The campus buzz surrounding senior swimmer Matt Fallon's Olympic qualification has exemplified growing public interest for the sport.
Credit: Anna VazhaeparambilIt happens every four years. Yes, I’m talking about the Olympics, but specifically, the great rise in popularity of competitive swimming right before and during the elusive games.
I’ve become a big swim fan, especially after graduating to my “swammer” era, if it wasn’t obvious by all my bylines. And after attending the largest swim meet in history, I find now to be the perfect time for the Penn community to become competitive swim fans, not only for the upcoming Olympics but also for the long run.
This year’s United States Olympic Swimming Trials were all about changes and upgrades. USA Swimming upgraded the Trials venue from an arena to an NFL stadium and upped the spectacle inside and outside of the competition.
For the Trials, from the airport to the streets, the host city of Indianapolis was transformed into a swimming theme park. Airport exits were lined with pool lanes on the ground, and Olympic swimmers were plastered on the side of baggage carousels. In downtown Indianapolis, Olympians posed on massive billboards, and several streets were renamed after many recognizable swimmers — including Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. USA Swimming also took over the Indianapolis Convention Center and created the Toyota Aqua Zone — a free-to-the-public fanfest that hosted an autograph stage, dozens of brand activations, a beer garden, and a retail superstore. This is all before the actual competition itself.
Inside Lucas Oil Stadium, the Indianapolis Colts’ home field was unrecognizable. The main Olympic-sized 10-lane competition pool served as, of course, the star of the show, with dozens of concert-like flashing lights and a giant four-sided video and scoreboard. The competition was nothing short of spectacular — from an electric pre-show, followed by introductions of the competitors where their likeness is projected on a 70-foot screen as they walk out to the blocks, not to mention the actual high-stakes races themselves.
Personally, the entire experience was very reminiscent of my experience attending Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour — the stadium and surrounding areas transform into a paradise for event attendees, while the event itself is nothing short of spectacular from a production and talent standpoint.
While, of course, the high stakes of being an Olympic selection meet plays a huge role and this influences the in-person spectator experience, USA Swimming is clearly leveling up the sport and thinking about its fans. I feel it’s also representative of the impending changes in non-Olympic and collegiate swim meets — especially with the changes to the NCAA — to prioritize fans and their experience, which is something exciting to be part of as a fan.
Also, in the midst of this upgrade, the swimming community is growing. I don’t mean just numbers of fans or athletes, but rather the unique interactions and ways to keep up with swimming. When I started following competitive swimming as a kid, the main ways to do so were to read traditional news articles and the one or two written swim publications. However, today, there are so many new, easy, and enjoyable ways for anyone to stay engaged in swimming as a fan, both during the upcoming Olympics and after.
One example is through content creator Kyle Sockwell. The former ASU swimmer runs prominent X — the platform formerly known as Twitter — YouTube, and Instagram pages about swimming. He leans into being a funny and witty perspective on swimming — with a popular series where he roasts audience-suggested swimming stats — while also balancing being an advocate for change in the sport.
There’s also Cody Miller. The 2016 Olympic gold medalist was one of the first prominent YouTube content creators. He has amassed over 40 million views on his channel through his inspirational behind-the-scenes vlogs and insightful commentary on his swim races as well as general swimming news.
Kyle Millis, alumnus of the powerhouse Cal men’s swimming, is also another prominent YouTuber. Although he is on the smaller side, his content is a great contribution to the swimming world. He not only creates informational-style videos for swim nerds and more casual fans but also interviews accomplished big-name and smaller swimmers — giving them a platform to share their stories.
And these are only some of the many swimming creators out there. I believe that this is the easiest and most enjoyable time to follow swimming during and in between Olympic cycles with these diverse voices of the sport.
Leaning more into the athlete side of things, 2024 appears to be the start of a new age of American swimmers — something exciting to be part of as a fan.
The Paris Olympics will mark the second games in the post-Michael Phelps era. Although mainstream media is committed to naming a “next Michael Phelps,” it's clear that this new generation of American swim talent will be different.
This new generation of American swimmers seem to be not just focused on a dominant star and the supporting cast, but a true mix of reliable veteran talent, exciting rising stars, and in true American spirit, comeback and redemption.
There’s backstroker Ryan Murphy and breaststroker Lilly King, both continuing their streaks of dominance in the U.S. in their respective strokes and looking for more medals at their third Olympics. Speaking of dominance, distance freestyler Katie Ledecky continues to be in her own league in distance freestyle swimming and taking on the mantle of the face of USA Swimming — and rightfully so.
On the young talent side, Cal’s Jack Alexy and Virginia’s Kate Douglass and Gretchen Walsh headline for the new age of American swimming. Alexy is a rising star in sprint freestyle events — exciting races where truly anything is possible, with medals won by a hundredth of a second. Douglass’ versatility in and of itself has been an intriguing storyline to follow since her dominant NCAA career. This summer, she’ll be competing in the 100-meter freestyle, 200-meter breaststroke, and 200-meter individual medley — the latter proves to be a very exciting, up-in-air event where all the top contenders are 0.3 seconds off each other. Walsh is following up a spectacular NCAA season as a newly minted world record holder heading into Paris hoping to shake things up in an event that the U.S. hasn’t won since 2012. These young superstars are leading the charge in providing some exciting, close, and somewhat unpredictable races.
Second chances and comebacks are arguably the most American thing there is, and the 2024 U.S. Olympic team has a few amazing comeback stories. These include mental and physical health recoveries, with veterans Caeleb Dressel and Simone Manuel as well as Regan Smith and Carson Foster’s comebacks from disappointing performances at previous big stage meets.
All of these stories combine to create this new team of American swimmers who create a good mix of reliability and unpredictable excitement for their races, and their stories only become more memorable and exciting when you follow them in their journey to the Olympics and after.
If all of these arguments don’t convince you to follow swimming this summer and after, we have one of our own in Paris who is only going up in the post-Olympics chapter of his career — regardless of who ends up on the podium.
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