But seriously, swimming is a bottom 5 event in the Olympics. It's like watching turtles race. It may be a grueling sport, but it's flat out boring.
It has high TV billing, but has all the boring aspects of running, just worse. No drafting or positioning tactics and can’t see anyone’s faces or emotions until it’s all over. You can’t even see much of their form, body, or what they are wearing.
Plus they all pee in the pool.
And you are missing the worse part. They do group interviews. I just watched the American who was supposed to win and set the WR but ended up getting silver to another American have to fake like she was happy when they both were interviewed at the same time.
Can you imagine if Noah Lyles finishes 2nd to Knighton in the 200 that they'd interview both of them at the same time?
The swimming world does a much better job of packaging their sport.
Yes, there is WAY less faffing about between events.
And even though there's one announcer on the world feed that's an absolute dimwit (yes, he is American), he still kind of knows what he's talking about most of the time. Which means you don't get that patronising - "I'm mainly catering to people that have never watched this sport before" - kind of commentary.
To be honest, I'd prefer to watch any swimming event over field events, hurdles or sprints.
It has high TV billing, but has all the boring aspects of running, just worse. No drafting or positioning tactics and can’t see anyone’s faces or emotions until it’s all over. You can’t even see much of their form, body, or what they are wearing.
Plus they all pee in the pool.
And you are missing the worse part. They do group interviews. I just watched the American who was supposed to win and set the WR but ended up getting silver to another American have to fake like she was happy when they both were interviewed at the same time.
Can you imagine if Noah Lyles finishes 2nd to Knighton in the 200 that they'd interview both of them at the same time?
But that’s exactly what NBC does at US track trials.
The top three stand together, force a smile whilst talking to Lewis Johnson and wave little US flags in a display of (forced) patriotic fervour.
I don't find it more exciting. But I find myself watching it and other sports more as Track and Field moves more and more to pay per view. I would've enjoyed watching TDF this year but I feel I'm paying enough already. No thanks Peacock.
Rowdy Gaines gets really excited talking about swimming. That’s why most people enjoy watching the broadcast of swimming more than T&F.
You indirectly got at a proper critique of NBC’s analysts. Rowdy talks over and brings excitement while NBC’s track analysts often let the not-as-good play by play guy (Dan Hicks does swimming, Diffey track) dominate the airwaves. I think we’ve seen Ato get more involved within races and Liquori used to do it, greatly enhancing the distance races. Kara will need to do more if it because ultimately bringing in enthusiasm and knowledge mid-race improves the presentation a lot.
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I tried watching swimming but I got bored with it. They aren’t head to head and you can’t see their faces. Plus it’s easy for swimmers to be in multiple events. I got tired of hearing so and so just won their 10th Olympic medal. I can’t wait for track and field to start !
Totally disagree. You can't see swimmers, their movements, their facial expressions. There's no sense of movement through space--the athletes just go back and forth on a line. There's no contact and no strategy. Even the commentating is pretty mundane, with very little sense of the competitive backstory between athletes. I'm nearly 100% certain that the men's 1500m, for instance, will be more exciting than any swim event this Olympics.
Rowdy Gaines provides great analysis and insights from his own experience as a gold medal Olympic swimmer. For example, he explained that swimmers go deep on the turns to avoid the turbulence and opposing current their bodies created at the surface on the way into the wall. I love hearing details like that.
I appreciate emotion and excitement along with the analysis, but I find Gaines to be over the top at times, like a bipolar patient in a manic phase on amphetamines. OMG, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!!! IT'S TOO MUCH!!!
The old Running/Swimming/Cycling non-debate. To each their own. Of course coverage is better of swimming, it's EEEEZZZZ. Plonk a couple of cams in a captive space with only one thing going on, add the reverb/echo of the cheering of the indoor space, and it sounds like more people.
All the downsides (to non-swim freaks)of watching swimming are listed earlier. The main thing is that swimmers look great but by nature are stupifyingly boring. Entertainment value of the races is very low - time trials where (as track) times mean little over the years because of technology.
There are surely aspects of how swimming is presenting itself for TV that track can learn from, but the actual product is far inferior. As others have mentioned, you can't see faces, and there's no direct confrontation or tactics. Plus humans are simply bad at swimming compared to running.
On the other hand, the swimmers have great bodies and it's a sport that white Americans can dominate, so it's not surprising that many casual Olympics viewers would prefer it.
Visually, swimming is like the carnival game where everyone shoots a squirt gun at a target to race little horses down a track. You just see splashing and heads in the water. They all look the same until they pop out of the water at the finish. When one swimming goes faster than the others, you just see them splash ahead of the other swimmers. You cannot see their faces or tell that they are working any harder than any of the other swimmers.
On the track, you can really see the effort and appreciate the speed and physicality of the event much more so than with swimming. It for me is just a more visually appealing event.
Both can be a bit dull on the longer events, but on the track you can see the moves and jostling for position on the early laps. In swimming, the longer races are really dull.
Swimming is able to get more big finals and move faster between races because everyone starts at the same spot and not much changes between races. And swimmers are able to handle a lot more volume in competition because it is a zero impact sport. But a good T&F program will have field events going on while the track events shift around.
Rowdy Gaines is an acquired taste. Ato Bolton is a very good broadcaster and doesn't get enough credit.
Anyone saying swimming lacks diversity, or is an all white sport is not paying attention. East Asians have been excelling and winning tons of medals for over a century. People from every continent win medals at nearly every games. Tunisia, South Africa and Zimbabwe have all won gold medals since 2000. Brazil regularly excels. The US has had multiple African American stars in the pool. I think any race or ethnicity can regularly produce the right body types and aerobic engines to be successful in the pool. The issue is that it is a very expensive sport, so success tracks money. US, Europe, Australia, Canada, China and Japan are the powers. East Asia does better than Southeast Asia. Brazil is good while Bolivia is not. White South Africans and Tunisians have had the most success from the African continent. However, medal-winning success in swimming is still far more diverse than the sprints or 5000m+ on the track/roads.
Less time between events. Not as much wasted time between events. Announcers sound excited.
I love track and field but we do a horrible job promoting it.
Agreed 100%. Was telling my wife I thought the same and you just get to see people racing. Just racing. That's it. No tactical stuff, just in your lane and you have to swim fast. You do all of your qualifying in the same day. If you're good, you enter like 37 events and relays.
She was shocked because I love soccer and track & field, but swimming is more exciting and better-paced viewing. maybe because I only watch it every 4 years...?100%
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