Why is swimming so much more popular than track?

1) becuse in every race final everyone is going all out and the WR is within reach and they can show that WR line. This is why the 100m and 200m in track are also popular. Distance track races seem like a bunch of non-historic nobodies are running to the average person. How many times do the swimming announcers have to tell the audience "it's not about the time" ... never

2) swimming lasts the same amount of time as a song on the radio (I got 200 seconds and I'm ready to go)

3) it's easier to understand what's going on

4) it's more obscure

You can't compare the toughness of a swim workout to a running workout. Running is a 'pounding' sport that beats up your body as you train, whereas in swimming, your bodyweight is supported by the water. This weightlessness allows the higher volume and intensity in a swim workout. In fact the training would have to be equal, as some competitor would quickly seize an opportunity to train even harder - to win, if either sport was not training hard enough.

Ironically in triathlon training is planned around hard runs, and swimming and cycling (another bodyweight supported sport) both function to aid recovery, even with hard workouts thrown in. The weightlessness of cycling is the basis for how a tour de France works, and in swimming how athletes can do doubles and triples nightly in a weeklong meet.

majority of olympic audience is white

they enjoy watching white americans dominate

even better they are buff and hot

seeing a buff black sprinter isnt really that out of the ordinary for an american sports viewer, so the track analogy doesnt hold as much there

but a bunch of hunky white male swimmers that win medals (even though I am straight, i cant help but watch!)

most dont care as much about womens swimming .its the men that star / and yes agree the women track stars are much sexier (and they get more attention that the female swimmers)

but the female gymnasts own everyone / no surprise its the highest rated

women love seeing other women dominate / men love.....seeing the women

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Aly_Raisman_Rio_2016b.jpg

https://media.glamour.com/photos/5a05c1198948116a5c05be9c/master/w_1920,c_limit/Aly%2520Raisman%2520Assault.jpg

everyoneisdoping1212 wrote:

majority of olympic audience is white

they enjoy watching white americans dominate

even better they are buff and hot

seeing a buff black sprinter isnt really that out of the ordinary for an american sports viewer, so the track analogy doesnt hold as much there

but a bunch of hunky white male swimmers that win medals (even though I am straight, i cant help but watch!)

most dont care as much about womens swimming .its the men that star / and yes agree the women track stars are much sexier (and they get more attention that the female swimmers)

but the female gymnasts own everyone / no surprise its the highest rated

women love seeing other women dominate / men love.....seeing the women

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Aly_Raisman_Rio_2016b.jpghttps://media.glamour.com/photos/5a05c1198948116a5c05be9c/master/w_1920,c_limit/Aly%2520Raisman%2520Assault.jpg

Women vaulters are the hottest.

Clam Evans wrote:

White American medalists

Race hustler.