IOC Strongly Considering 50′s for 2016 Olympics

I think the 800 should be scrapped totally. It is basically an insult to women. And, the open water event should be done in an actual open body of water, not a city pond, next time. There are some unique skills required but not when the water is flat with no current, no waves and it's 8 feet deep. +1

This is a good decision, if they do it.

I think lots of people outside the sport think swimming already has "too many" events. Do we really need to add more? In London there were 302 medal events in 26 sports (39 disciplines). Aquatics (Swimming, Diving, Synchro, WP) were second only to Athletics (Track & Field) in medal events, 46 to 47. The next closest are cycling and gymnastics with 18 each. Swimming already has about 5 times more medal events than the average discipline.

In London there were 302 medal events in 26 sports (39 disciplines). Aquatics (Swimming, Diving, Synchro, WP) were second only to Athletics (Track & Field) in medal events, 46 to 47. The next closest are cycling and gymnastics with 18 each. Swimming already has about 5 times more medal events than the average discipline. Why don't they just do a "Master's Special" and get split requests on all the 100 strokes finals and have that count for the 50's medals? Each 100 would be a 2-fer.

In London: Men free: 0 medal winners in common Men back: 1 (Irie) Men ***: 0 Men fly: 2 (Phelps and le Clos) Women free: 0 Women back: 1 (Franklin) Women ***: 2 (Soni and Suzuki) Women fly: 0 That is a total of 6 in common out of a possible 24. So based solely on London I'd have to disagree with this statement. FROM Beijing Men Back: 2 (Piersol /Vardy tied for 3rd) Men ***: 2 (Kitajim / Dubousque) Men Fly: 1 (Phelps) Men Free: 0 W Back: 2 (Coventry Hoeltzer) W ***: 2 (Soni, Jones) W Fly: 1 Shipper W Free: 0 10 out of a possible 24. Again not that many. But if you look at it without the freestyle you have this: 10 out of 18 which is more than half. Not suprisingly, the freestyle lines are 50/100 and 200/400.

For the most part, the medal winners in the 100 are the same as the medal winners in the 200. In London: Men free: 0 medal winners in common Men back: 1 (Irie) Men ***: 0 Men fly: 2 (Phelps and le Clos) Women free: 0 Women back: 1 (Franklin) Women ***: 2 (Soni and Suzuki) Women fly: 0 That is a total of 6 in common out of a possible 24. So based solely on London I'd have to disagree with this statement. I was curious so I checked the overlap between 200/400 free and IM: Men free: 2 (Yang and Tae-Hwan) Men IM: 1 (Lochte) Women free: 2 (Schmitt and Muffat) Women IM: 1 (Shiwen) So 6 out of a possible 12. A smaller sample size but it is possible that in LCM the 200 and 400 have more in common than 100 & 200, which supports Fort's earlier claim that the 200 are more distance-friendly than sprint-friendly. It would be interesting to check the data for 50/100 free in the Olympics since the 50 free was introduced, but that's too much work for me right now. My gut feeling (which certainly might be wrong) is that 50/100 are more similar than 100/200.

I think lots of people outside the sport think swimming already has "too many" events. Do we really need to add more? I'd replace the women's 800 free with the 1500 and leave it at that.

On the elite level, OWS is 99% pack swimming with a 100-200M sprint at the end. There is no difference between a 5K or 10K ows, other than the distance of the warmup before the sprint. So I see no reason to add that event. 3 of the top 4 would be the same in each event. For the most part, the medal winners in the 100 are the same as the medal winners in the 200. But I do think that the podium in the 50's would be much different (to the respectice 100 counter part). You can see this in freestyle. Popov was the last one to win both. So from a competetion stand point, it is hard to argue that the 50 strokes are not unique events. But all of this is too much of a good thing in my opinion. IF they add 50's, they should drop 100's. That won't happen.

A 200 free relay would be interesting. So would a 200 medley relay. If 50's become part of the meet venue then so should these.

One way for the 50s to be included in the olympics is to have a non-medal exhibition day half-way into Track/Gymnastics week when the TV is boring anyway... contest the non-free 50s and do some mixed relays, no medals, all for the fans. If the crowds come, the swimmers have a great time and officials like it, maybe make it a real thing.