We caught up with Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen at the Paris Olympics to talk all things chocolate muffins.
NANTERRE, France — Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen is a star, thanks to his gold medal-worthy TikToks about the mouth-watering chocolate muffins in the Olympic Village.
The unofficial Muffin Man of the Paris Olympics, Christiansen’s videos are hilarious and so creative, and they’ve boosted his follower count from about 3,000 before the Paris Games to more than 340,000 and 16.7 million likes as of Saturday afternoon. His sense of humor is too good, and he brilliantly used a sound from an iconic scene in Shrek to really lean into the Muffin Man identity.
Saturday after Christiansen finished 20th in the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle prelims, I caught up with him to talk about all things muffins.
“What’s not to like?” the 27-year-old swimmer said. “They’re liquid in the center. They have chocolate chips. They’re really rich. They’re moist. It’s just − everything is really good.”
As a professional athlete, he views himself “as being in the entertainment business,” and making TikToks about his experience in Olympic Village is another way to engage and show fans backstage moments at the Olympics.
While the videos have made the Oslo resident a social media star, Christiansen said he’s become a popular figure in the village as well.
“I have taken fan photos in the village as the muffin guy, which, I mean, if you’re taking fan photos in the Olympics, you’re someone,” he said. “All the other athletes that are really top, top — like [Rafael] Nadal or like Simone Biles — they’re taking fan photos. Of course, I wish that it was because of my swimming, but this is also fun.”
Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen has been making a wild amount of TikTok videos about chocolate muffins in the Paris Olympic Village.
It seemingly started with a very casual TikTok video where Henrik reviewed tons of food he had access to while competing. In the clip, Henrik rated the chocolate muffin as “insane” and with an “11/10” rating. Nothing seems wild about that, right? But, oh, that was only the beginning.
Soon, Henrik’s TikTok account began filling up with tons of chocolate muffin content. I mean, these muffins must have superpowers because the muffin mania has gotten so unbelievably out of hand. BUT. WE. CAN’T. LOOK. AWAY. These are gold medal-worthy, and it only feels right to share them with you.
But Murphy was rewarded with a moment even sweeter than medal No. 7 as his wife, Bridget, and the rest of his family surprised him with a gender reveal in the form of a sign in the crowd announcing that they would be having a girl.
Murphy’s run at the Olympics may not be done yet as he has a chance to go for the fifth gold medal of his career later in the Games as he could once again be a part of the men’s 4×100 medley team, with which he won gold in each of the last two Olympics.
Katie Grimes is set to make American Olympic history in the pool and in the Seine River.
For the Paris Olympics this summer, For The Win is helping you get to know some of the star Olympians competing on the world’s biggest stage. We’re highlighting 15 Team USA athletes in the 15 days leading up to the Opening Ceremony. Up next is Katie Grimes.
Katie Grimes is a special swimmer, and if fans didn’t know her before the 2024 Paris Olympics, they surely will after. The Las Vegas native is an exceptionally versatile distance swimmer — one who will go up against legendary distance swimmer Katie Ledecky — and her swimming goals for the Paris Games go way beyond the pool.
So ahead of the Paris Olympics, here are five things to know about Grimes.
1. At 18 years old, Katie Grimes is already a two-time Olympian
Jul 31, 2021; Tokyo, Japan; Katie Grimes (USA), right) rests next to Katie Ledecky (USA) as Ledecky reacts to winning the women’s 800m freestyle final during the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Summer Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Mandatory Credit: Grace Hollars-USA TODAY Sports
Not unheard of in swimming, but a teenage two-time Olympian is still rare. At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Grimes swam one event — the 800-meter freestyle. She finished fourth behind Ledecky, who won her third straight Olympic championship in the event.
For Paris, Grimes not only dropped the 800 altogether, but she added a wide variety of events to her schedule. But more on that in a second.
2. Grimes will be the first American woman to compete in the pool and open water events at the same Olympic Games
UPDATE: Katie Grimes won a silver medal Monday in the 400 IM for her first Olympic hardware. She also swam in the 1,500 heats Tuesday morning but didn’t make the top-8 final. So, onto the Seine (possibly).
Grimes will also make history as the first American woman to compete in both the pool and open water at the same Olympics.
When the pool competition ends — Grimes’ last potential final is the 1,500 on July 31 — her attention will fully turn to the open water competition, a 10k marathon swim. The 10k open water races are set to happen in the Seine River, but Olympics organizers said they have backup dates and an alternate venue, should the river be too dirty to swim in.
Incredible versatility when her shortest Olympic race will be less than five minutes while her longest is about two hours.
3. Grimes knows where she’ll swim in college… but we don’t
Katie Grimes of the United States competes in a preliminary heat for the Women’s 400m individual medley on Day Three of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium on June 17, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
At 18 years old, Grimes just graduated from high school and is a coveted recruit with swimming news site SwimSwam ranking her as the top high school swimmer last year.
Grimes recently told For The Win she’s made a decision on college, but she also said she’ll likely wait until after the Olympics to announce it.
4. Grimes is an old soul with a love for classic cars, including her orange 1969 Chevy Corvette Stingray
In addition to her love of classic rock, especially Fleetwood Mac, Grimes is a big fan of classic cars.
“My favorite classic car is the Chevy Corvette Stingray,” Grimes said. “It had been my dream car for so long, and so I’ve been on market looking for one all over the place for, like ever. And I finally found the perfect one, and I was able to buy it. And it’s just so cool to have it, and every time I see it in the garage, I’m like, ‘I can’t believe I have that.'”
