Nobody believed that swimming competitions in Tokyo 2020 could hold the same criteria and live up to expectations since the American swimming wizard Michael Phelps didn’t compete. The new era has come to the world of swimming with promising athletes from all around the world. People who love betting online had a blast during the Olympics, and many websites offer promotions like the VirginBet bonus code to make the whole deal even more fun. What were the events that made the Tokyo Olympics swimming competitions memorable? Read further and be prepared to be amazed.
The teams and their ranking
The American team had been unbeatable when it comes to the number of medals they used to bring home. Yet, the Australian team almost passed them and showed that they are an adequate rival for future competitions. The American team got 30 medals in total, 11 of which were gold medals, while the Australian team brought 20 medals home, 9 of which were gold medals. Great Britain took third place with 4 gold medals. The experts presume that the Australian team will work hard to come to the reign till the Paris Olympics 2024, which can change the course of swimming events.
Great Britain and the first-ever mixed medley relay
Mixed medley relay is a new Olympic discipline where the teams of two men and two women swim for the win. This kind of race relies mostly on the strategy and collaboration of the team, which adds new flavor to Olympic swimming competitions. The British team was the one to take the gold medal, and it included two backstrokers Kathleen Dawson and Adam Peaty, a butterfly swimmer James Guy, and a freestyler Anna Hopkin. The silver medal went to the Chinese team, while the bronze medal went to the Australian team.
Tatjana Schoenmaker
This South African broke a world record in the women’s 200m breaststrokes, with an unexpected ending. Although Tatjana was the one to break the world record, her rivals came to her swimming lane to share this wonderful moment with her and to celebrate – her main rival Lilly King, Annie Lazor from the USA team, and Kaylene Corbett also from South Africa. What makes this celebration different from others is that it does show the sportsmanship spirit and attitude towards those who do write history.
Katie Ledecky and Ariarne Titmus
These two swimming ‘freestylers’ prepared an intense duel in the 400m freestyle discipline. The course of the race held the odds to Ledecky’s side; however, the Australian Titmus took the lead in the last 150 meters. Everybody believed Ledecky would bring gold to her American team, yet Titmus just repeated her success from the World Championship in 2019, leaving Ledecky’s supporters in disappointment one more time. Katie Ledecky found her comfort in the first-ever women’s 1500m race where she took the gold medal.
Caeleb Dressel
This man was expected to be the new Michael Phelps, yet he exceeded even this kind of expectation in a 100m butterfly race. He broke the world record and showed the audience he had so much more to give than to fulfill Phelp’s standards. He himself couldn’t believe that he had actually done it, as his schedule was pretty tight and intense. In the end, this American brought his team five Olympic medals, three of which are individual successes.