Earlier than the Olympics, I put out this text on swimmers who had alternatives to earn historic medals for his or her nations, international locations that had their most up-to-date medals in 2016 or earlier. Now that it’s throughout and the mud has settled, which athletes adopted by means of and located themselves on the rostrum?
I’ll be wanting on the international locations that I highlighted again in July, itemizing their prime performances from the 2024 Paris Video games.
AUSTRIA (final medaled in Beijing 2008)
- Felix Auboeck was seeded seventh within the 400 freestyle coming into this 12 months’s video games, however couldn’t fairly attain his seed time, ending twenty fourth total. He additionally swam the 200 and 800 freestyle, however scratched the 200 and positioned thirteenth within the 800. Austria’s finest performer (and solely finalist) was Martin Espernberger within the 200 butterfly, who completed sixth. Espernberger is simply 20, and confirmed nice indicators for the long run, as he was initially seeded 14th within the occasion and dropped half a second from his time within the finals. The Tennessee swimmer was 1.34 seconds off of the rostrum.
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (by no means medaled)
- Lana Pudar entered the meet seeded sixth within the 200 butterfly and tenth within the 100 butterfly. In Paris, she simply barely missed out on finals (0.07 seconds) within the shorter distance, and completed twelfth within the 200 butterfly. Though she didn’t medal this 12 months, she’s solely 18 years outdated, and he or she has a vibrant future forward of her, already having earned medals at World and European Championship meets alike.
CZECH REPUBLIC (by no means medaled)
- Barbora Seemanova, Miroslaw Knedla, and Kristyna Horska all earned semifinal swims of their very own on the Paris Olympics, however solely Seemanova managed to crack into the highest 8 for a finals swim. She positioned sixth within the 200 freestyle, lower than a second off of the rostrum.
GREECE (final medaled in Rio 2016) (Medaled in Paris 2024)
- Apostolos Christou had a historic swim within the males’s 200 backstroke, incomes a silver medal to notch his nation into the pool swimming leaderboards as soon as once more, for the primary time since 1896. Spyridon Gianniotis completed second within the marathon swimming occasion in 2016, however the newest Greek “pool swimming” medalists have been a group of swimmers who competed in Athens in 1896, in occasions just like the 100m freestyle (solely open to Greek naval sailors). Christou’s podium end is much more spectacular when you think about that he got here into the occasion seeded 18th.
IRELAND (final medaled in Atlanta 1996) (Medaled in Paris 2024)
- Presumably the one of many most secure bets out of any nation on this record, Eire introduced house a historic three medals, together with a gold medal from Daniel Wiffen within the 800 freestyle. Wiffen was seeded second and third within the distance freestyle occasions, and he broke the Olympic document within the 800 free to win gold and drop a second within the course of. I anticipated Eire to win a medal this 12 months, however didn’t wager on them profitable three. Wiffen and Mona McSharry every earned a bronze medal, within the 1500 freestyle and the ladies’s 100 breaststroke. I discussed within the final article that “a well-timed private finest may place [McSharry] on the rostrum” and certain sufficient, she swam a finest time within the semifinals and was proper on her new finest within the remaining to earn a bronze.
ISRAEL (by no means medaled)
- Israel didn’t have any finalists this 12 months, however they might have had a finalist within the 200 IM, as Australia’s Ella Ramsay withdrew because of sickness. Anastasia Gorbenko, as the primary reserve, had first precedence at Ramsay’s spot, each each she and Ye Shiwen (second reserve) declined the lane, and the ultimate was swam with seven swimmers as a substitute of eight. 5 swimmers certified for a semifinal, with Stanford swimmer Ron Polonsky (200 IM, 100 breaststroke) and Gorbenko (200 again, 100 breast, 200 IM) every qualifying for a number of. Regardless of not having any true particular person finalists, the 800 freestyle relay of Denis Loktev, Bar Soloveychik, Eitan Ben Shitrit, and Gal Cohen Groumi tied for eighth with Japan, incomes a second swim. The Israeli relay, with the identical time, completed ninth within the remaining.
LITHUANIA (final medaled in London 2012)
- One of many greatest shocks from the meet got here from Olympic and World Championship gold medalist Ruta Meilutyte lacking out on the ultimate of the ladies’s 100 breaststroke, her signature occasion. Meilutyte underwent surgical procedure on her foot months earlier than the Olympics, and he or she positioned eleventh within the finals. Lithuania had two swimmers place fifth of their respective occasions, with Danas Rapsys and Kotryna Teterevkova. Rapsys was the nearer of the 2 time-wise to incomes a medal, 0.67 seconds off of the 200 freestyle podium. Teterevkova was a little bit additional off within the 200 breaststroke, ending 2.60 seconds behind bronze medalist Tes Schouten.
