I have to completely agree with metric on this one. Swimming is a joke of a sport compared to running.
From what I understand the oldest WR is 8 years old, despite there being countless events.
Why do swimmers have so many slower forms of swimming? you can argue that the 10k is just a slower form of running compared to the 100m, so in that case just mix up the distances that they swim! It seems as though I've seen nothing but different variations of the same distance.
Also, there just aren't any dynamics to swimming. At least there doesn't appear to be any. It seems to be just a balls to the wall from the start to the finish. Which I guess is the same reason why the 100m is more popular than the distance events. But can the swimmers even see the people 2-3 lanes across from them? No distance events there is pushing and shoving, surges, and just tactics in general. Apparently this isn't desirable I the general audiences, but I enjoy it. And honestly I think it's just a matter of time. People don't want to waste 27 minutes run around a track. If the commentators were better at informing the people of the tactics taking place, and making it more entertaining then the sport would grow. And to be quite honest, I watched the Olympic trials in person and the sprinting events got only a fraction of the attention the 1500 did.
And come on?? Are we kidding here? Track and field is by far more popular than swimming. The fact that the person starting this thread turned into a runner just proves that point. Not everyone can swim, but anyone can run.