that’s really where the magic lies. I’m really grateful to be a part of it and to have been able to show the world that magic we’ve created as a circle and as a unit.” ◄ BIWEEKLY
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PARTING SHOT
TOKYO (Aug. 5, 2021)—Swimmers come in for water and hydration in the men's 10K marathon swim during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Odaiba Marine Park. [ Photo Courtesy: Kareem Elgazzar/USA TODAY Sports ]
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