5. Grimes’ historic Olympic journey begins on July 29
Swimming at the Paris Olympics starts Saturday, July 27, but Grimes’ first event will be the 400 IM heats (and presumably, final) on Monday, July 29. Her 1,500 heats are set for Tuesday, July 30 with the final the following day. And the women’s open water 10k marathon swim is set for Thursday, August 8.
Fans don’t see are the endless hours of training and recovery preparing for a moment that happens only every four years.
Ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, For The Win spoke with Team USA swimmers competing at the Games to learn what a typical training day is like for them. So here’s a look at a day in the Olympic training life of Regan Smith, Ryan Murphy, Katie Grimes and Chase Kalisz — all of whom are at least two-time Olympic swimmers.
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – JUNE 20: Regan Smith of the United States competes in the Women’s 200m butterfly final on Day Six of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium on June 20, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Smith told For The Win in June that she has two typical training days: one when she swims twice and another when she swims and then weight lifts.
6:20 a.m. — Wake up, eat breakfast, go to practice
Breakfast for Smith is all about packing in as many nutrients, protein and overall calories. She usually eats oatmeal with a spoonful of peanut butter, a scoop of protein powder and a tablespoon of chia seeds, topped with honey, bananas, strawberries and chocolate chips.
“I eat that like every day,” she said. “Sometimes, I eat it twice a day because it’s so good, and I never get sick of it.”
7 a.m. – 8 a.m. — Swim practice
After her first practice, she heads home for a second breakfast and a nap. Then she has lunch, catches up on emails, watches TV or plays with her cat, Roo. At the time of the interview, she said she was binge-watching America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders on Netflix.
For lunch, she sticks with typically breakfast food and will have two or three eggs with toast, orange juice and chocolate milk.
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. — Weight training when she doesn’t have a second practice
2 p.m. – 4 p.m. — Swim practice when she doesn’t have weight training
After her second practice, Smith is done for the day. So she eats dinner — often meal prep from Hello Fresh because she loves routine — and finds ways to relax and unwind.
“Yesterday [in June] after my second practice ended, I spent an hour and a half sitting outside reading my book in the shade because I love heat,” she said about living and training in Austin with Longhorn Aquatics. “I’m a great heat girl, so I just sat outside and it’s like 95 degrees and relaxed and then went to bed.”
Ryan Murphy: 100-meter backstroke, 200-meter backstroke
Jun 16, 2024; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Ryan Murphy starts in the 100 meter backstroke during the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports
Back for his third Olympics, 29-year-old Murphy has been remarkably consistent over the years, and at U.S. trials, he became the first swimmer to win the men’s 100 and 200 backstroke at three straight U.S. trials. He trains at Cal Berkeley, where he competed in college, and For The Win spoke with him on campus in May.
5:15 a.m. — Wake up, drink an espresso shot, eat a banana and energy bar
6 a.m. – 8 a.m. — Swim practice
After his first practice of the day (on days when he has doubles), Murphy heads home for a second breakfast and gets some non-training work done.
“I’m building a swim school in my hometown of Jacksonville right now,” Murphy said. “So I’ll always have some calls with that. The building’s still going up, so it’s calls with contractors.
“And then I’m also an advisor to do two different investment firms out here. So I’m an advisor to a venture capital group that’s investing in companies with a Cal co-founder, and then I’m an advisor to a private equity group that’s investing in medical devices. So I try to keep myself busy in between the practices.”
12:45 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. — Weight training
2:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. — Swim practice
“When I go home at night, then I’m typically recovering for the next day,” Murphy said. “So I’ll turn on the sauna, get in the sauna for a little bit, have a have an ice bath, and then, typically, I’ll do some stretching to make sure I’m loose for the next day.”
The at-home sauna and cold plunge is a huge perk and probably the No. 1 tool in recovery, he said.
“I’m able to get way deeper into my muscles when I’m stretching in the sauna,” he said. “Then when I go to the cold tub, your heart rate just plummets. So I’ll go into the sauna, I’ll be at about 150 heart rate. And I’ll go into the cold tub, and a minute later, I’ll be at a 36 heart rate. So it’s really a nervous system reset when you go back and forth between the two, and so it just makes you feel really good the next day.”
Katie Grimes: 400-meter individual medley, 1,500-meter freestyle, 10k open water marathon
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – JUNE 19: Katie Grimes of the United States competes in the Women’s 1500m freestyle final on Day Five of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium on June 19, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
The most versatile swimmer on Team USA’s Olympic roster, 18-year-old Grimes has been training for very different events: a marathon swim, the longest race in the pool and the 400 IM, which is a grueling spectacle of 100 meters butterfly, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 100 freestyle. So her Las Vegas training days start early, especially as she finished high school.
3:45 a.m. — Wake up, eat breakfast, head to the pool
5 a.m. – 7 a.m. — Swim practice
7:30 a.m. — Return home, eat a second breakfast
“I always have oatmeal before morning practice because it’s light, and it doesn’t upset my stomach,” she said in June. “And then after practice, I eat breakfast again, and sometimes I’ll have waffles or pancakes or something like bacon and eggs.”
Until she recently graduated from high school, Grimes said she’d get some school work done for two or three hours. She was an online student, which helped enable her training schedule. Sometimes, she’d sneak a nap in there too.
