Power ranking every single sport at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics

21. Swimming (Relay Style)

We separated individual swimming from relay (as we will eventually do for track events as well) because the relay is just such a completely different event. Yes, at the end of the day, it’s just another swimming race, but there’s a different excitement level and a different skill set to make a relay work over an individual event. Just remember this picture of Michael Phelps, losing his mind at the end of the 4x100 relay at the Beijing Olympics.

There is a certain craze around the relay because the impact of each swimmer could completely change a race. We’ve seen one person go out to a huge lead only for the weakest swimmer on the team lose that lead completely. There’s a strategy involved in the swimmer’s placement, as we saw with Phelps and his eventual 23 gold medals not being the anchor on the above relay.

There’s an accountability that just oozes in the pool and translates perfectly through the screen. Knowing that there could be a goat in the worst possible way is why we watch sports. Seeing someone come from behind to deliver the performance of a lifetime at the biggest stage to win as a team is wild. That’s the one big difference between individual and relay swims: the celebration at the end of relays is just so much better than the individual.

There is one big reason for this. Individual swimmers don’t actually know who won. In the relay, the other three swimmers are out of the pool, cheering their behinds off. Honestly, it’s a wonderful trait of the sport.