NEW ZEALAND (final medaled in Atlanta 1996)
- Lewis Clareburt, Erika Fairweather, and the ladies’s 800 freestyle relay all earned second swims in Paris, with Fairweather making the finals within the 200, 400, and 800 freestyles. She had her finest end within the 400 freestyle, putting fourth however sadly stacked up in opposition to the likes of Ariarne Titmus, Summer time McIntosh, and Katie Ledecky. Fairweather was solely 0.26 seconds off of Ledecky’s third-place swim within the center distance occasion. She positioned seventh within the 200 and eighth within the 800. Clareburt completed sixth within the 400 IM, and the ladies’s 4×200 freestyle relay of Fairweather, Eve Thomas, Caitlin Deans, and Laticia-Leigh Transom positioned eighth.
POLAND (final medaled in Athens 2004)
- Krzysztof Chmielewski and Katarzyna Wasick have been the only finalists for Poland, ending fourth and fifth within the males’s 200 butterfly and ladies’s 50 freestyle. Ok. Chmielewski and his twin brother Michal competed within the distance fly occasion, each making the semifinals. Michal was 0.02 seconds off of creating the ultimate, putting ninth with a 1:54.64. Krzysztof positioned fourth within the remaining, 1.10 seconds behind Ilya Kharun. The Chmielewski twins each compete on the College of Southern California, and their youth ought to present them with some longevity within the 200 butterfly for years to return. Katarzyna Wasick was seeded second coming into the 50 freestyle, however fell simply quick in a really tight remaining warmth. She was 0.13 seconds behind bronze medalist Zhang Yufei, touching in a 24.33 to complete fifth.
PORTUGAL (by no means medaled)
- Diogo Ribeiro swam a 21.91 to earn a second swim within the 50 freestyle, however rounded out the semifinal heats with a 22.01 to position sixteenth. Ribeiro is a World Junior File holder and World Champion within the 50 butterfly, however since his important occasion just isn’t contested on the Olympics (as of proper now), he swims the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly, that are each top-tier. On prime of being the world champion within the 50 fly, he’s additionally the reigning world champion within the 100 fly, however positioned twentieth within the 100 in Paris. He’s nonetheless a really younger swimmer, and his occasions in each the 50 and 100 are sufficient to maintain him coming again at many worldwide meets. Afterward down the road, we may see Portugal’s first medal from Ribeiro.
ROMANIA (final medaled in Athens 2004) (Medaled in Paris 2024)
- The third nation to finish their drought, Romania claimed a gold medal and a bronze medal by the hands of David Popovici, ending their 20-year lapse with out an Olympic medal. Popovici lastly secured an Olympic medal after ending fourth within the Tokyo 200 freestyle, by solely 0.02 seconds to Brazil’s Fernando Scheffer. The 19-year-old obtained his revenge within the 200, discovering himself on the higher aspect of 0.02 seconds, simply ever so barely out-touching Matt Richards. He additionally completed third within the 100 freestyle, sandwiched by a hundredth of a second behind Kyle Chalmers and forward of Nandor Nemeth. Popovici, the previous world document holder within the 100 freestyle, has definitively solidified himself as some of the constant 100/200 swimmers of this technology of swimmers at a really younger age.
SOUTH KOREA (final medaled in London 2012) (Medaled in Paris 2024)
- Kim Woomin, a quiet drive within the males’s 400 freestyle, completed third within the occasion behind Lukas Martens and Elijah Winnington. His medal is the primary since Park Tae-Hwan positioned second in the identical occasion in London 2012. Kim was the world champion on this occasion on the 2024 competitors in Doha, showing on the rostrum with Winnington and Martens (however within the reverse order). Their males’s 4×200 freestyle relay was additionally anticipated to attain nicely, however the staff positioned sixth within the finals, regardless of Kim splitting a 1:44.98 on their third leg.
SPAIN (final medaled in Rio 2016)
- Hugo Gonzalez snuck into each backstroke finals at this 12 months’s Olympics, ending eighth out of the semifinals in each. His occasions of 52.73 and 1:55.47 positioned him sixth in each occasions, 0.34 seconds away from third place within the 100 and 0.62 seconds away from showing on the rostrum within the 200.
CHINESE TAIPEI (by no means medaled)
- Eddie (Kuan-Hung) Wang got here into the 200 butterfly seeded ninth, and positioned eighth within the preliminary rounds to earn himself a semifinal swim. Within the semifinals, Wang positioned eleventh, bettering his time from prelims however not by sufficient to return again for finals. He was 0.45 seconds off of Martin Espernberger‘s eighth place time popping out of semis. Amongst many of those groups that haven’t medaled in a very long time, the 200 butterfly appears to be the place to be, with Poland, Austria, and Chinese language Taipei all inside greedy vary of both a finals swim or the rostrum.
TURKEY (by no means medaled)
- Kuzey Tuncelli, the junior distance phenom, swam to a time of 14:41.22 to position fifth within the males’s 1500 freestyle. I took a little bit of an opportunity on this one, as he was seeded seventeenth within the longest occasion, over 23 seconds behind the primary seed, Bobby Finke. Ultimately, Tuncelli solely completed 11 seconds behind Finke, swimming to a different nice swim and turning into one in all Turkey’s first ever Olympic finalists within the pool.