Midday — Lunch
“I’m so basic, and I can eat the same thing every day if I have to,” Grimes said. “But usually, I’ll just have white rice and grilled chicken or steak or salmon or something like that with a vegetable. And then it’s usually the same for dinner.”
3 p.m. – 5 p.m. — Swim practice
5:15 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. — Weight training
7:15 p.m. — Get home, eat dinner, hang out with her family on the couch
9 p.m. — Bed
“And then wake up and do it again.”
Chase Kalisz: 400-meter IM
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – JUNE 20: Chase Kalisz of the United States competes in a preliminary heat of the Men’s 200m Individual medley on Day Six of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium on June 20, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
A three-time Olympian with a gold and a silver medal, 30-year-old Kalisz is aiming to make history in Paris. Although no man at least 30 years old has ever won an Olympic swimming medal in a race at least 400 meters long, as Swimming World magazine noted, Kalisz could be the first if he makes the podium.
For The Win spoke with Kalisz, who was promoting his partnership with Eli Lilly and Company, while he was training at the U.S. Olympic training center in Colorado Springs in May.
“It’s not too fun, but it’s part of the job,” he said about training at altitude.
9 a.m. – 11 a.m. — Swim practice
Midday — Weight training on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays
5 p.m. – 7 p.m. — Swim practice
Kalisz said at the training center, he was doing two swim practices a day on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, along with Saturday mornings. Wednesdays, he would just have a morning workout and the afternoon off, and Sundays were rest days.
“It’s quite a bit hectic schedule for just going back and forth to the pool, trying to recover, trying to eat, trying to mentally prepare for the next workout,” he said.
“And then you throw in the aspect of being up at altitude where just walking down the street makes you sore. So I think it’s a very crucial part of my training, and this is my third month-long camp this year that I’ve been to. I think collectively — I’ve looked it up — I’ve done about two years of my life total up here in Colorado, and I’ve never lived here once.”
Swimmers from around the world to keep an eye on at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. This is FTW Explains: The Olympics.
While Team USA has a stacked roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics, there are, of course, way more swimmers from other competing nations fans will want to keep an eye on.
As usual, many of the big-time swimmers to watch are Australians, whose rivalry with the U.S. seems to be strong as ever. But there is an abundance of others to follow during the Games.We’ve highlighted a few names and brief histories on their careers headed into the Olympics.
So here are nine swimmers from outside the United States. to know ahead of swimming at the 2024 Paris Games (in no particular order).
France’s Leon Marchand reacts at the end of the men’s 200m breaststroke final during the French swimming championships in Chartres, central France, on June 19, 2024, ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. (Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP) (Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP via Getty Images)
Poised to be a huge star for Team France, the 22-year-old is definitely one swimmer to keep an eye on. He didn’t medal in his Olympic debut in Tokyo, but since then, he’s been on the podium in multiple world championship events and compiled 10 NCAA titles. Most notably, Marchand lowered Michael Phelps’ 15-year-old last-standing individual world record to 4:02.50 when he won the 400-meter IM at world championships in 2023. He also won a world title last summer in the 200-meter IM, setting a European record (1:54.82) in the process.
After the Tokyo Games, Marchand swam for Arizona State for three seasons and is a three-time Pac-12 Men’s Swimmer of the Year. He turned pro a couple months ago and now trains with Bob Bowman, Phelps’ longtime coach who recently left the Sun Devils for Texas.
2. Ariarne Titmus, Australia: 200, 400 and 800 freestyle
Australia’s Ariarne Titmus competes in the women’s 800m freestyle final during the Australian Swimming Trials at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre on June 13, 2024. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)
You may remember four-time Olympic medalist Titmus from the 2021 Tokyo Games when she won gold in the 200 free and 400 free — topping Katie Ledecky in the latter — and silver behind Ledecky in the 800 free. As the 400 free world record holder, the 23-year-old and Ledecky own nine of the 10 fastest times ever (Canada’s Summer McIntosh has the remaining one). Titmus broke the 200 free world record at Australian Olympic trials in June, swimming 1:52.23 and out-touching former world record holder Mollie O’Callaghan by just .25 seconds. Expect Titmus to swim the 800 freestyle in Paris as well, adding more layers to her rivalry with Ledecky.
3. Summer McIntosh, Canada: 200 butterfly, 400 freestyle, 200 and 400 IM
Canada’s Summer Mcintosh competes in the final of the women’s 200m butterfly swimming event during the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka on July 27, 2023. (Photo by MANAN VATSYAYANA / AFP)
Back for her second Olympics, 17-year-old McIntosh heads to Paris with one of the newest world records. The two-time world champion first captured the 400 IM world record in 2023, breaking the 7-year-old mark from Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszú. This year at Canadian trials in May, she lowered it again to 4:24.38. One of the most versatile swimmers, McIntosh qualified in five individual events for Paris — 200 IM, 400 IM, 400 freestyle and 200 butterfly — but she dropped the 200 free.
She has eight world championship medals, four of them gold, and she has the potential to medal in all four individual events at the Olympics. She’ll face Katie Ledecky and world record holder Titmus in the 400 freestyle — McIntosh topped Ledecky in the event last year — and as the two-time world champ in the 200 fly, she’ll likely have to beat Team USA’s Regan Smith to claim gold.
