Did you know there was such thing as a "B" Final in Swimming in Olympics?
Basically, it's whomever from the semis didn't qualify for the "A" final. It has happened where the winner of the "A" final swam slower (winning Gold obviously) than the winner of the "B" final.
Is this common in other Olympic sports? It's the first time I have ever heard of it.
Has existed for a very long time. Don't worry, it does not get televised...
No, there's not. You must be thinking of Olympic trials, where it sometimes doubles as a countries national championship, that means that they have b finals and c finals and all of that. Or you could be seeing the semi-finals and mistaken it for an a-final and b-final. As a fan of swimming, I have never seen this and I am 99.99999999999999999999999999999% sure there's not a be final at the Olympics or the FINA World Championship. Either your a troll, or you misinterpreted something.
Swimming scores through 16 places at most championship meets, but since Olympics are not scored, I do not know reasoning to have a B final.
Maybe it is only at the Trials or non-world level events?
It's only at trials if a nation's trials double's as a national championship. If you look up U.S nationals you can find the B finals. And the Arena Pro Series has C and D finals. For example in 2009 there was B finals at the trials because they were our national champs, but this year they weren't because were having a separate national championship. Not all nation's have B finals as well, the US does and some others but not all. You see b finals at a level of competition below the Olympics and world champs basically, with trials constructed as their own mini Olympics for some nationals.
Fun fact: In 2009 international athlete's could compete at trials, but were relegated to B finals because the A final decided who went to the world champs. Since we had the polyurethane suits and crazy fast times that year, and because American sprinters were slow then, the B finals were faster in some cases.
There is not a B final at the Olympics or Olympic Trials. There used to be, but it went away in the 80s or 90s.
At London, rowing and canoe sprint had a B final. Winner placed 7th regardless of how their time compared to the A final.
It was in place at least until '92 - I remember getting the ill fated triple cast (which was awesome by the way) just to watch a friend swim and get all the T&F prelims and finals. Turns out he did not make the "A" final but the triple cast stream did show the "B" final. Which is a stupid concept unless you know the person in it.
I imagine its because many swim meets are set up this was(scoring and non-scoring). There are generally no rounds, just a straight timed prelim since people swim so many events. So the 9th - 16th places end up in there own final. I guess it gives someone who for some reason won a prelim heat by a ton but missed out on top 8 a chance to compete against similar swimmers.
No stupider than the 3rd place match at the World Cup.
In 1984, a swimmer in the B Final swam faster than the Gold medalist. (I think it was in men's 400m free.)
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