Swimming

7/26/2024 |  Swimming in stadiums becomes the norm as sport sets up in a rugby arena for 2024 Paris Olympics (Associated Press (AP)) NANTERRE, France (AP) — The main swimming pool for the Paris Olympics is set up inside a 30,000-seat rugby stadium on the city’s western edge.
Sound strange?
Not really. It’s the new norm.
The biggest swim meets are being held in massive venues, which could provide a boost to the sport’s popularity in non-0lympic years.

7/22/2024 |  'Smash them on the blocks': US-Australia rivalry to light up Paris pool (Reuters Sports) PARIS, July 22 (Reuters) - American swimming, be warned: Australia are coming for the crown at the Paris Olympics.
A rivalry that has burned for decades may be set to explode at La Defense Arena from Saturday as the two swimming superpowers duel for supremacy in the pool.
Usually distant runners-up to the mighty United States on the swimming medal table, Australia were only two titles short of them at Tokyo three years ago when they grabbed a national record nine gold medals.

7/20/2024 |  Swimmer Strongholds: Schools that power the U.S. Olympic teams (AXIOS Sports) An Axios analysis found that more than half of athletes who have swum for the U.S. Olympics team and attended college hailed from the same eight schools.

• California reigns supreme, with Stanford, Berkeley and USC comprising three of the top four spots.

Why it matters: Swimming has won the U.S. the most Olympic medals in the last seven games, and a quarter of all medals historically. The U.S. swim team currently holds three times as many medals as any other country's team.

7/19/2024 |  USA Swimming Announces 2025 Domestic Schedule (SportsTravel) USA Swimming has announced the dates for its domestic competitions for the 2025 calendar year. Some locations are still being finalized and will be announced in the coming months.
The event schedule features Open Water Nationals and Junior Nationals, Speedo Winter Juniors, three TYR Pro Swim Series events, the Toyota U.S. Open and National Championships, June 3–7 in Indianapolis, which recently hosted the 2024 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium.

7/18/2024 |  Even with restrictive rules, swimsuit wars heat up in an Olympic year (Associated Press (AP)) The iconic LZR Racer, the swimsuit that Michael Phelps wore while winning eight golds medals at the Beijing Olympics, is still revered around Speedo’s design center.
It serves as a reminder of just how much a suit can push a swimmer to greater heights.
“In so many ways, that was the golden era,” said Coora Lavezzo, the head of innovation at Speedo’s Aqualab in London. “We’ve got those suits upstairs, and even though I wasn’t there at the time, I’m fascinated by them and just how we can get back to a smidge of that former glory.”