4. Kaylee McKeown, Australia: 100 and 200 backstroke, 200 IM
Australia’s Kaylee McKeown reacts following the women’s 200m backstroke final during the Australian Swimming Trials at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre on June 13, 2024. (Photo by Patrick HAMILTON / AFP)
Another Australian swimmer with an American rival, the 23-year-old surely wants her 100 backstroke world record back from Regan Smith, who broke McKeown’s mark at U.S. trials. Since 2019, both swimmers have broken the 100 back world record twice with McKeown setting it in 2021 and lowering it in 2023. They’ve also each had the 200 world record in that time, but McKeown is the current holder. A four-time Olympic medalist, McKeown was the 100 and 200 backstroke champion at the 2021 Tokyo Games, and she and Smith make both backstroke races must-watch events at the Paris Olympics.
McKeown is also expected to swim the 200 IM in Paris. McKeown, American Kate Douglass and McIntosh each have two of the top-6 fastest times this year in the event, and they’re all within .53 seconds of each other, making this one another hyped-up Olympic event.
5. Zhang Yufei, China: 50 freestyle, 100 and 200 butterfly
Jul 29, 2021; Tokyo, Japan; Zhang Yufei (CHN) in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
Now a three-time Olympian at age 26, Zhang is expected to compete in the 50 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 200 butterfly in Paris. After not medaling at the 2016 Rio Games, Zhang was the 200 butterfly Olympic champion and 100 butterfly silver medalist at the 2021 Tokyo Games, along with winning gold and silver medals inrelays. The 2023 100 butterfly world champ, she has two of the 10 fastest times ever in the event, along with the third-fastest in history in the 200.
But she’s also one of 11 Chinese swimmers involved in a doping scandal from 2021 going to Paris. Publicly unknown until this year, the controversy involved 23 Chinese swimmers testing positive for banned heart drug trimetazidine, but the World Anti-Doping Agency privately cleared them of any wrongdoing, allowing them to compete at the Tokyo Olympics.
6. David Popovici, Romania: 100 and 200 freestyle
Romania’s David Popovici reacts after placing first in the Swimming Men’s 200m Freestyle Final during the LEN European Aquatics Championships, at the Milan Gale Muskatirovic sports centre in Belgrade, on June 21, 2024. (Photo by ANDREJ ISAKOVIC / AFP)
The 19-year-old sprinter has the potential to shock the swimming world in Paris, despite not having his best performances in 2023. Popovici is the 2022 100 and 200 freestyle world champion and claimed the 100 free world record in 2022 before China’s Zhanle Pan broke it in February. Popovici is looking for his first Olympic medal at his second Games, and it seems like he’s trending in the right direction. In June, he posted the third-fastest 100 free time in history at 46.88 — just .08 shy of tying Pan’s world record. In the 200, he also swam a 1:43.13, which is the fastest time in 2024 and the fifth-fastest ever. So with some solid Olympic prep, Popovici could definitely be a Paris medal contender.
7. Pan Zhanle, China: 50, 100 and 200 freestyle
If anyone was wondering who’s the swimmer to beat in the men’s 100 freestyle, it’s 19-year-old Pan Zhanle, who lowered the world record to 46.80 in February. A rising star with five world championship medals — four of them gold in the 100 free and three relays — Pan will likely contend for his first Olympic medals. Expect him to compete in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle events in Paris, along with surely a couple relays. While medaling in the 50 and 200 is probably a stretch — he’s ranked outside the top 25 in both this year — he owns two of the three fastest 100 free times this year. His world record is about half a second faster than Americans Jack Alexy’s and Chris Guiliano’s best times from U.S. trials.
8. Sarah Sjöström, Sweden: 50 and 100 freestyle
Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships – Swimming – Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall A, Fukuoka, Japan – July 28, 2023 Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom during the women’s 50m butterfly semi final 2 (REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth)
A swimming legend, the 30-year-old has nothing to prove to anyone, especially with 25 world championship medals. But she’s back for her fifth Games and looking to add to her four Olympic medals. She was the 2016 Olympic champ in the 100 butterfly and won silver and bronze in the 200 free and 100 free, respectively. Until American Gretchen Walsh’s 100 butterfly at U.S. trials in June, Sjöström’s world record had stood since 2016. She also won silver in the 50 free at the 2021 Tokyo Games.
Sjöström is entered in the 50 free and 100 free as the world record holder in the latter. In the 50, she has the top-5 fastest times ever — including her 23.61 world record from 2023 and a 23.69 swim in February — and eight of the 10 best times this year.
9. Kristóf Milák, Hungary: 100 and 200 butterfly
Hungary’s Kristof Milak competes in the Swimming Men’s 200m Butterfly Final during the LEN European Aquatics Championships, at the Milan Gale Muskatirovic sports centre in Belgrade, on June 22, 2024. (Photo by ANDREJ ISAKOVIC / AFP) (Photo by ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP via Getty Images)
An all-star butterflier, 24-year-old Milák is the current 200 butterfly world record holder with seven of the 10 fastest times in history. The other three belong to Michael Phelps. But all of Milák’s top times were notched during or before 2022. At the Tokyo Olympics, he was the 200 butterfly gold medalist and 100 butterfly silver medalist behind American Caeleb Dressel. For Paris, Milák is entered in the 100 and 200 butterfly — two events he won gold in at European championships in June. But he’ll likely have to drop some time all around to medal in Paris.
Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. This is FTW Explains: The Olympics. If you’re a fan of Olympic swimming, there’s a good chance you’ve heard about the long-standing rivalry between the U.S. and Australia, and you’re curious what that’s all about. We’re here to help.
