2012 Olympics: Swimming

I think it's good to have trials close to the Olympics. It gives us the best chances of sending our best swimmers at the time. If Trials were held 6 months before the games, probably 90% of our Olympians would have been the same. There'd be some jostling among luck-of-the-touch or luck-of the-taper type races. It would've been sad if Katie Ledecky hadn't made it. There are two other reasons why the Olympic Trials will stay where they are. 1. They do not conflict with the NCAA College season. This was a major conflict back in 1992 and they have not been held in March since. 2. NBC likes having the contracts to televise these events and this year they had all of the trials going in a two week period and it was great for ratings because they can capture different fans across the different sports. The Diving, Swimming, Track & Field, and Gymnastics all were going on in a two week window for prime time TV.

I think it's good to have trials close to the Olympics. It gives us the best chances of sending our best swimmers at the time. If Trials were held 6 months before the games, probably 90% of our Olympians would have been the same. There'd be some jostling among luck-of-the-touch or luck-of the-taper type races. It would've been sad if Katie Ledecky hadn't made it. There are two other reasons why the Olympic Trials will stay where they are. 1. They do not conflict with the NCAA College season. This was a major conflict back in 1992 and they have not been held in March since. 2. NBC likes having the contracts to televise these events and this year they had all of the trials going in a two week period and it was great for ratings because they can capture different fans across the different sports. The Diving, Swimming, Track & Field, and Gymnastics all were going on in a two week window for prime time TV.