The Outstanding But Often Overlooked Men’s Swims From the Tokyo Olympics

by David Rieder - Senior Writer

12 August 2021, 05:35am

The Outstanding But Overlooked Men’s Swims From the Tokyo Olympics

At 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.

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.

Nicolo Martinenghi earned bronze in the men’s 100 breaststroke at the Olympics and then helped Italy earn a bronze medal in the 400 medley relay — Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher/USA Today Sports

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 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.

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.

Tom Dean, James Guy, Matt Richard & Duncan Scott won Olympic gold in the men’s 800 freestyle relay — Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher/USA Today Sports

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 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 world-record 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.

David Popovici — Photo Courtesy: deepbluemedia

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 one-year 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.

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John Mooney

2 years ago

18-year-old Tunisian swimmer Ahmed Hafnaoui’s gold medal in the 400 meter free had to be the most surprising result. NBC focused mostly on US (understandably), British, and Australian swimmers. That guy came from out of nowhere in Lane 8.

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