In the pool, the USA versus Australia rivalry runs deep. While no country has historically dominated the modern Olympic Games like the U.S., Australia is a massive swimming powerhouse, producing some of the best to ever compete.
“It is a rivalry that is pretty healthy for the most part,” now-two-time Olympian Regan Smith told For The Win. “I think some people always like to turn things into something ugly, and me personally, I’m not interested in that. Most of the people I’m close with on the USA and on Australia have a lot of healthy, mutual respect for each other.
“I think that’s what produces the best, rivalries, I’d say. And overall, I think the rivalry between USA and Australia just makes the sport more entertaining to watch. And at the end of the day, that’s what we all want. We just want more viewership in swimming, we want more people talking about it. And the way to do that is to have really, really exciting races that come down to the very last meter.”
With several superstar swimmers at the Paris Olympics, particularly on the women’s side, Australia is looking to dethrone the U.S. and win more Olympic medals — a feat that hasn’t happened since the 1956 Melbourne Games, per the Australian Associated Press.
So before these two teams go up against each other and the rest of the world in Paris, here’s a breakdown of the history and what’s at stake.
A brief history of the swimming rivalry between Team USA and Australia
O4 Jul 28, 2012; London, United Kingdom; Australia relay members hug United States relay members on the podium after the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay finals during the 2012 London Olympic Games at Aquatics Centre. Australia finished first and USA finished third. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
On the Olympic stage, the U.S. and Australia are historically the two strongest delegations with the most hardware, by a long shot. And both sides have traded jabs and trash-talking quotes with each other over the decades.
Overall, Team USA swimming has earned 257 gold medals and 579 total, while Australia is second with 69 gold and 212 total, as NBC Sports noted. For perspective, East Germany has 92 total medals, Japan is fourth with 83 and Great Britain is fifth with 79.
However, at 2023 world championships in Fukuoka, Australia won 13 swimming gold medals to Team USA’s seven. But the Americans still won more medals than the Aussies, 38-35.
On repeating that success in Paris, Swimming Australia head coach Rohan Taylor recently said the Australian Olympic team “is going to give it a good shake”. More from Taylor, via the Australian Associated Press:
“[T]he Americans, there’s a reason they haven’t been beaten since 1956 – they’re just extremely competent when it comes to the Olympics, this is where they step up.
“They have got the depth, they’ve got the numbers, they’ve got the experience.
“We’re going to go there and do everything we can to create an environment for these (Australian) athletes, first and foremost, to do their best.”
USA vs. Australia and the Duel in the Pool
Team USA’s Anthony Ervin (C), Jessica Hardy (L) and Cullen Jones (R) pose with the trophy after victory during Day Two of Duel In The Pool at Tollcross International Swimming Centre on December 21, 2013 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
While the rivalry between Team USA and Australia spans decades, it produced one of the best swimming competitions ever outside of the Games.
A must-watch event for diehard swimming fans, the Duel in the Pool was a bi-annual meet pitting the best swimmers against each other just for fun. First, it was just Team USA against Australia in 2003, 2005 and 2007, but from 2009 to 2015, the event was expanded to Team USA versus Europe. And the Americans dominated.
After an unfortunate hiatus, Duel in the Pool returned in 2022 and went back to its roots with USA-Australia in Sydney, and the Americans continued to come out on top. The U.S. won every Duel in the Pool and has an 8-0 record.
Bring. This. Event. Back.
How the USA-Australian swimming rivalry was reignited before the Paris Olympics
Aug 10, 2016; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Cate Campbell (AUS) during the women’s 100m freestyle semifinals in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games at Olympic Aquatics Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports
Last summer for swimming world championships, NBC broadcast a graphic of the medal count, highlighting the overall medal total with the U.S. in the lead, rather than gold-medal rankings, which would have had Australia at No. 1.
Four-time Olympian and eight-time Olympic medalist Cate Campbell — who at 32 years old missed qualifying for Paris — took issue with the graphic. Talking to a local Australian TV station, she called Americans “such sore losers” in response to the medal count graphic.
“Australia coming out on top is one thing, but it is just so much sweeter beating America. There were a couple of nights, particularly the first night of competition, where we did not have to hear [the] ‘Star Spangled Banner’ ring out through the stadium, and I cannot tell you how happy that made me. If I never hear that song again, it will be too soon. And so, bring on Paris, that’s all I have to say: U.S., stop being sore losers.”
Campbell also slammed Team USA’s frequent use of a cowbell — sometimes heard on Olympic and international competition broadcasts — before an American swimmer races. She added:
“When we’re right next to each other in the warm-up areas, the U.S. [has] this infernal cowbell that they ring, and as someone leaves to go to the competition pool, they ring out ‘U-S-A, U-S-A!’ And I have never wanted to punch someone more and steal that cowbell.”
Unsurprisingly, outspoken Team USA swimmer and five-time Olympic medalist Lilly King responded to Campbell at the time:
Sorry we aren’t so uptight we can’t cheer for our teammates as they walkout for events👀 See you in Paris🥰 https://t.co/wnt9Qe46GJ
But Cate Campbell’s ‘sore losers’ and anti-cowbell comments were in 2023. What does that have to do with the Paris Olympics?
Well, that’s where Olympic broadcaster NBC comes into play again. Seemingly reigniting the rivalry right before the 2024 Games, NBC showed a clip of Campbell’s comments to 23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps and shared his reaction on social media.
“I would make them eat every word they said about me.”
