Americans have more depth than anyone at the pool, but gold medals harder and harder to come by
Olympic medal podium is no longer a given for U.S. swimmers.
Nine days of thrilling competition at La Defense Arena wrapped up Sunday night with the Americans barely pulling out the lead in the gold medal standings thanks to a victory in the final race.
The U.S. finished with just eight golds, its fewest since the 1988 Seoul Games and one ahead of its biggest rival, Australia.
More notably, the rest of the world totaled more victories (20) than the United States and Australia combined, the first time that's happened since the 1996 Atlanta Games.
The Americans will certainly be intent of improving their performance heading into the home games at Los Angeles in 2028, when swimming will have in its largest, most spectacular setting yet — a temporary pool inside SoFi Stadium with a capacity for some 38,000 fans.
Still, with more and more international swimmers getting their training in the U.S. — and prominent American coaches such as Bob Bowman spreading their knowledge to other countries — a more diverse list of gold medalists is likely to be the norm going forward.
«This sport is growing and I can't help but feel like we've been a part of that,» American swimmer Bobby Finke said. «It's something we should take home and be proud of.»
Two of the biggest swimming stars in Paris, France's Leon Marchand and Canada's Summer McIntosh, train in the U.S. but won a bevy of medals for their home countries.
Marchand, who captured four individual golds as well as a relay bronze, is coached by Bowman, best known as the guy
