U.S. Swim Team Barely Tops Swimming Medal Tally At Pan American Games

Jul 17, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; United States athletes cheer during the medal ceremony for the women's 100m backstroke final the 2015 Pan Am Games at Pan Am Aquatics UTS Centre and Field House. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher/USA Today Sports Images

Coverage of the 2015 Pan American Games is sponsored by Triton Wear. Visit Swimming World’s event landing page for results and more!

The U.S. swim team got off to a rough start at the Pan American Games, winning zero medals on the first of five days of competition. That gave Canada and Brazil the motivation to attempt to end Team USA’s reign at the top of the medal table that extends back to the first Pan Ams in 1951.

But the Americans rallied on the second day, starting with a gold medal from Allison Schmitt in the 200 freestyle. That was the momentum the team needed to keep their streak alive at the Pan American Games, winning the most swimming medals in Toronto.

The United States won 32 swimming medals at the Pan American Games, including 12 gold. The total does not count the men’s and women’s 10K swim. The Canadians and Brazilians waged great battles in the pool, and the result was 27 medals for Canada in second place. Brazil was right behind with 26 total medals.

Showing the dominance the three countries have among nations in North America, South America and the Caribbean, the next country in the medal table – Argentina – was well behind with just three medals, two of which came from the breakout swims by Federico Grabich. On the strength of Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace’s gold in the 50 free and bronze in the 100 free, the Bahamas claimed fifth place in the rankings with two medals, tying with Venezuela.

Jamaica, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago each collected one medal in swimming.

Adding in this year’s totals, the United States has won 676 medals in pool swimming across 17 Pan American Games. Canada runs second with 255, while Brazil rounds out the 100-plus medal count with 156.

The margin between the U.S., Canada and Brazil in terms of pool swimming medals equaled the closest in Pan American Games history. Previously, the United States had collected five more than runner-up Argentina in 1951 (17 medals to Argentina’s 12) and five more than Canada in 1999 (37 to Canada’s 32).

Brazil and Canada seemingly had an advantage at Pan Ams this year, enlisting almost all members of their world championship teams for the competition. Only two swimmers on the U.S. team – Michael Weiss and Michael Klueh – will swim in the world championships in two weeks in Russia. USA Swimming has deemed the Pan American Games a second-tier meet since 1987, and the federation’s top swimmers are often competing in a bigger meet (world championships, Pan Pacific championships) in the same season.

The U.S. medal tally in 2015 is its lowest in pool swimming at the Pan American Games since the current event program was implemented at the 1987 Games. The lowest number before this year’s meet was 37 at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada. That meet was also noteworthy in that it was the only time the Americans did not win the most gold medals. Canada took that accolade with 13 golds to 10 for the United States.

Meet records fell in 25 events, with more than 30 national records tumbling in prelims and finals.

U.S. pool swimming medals won at 2015 Pan American Games
Gold medals
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Silver medals
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Bronze medals
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Tiani Kramer Mattus

8 years ago

Forgot Megan Small Silver in 200im

Judi Middleton

8 years ago

Annie Lazor, Bronze 200 Breast

Luis Manoel Prado

8 years ago

Yeah, Brazilians going towards to gold medal in Russia. Thiago Pereira, Mr. PAN, is the bigger Pan American medalist. I’m proud of it.

Eric Palmer

8 years ago

That’s fine. It’s not our A team.