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) June 21, 2024
“I appreciate your comments, Cate,” Phelps said in response with a smirk. He added:
“If somebody said that to me, I would lose it. I would literally make them eat every word they just said about me. Because people have done it; Chad Le Clos, [Ian] Thorpe — you guys have all talked [expletive] about me, and I had the last laugh.
“So for the Americans, if you see what I just saw — that’s the first time I saw it — I would watch that thing every single day to give me that little extra bit of just oomph.”
Clips of Campbell’s nearly year-old interview and Phelps’ recent reaction have been circulating around social media since June, intensifying the USA-Australia rivalry.
Team USA has since responded with promises of more cowbell
Jul 31, 2012; London, United Kingdom; Fans of the United States and Great Britain wave flags during a mens 4 x 200m freestyle relay heat during the London 2012 Olympic Games at Aquatics Centre. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
After the men’s 100-meter freestyle final at U.S. Olympic trials in June, Hunter Armstrong — who qualified for the 4×100 freestyle relay — said: “We do want that [relay] world record, but most importantly, we need more cowbell.”
While the Indianapolis crowd loved his comment, he wasn’t the only Team USA swimmer to chime in about the cowbell. Now-three-time Olympian and Team USA captain Abbey Weitzeil was asked at trials about Campbell’s comments resonating with the team, and she said:
“We’re all bringing the cowbell. Whenever comments are made about your country or your jobs, it’s all competitive, and I think we all are competitive, our competitive side comes out, so we’re all bringing the cowbell, extra loud!”
So, expect more cowbell from Team USA at the Paris Olympics.
Has Team USA said anything about Campbell’s comments or the USA-Australian rivalry at the Paris Olympics?
Yes, but they didn’t say much. Here’s more from Weitzeil in Paris on Wednesday, basically saying Campbell’s comments kind of work as bulletin-board material, but only so much.
Abbey Weitzeil on the USA-Australian swimming rivalry and whether Cate Campbell's 2023 cowbell and "sore losers" comments are bulletin-board material in Paris:
"I think it brings it out a little bit — the competitiveness — but the competitiveness has always been there." pic.twitter.com/1WS9OXoqAU
— Michelle R. Martinelli (@MMartinelli4) July 24, 2024
Top USA-Australia Olympic swimming races to watch in Paris
Ariarne Titmus of Team Australia and Katie Ledecky of Team United States react after competing in the Women’s 400m Freestyle Final on day three of the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre on July 26, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
While relays are always must-see events at the Olympics, there are a few individual races that will really highlight the USA-Australian rivalry.
One is Katie Ledecky versus Australia’s Ariarne Titmus in the 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle events. Titmus won gold at the 2021 Tokyo Games in the 200 free and 400 free, beating Ledecky in the latter. But in the 800 three years ago, Ledecky topped Titmus for gold and silver, respectively. Ledecky is favored to win her fourth straight Olympic gold in the 800, but Titmus is the world record holder in the 400 and has the fastest time in the world this year, about three seconds ahead of Ledecky.
And in the 400, both Ledecky and Titmus will also have to race Canada’s Summer McIntosh with the third fastest time this year.
Other rivalry events to watch include women’s backstroke with American Regan Smith and Australian Kaylee McKeown, as the two have been trading world records for years. Since 2019, both swimmers have broken the women’s 100-meter backstroke world record twice, and they combine to have the top-10 fastest times ever in the event. Smith broke the 100 back world record in 2019 before McKeown stole it in 2021 and lowered it in 2023. But at U.S. trials, Smith took it back.
About her individual rivalry with McKeown, Smith said she’s “proud” it exists.
“She’s been an absolutely stellar competitor for years,” Smith told For The Win. “The first time competed against her, we were like 15 and 16 years old, so I’ve known her and have grown with her for, gosh, like seven years now, which is really crazy to say. So I’d say, when it, when you boil it down, it’s just a very healthy respect that we both have for each other.”
In Tokyo, McKeown swept the 100 and 200 backstroke while Smith took bronze in the 100 — she didn’t swim the 200 — and they’ll race each other in both events in Paris.
Other top Australian swimmers to watch include Kyle Chalmers (100 free), Mollie O’Callaghan (100 free, 200 free), Emma McKeon (100 butterfly) and Zac Stubblety-Cook (200 breaststroke).
Katie Ledecky literally has a long way to go at the Paris Olympics.
As perhaps the greatest distance swimmer to ever hit the pool, Katie Ledecky’s Paris Olympics schedule is understandably packed with long events. But those events add up, leading her to compete for a ridiculous number of meters over the course of about a week at the 2024 Games.
The 27-year-old titan is now a four-time Olympian and looking to add to her Olympic medal count with seven golds and three silvers. But she literally has a long way to go to get there and could end up racing a total of 5,600 or 5,800 meters.
“I care a lot about the 800 and the 1500, and then the 400 is a great race,” Ledecky said at U.S. Olympic trials in June. “I want to be right in there, and same with that relay. I know how to train for all those events. Everything we do has a purpose. Every training set we do has a purpose. So I feel very confident in my training and my training group and my coaches that I’ll be ready for the 200 through the 1500 in Paris.”
She qualified for the 2024 Games in the 200-meter race with a win at U.S. Olympic trials in June, but after finishing fifth at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics — she won gold in 2016 in Rio — she’s opting to skip the individual 200 and just swim the relay (and presumably only the relay final, not the heats).
Luckily for Ledecky and distance swimmers everywhere, the longer events only have heats and finals, whereas most pool events have heats, semifinals and finals. So at most, she only has to swim her events twice.
Assuming Ledecky swims all her races and qualifies for the finals — definitely a safe bet there, barring unexpected scratches — she could end up racing 5,600 meters if she only does the 4×200 relay final. If she swims in the relay heats, she could race 5,800 meters.
To put that in perspective, that’s about 3.6 miles’ worth of racing — not including warming up and down — and more than half of what the marathon swimmers will do in the open water 10k.
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 7, 2024
Ledecky is a three-time reigning Olympic champion in the 800 free, the only event she swam in her 2012 Olympic debut in London. When the 1,500 was finally added to the women’s Olympic schedule for Tokyo in 2021, Ledecky won the first gold and is definitely expected to repeat.
Team USA swimmers share how they handle the physical and mental toll of a merciless race.
By his own account, three-time Olympic swimmer Chase Kalisz is an old man in a young person’s event, one that’s uniquely arduous.
As the 30-year-old swimmer looks to defend his 400-meter individual medley Olympic title from the 2021 Tokyo Games, he knows age is not in his favor, especially now in his 11th year competing in arguably the most brutal pool event.
“I definitely didn’t foresee myself here where I am.”
The 400 IM requires more physical and mental strategy than just about any other event with guaranteed, all-encompassing pain waiting at the finish. It’s like four sprint events combined into a one merciless race: 100 butterfly, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 100 freestyle in that order.
“That race is very taxing, emotionally and physically, because after the race is just like, ‘Oh my gosh, everything hurts,’” said two-time Olympian Katie Grimes, who’s qualified for the 400 IM in Paris.
“You don’t want to move. You don’t want to talk. It’s just terrible.”
For Team USA in Paris, Kalisz will be joined by trials champ Carson Foster, 22, in trying to take down world record holder and 22-year-old Frenchman Léon Marchand — Kalisz’s training partner who broke Michael Phelps’ last standing individual world record in 2023. On the women’s side, it’s 18-year-old Grimes and 22-year-old Emma Weyant.
The men’s 400 IM is July 28, followed by the women’s July 29.
Overcoming the mental and physical challenges of the 400 IM comes with training. Maintaining focus while doing 100s of all four strokes as your muscles are increasingly burning “is a pretty daunting task,” said Kalisz, who trains with Longhorn Aquatics under Phelps’ long-time coach Bob Bowman.
“There’s no way to hide in that race,” Phelps noted in 2016 ahead of the Rio Games.
“Pain is inevitable,” Kalisz added.
Pace work in practice helps with the mental and physical hurdles, he said. For example, he’ll swim a difficult main set and then transition to pace work, mimicking the race itself “when you’re feeling the effects of being broken down and tired.”
But in what Grimes described as “a full-body race,” crafting a strong strategy mitigates some of the formidable elements.
“It’s like you’re watching a bunch of different races because everyone has different strengths and weaknesses,” she said.
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – JUNE 17: Katie Grimes of the United States competes in the Women’s 400m individual medley final on Day Three of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium on June 17, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
A “terrible” breaststroker like Grimes has confidence in her butterfly and backstroke legs but can’t exactly relax. She focuses on building as much of a lead as possible, knowing some of her competitors will catch her on breaststroke before the all-out 100 free to close.
For Kalisz, breaststroke is where he excels. He said early in his career, he would burn his lower body on butterfly and backstroke and have little left for breaststroke, the only stroke driven by your legs. But after training with Phelps, he said he learned to float his legs more and save them for his surge in breaststroke.
At the Olympics, when best times take a back seat to the podium, Kalisz also is aware of how his competitors swim their races and where he needs to be in comparison going into the breaststroke leg. He said he lets them do all the thinking in the first half before making his move in the second.
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY – JUNE 21: Chase Kalisz of Team United States competes in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley Semi-Final on day four of the Budapest 2022 FINA World Championships at Duna Arena on June 21, 2022 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
“There’s a lot of lead changes that usually happen in the 400 IM, and that’s why I think it’s the most beautiful race,” Kalisz said. “I think it’s absolutely a beast of a race, but the mental aspect of it is also pretty brutal itself too.”
For first-time Olympian Foster, the first thing that would go wrong in his past 400 IMs was losing focus as he’d “battle those inner negative voices.” But he said working with a mental performance coach the last three years has helped him regain control and close with a strong freestyle leg.
Also qualified for Paris in the 200-meter IM, Foster said the shorter medley hurts more but for a briefer period of time, whereas the “grueling” 400 IM hurts for the whole second 200.
“I gotta get to that dark place,” Kalisz said. “That five minutes that you’re in the ready room before thinking about it and knowing what’s about to come — it could be a good race, it could be a bad race, but it’s going to hurt no matter what.”
When the difference between an Olympic medal and being left off the podium can boil down to hundredths of a second, every little detail matters on race day. Perfect execution, no unnecessary drag and, of course, a racing suit.
Tech suits, as they’re called, can impact everything from how swimmers move through the water to how they feel mentally preparing in the final minutes before taking their marks.
“The first time I put on a tech suit, I felt like Superman in the water,” said Ryan Murphy, now a three-time Olympian headed to Paris. “I felt like I was flying.”
Speedo is a global leader in developing tech suits for elite swimmers with the Olympics always front of mind. From the first non-wool swimsuit in 1928 to debuting its Fastskin suits at the 2000 Olympics, the 110-year-old innovative teams aim to push the boundaries of what’s possible in swimming.
Along with Speedo, TYR and Arena are also popular tech suit brands seen at elite competitions, including the Olympics.
“The performance is won and lost by the athlete,” Speedo senior vice president Simon Breckon told For The Win. “Our job is just to enable them on that journey.”
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Speedo swimmers will race in two new tech suits: the Fastskin LZR Intent 2.0 and the Fastskin LZR Valor 2.0. Designed with input from elite swimmers and inspired by sharks (seriously!), athletes can pick the most comfortable — though still skin tight — and buoyant option, depending on their events. The more coverage of a suit, the more efficient it is.
Team USA Olympic swimmers Kieran Smith, Regan Smith, Caeleb Dressel and Ryan Murphy (Speedo)
“For me as a sprinter, I’m looking for compression,” said Abbey Weitzeil, a lifelong Speedo wearer who’s headed to her third Olympics.
“My favorite thing about it is that when I dive in — I wear the closed-back Intent — I feel like I have good body position, and it holds my body position and my body line.”
Speedo’s 2024 Olympics suits incorporate elements from sharks and space exploration
There’s a noticeable difference between a regular training suit and a tech suit. Murphy said in a tech suit, he glides further off the wall compared with his regular practice one, estimating it probably shaves about a second off his times for every 50 meters.
For Speedo’s tech suits, the goal is to reduce friction in the water and improve hydrodynamics. Teams of designers, scientists, materials experts, garment engineers and researchers want it to feel like a second skin, locking swimmers into a smoother shape and lifting them in the water.
Team USA Olympic swimmer Ryan Murphy (Speedo)
Speedo actually does draw inspiration for textiles and design from one of the scarier sea creatures: sharks.
Led by Aqualab, the company’s central innovation team based in London, researchers examine how sharks and other creatures move through the water, said Coora Lavezzo, Speedo’s head of innovation. The Fastskin LZR Intent, for example, mimics sharks’ skin with optimized textured panels to maximize efficiency in the water.
“When you look at sharks, you notice that their scales, essentially — we call them denticles — they’re different across the body of the shark,” Lavezzo said. “So in some areas, they’ll be bigger. In some areas, they’ll be really small, and they’ll vary according to the curves of the shark. … We try and take that thinking and apply it to a person’s body.”
It’s not a new concept for Speedo, however. The first Fastskin suit that debuted at the 2000 Sydney Olympics was a full-body suit inspired by shark skin to reduce drag.
Speedo’s latest innovation for both the Intent and Valor suits is a “bespoke coating” inspired by protective coating developments for space exploration, Lavezzo said. She and her team poured through 50 of Lamoral Space Tech’s coating recipes to find the most water repellant one for the 2024 Olympic suits.
Team USA Olympic swimmer Caeleb Dressel (Speedo)
“When you see athletes splash themselves or you see them getting out of the water, they’re glistening because you see these water droplets kind of running off of them,” Lavezzo said. “And that’s really down to the water repellency that we use.”
But designers, researchers and engineers can’t work in a vacuum, so they enlist athletes early in the development process. They share designs, swatches and as many prototype suits as possible with swimmers and ask for feedback.
“It’s normally about how I feel [about] my body alignment in the water, or whether there’s too much compression or not enough,” Weitzeil said. “They’re always changing seams. They’re always changing fabrics and how to put those together. So if I feel like something’s not as compression-y in a certain spot, or if I feel like my body alignment’s falling out of place, I’ll tell them that for sure.”
Speedo testing its suits with elite swimmers (Speedo)
The future of Speedo’s tech suits in a post-technical doping world
Innovation in tech suit designs can produce truly exceptional results. Famously, Michael Phelps won his record-breaking eight Olympic gold medals in 2008 in a LZR Racer suit. The suit included polyurethane panels, which were impossible for water to saturate, trapping air and leading to increased buoyancy.
The suit’s popularity exploded, and competitors tried to replicate it with neoprene, Breckon said.
Michael Phelps competing during the men’s 100m butterfly swimming semifinal at the National Aquatics Center during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing on August 15, 2008. (FRANCOIS-XAVIER MARIT/AFP/Getty Images)
But the “super suit era” caught the attention of World Aquatics, swimming’s international governing body, over concerns about them being akin to technical doping. So new rules were established, like no more full-body coverage and suits must be entirely made of fabric, no plastic or rubber panels.
Speedo works closely with World Aquatics to ensure new designs remain within the rules, Breckon said. But sometimes, there’s a little lobbying too.
“Technology now has kind of outpaced some of the guidelines in our sport, and we need to look at the balance of that,” he said.
Lavezzo and her Aqualab team have been working on suits for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics for about a year and are already looking ahead to the 2032 Brisbane Games.
Team USA Olympic swimmer Abbey Weitzeil (Speedo)
Future developments could include suits tailored to varying body shapes or event- or stroke-specific suits, Lavezzo said. One already existing suit features power bands specifically to aid hamstrings when the power dynamics shift for backstroke.
Suits could also provide real-time biometric data to swimmers, but unlike many sports, that practice currently isn’t allowed in swimming. Perhaps Speedo can convince World Aquatics to move the goalposts.
“The layman’s example I give — which my innovation team laughs at — is basically the Black Panther, the suit that returns the energy,” Breckon said. “And how do you actually get the energy and put it back into the muscle groups? How do you isolate the muscle groups and drive power [where] it needs to be, depending on your stroke?”
