I Broke a World Record at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials: Inside My Experience and the Growth of the Sport
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Three weeks ago, I humbly broke a world record with 22,208 of my peers. I did not seek to achieve such a feat and was simply a pixel in the larger portrait that illustrates the growth and demand for competitive swimming.
On Saturday, June 15 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis—home of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts—the swimming community broke the world record with 20,689 fans at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials. The following morning, yet another record was broken (for prelims attendance) with 17,697 attendees; this number is greater than the average NBA home attendance for a third of the league (10 teams) per ESPN's 2023-2024 Attendance Report. And that was prelims.
Due to work obligations, I could finally join the festivities on Wednesday, June 19 and take part in the most recent world record attendance. I was initially skeptical of what the product would be as a spectator. The performance that evening halted my pessimism, and it wasn’t necessarily the athletes that assisted in my alteration of opinion.
As a competitive swimmer and fan of the four major American sports—football, basketball, baseball, and hockey—I have been critical of swimming’s lack of media attention and content to draw from. There are few moments that can rival end-zone celebrations, soaring highlight-reel dunks, reliever walkout songs, or the piercing horn after a goal. Simply put, I thought that swimming lacked hype.
Not anymore.
In the midst of the marvelous light shows and intense graphics, an array of world, American, and meet records were broken by a collection of remarkable athletes. But the focus of this piece is not on the potential Olympians, but the overall product.
USA Swimming unveiled a first-of-its-kind, 70’ tall vertical digital board to display athletes while they were introduced and walking to their lane. Athletes had the opportunity to personalize brief clips of dances/poses; one dedicated for each athlete’s introduction and a compilation of the winner’s clips were displayed post-race. The gargantuan screen depicted the athletes as personable to reveal their appearance above water and underneath their cap and goggles.
According to USA Swimming, Indianapolis welcomed north of 285,000 spectators to the nine-day meet, a 60% increase from the previous total attendance record at Swimming Olympic Trials.
The Trials were not only held in a football stadium, but the appeal for the Olympics—particularly swimming—currently rivals the United States’ most popular sport. A recent poll from Seton Hall University and Nielsen Sports, which surveyed 1,611 American adults between June 19-21, found that 63% were somewhat or very interested in the Olympics, more than the NFL (61%) and MLB (51%). The results found that swimming was tied for the most popular sport [with gymnastics].
Despite the widespread success in Indy, swimming’s ascension did not peak at Lucas Oil Stadium. LA28, the organizing committee for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, and their actions predict immense future growth.
On June 21, a day prior to the most recent world record in swimming attendance, LA28 announced that the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials and Olympic competition will be hosted at SoFi Stadium, the shared home of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers. The $5 billion world-class facility will be adapted to accommodate 38,000 seats and become the largest swimming venue in Olympic history.
By no means is swimming going to usurp the popular heavyweights of professional sports on year-round primetime television any time soon, but for a few weeks in July and August, swimming will rise to and reign atop the throne.
Thanks to Rowdy Gaines’ theatrics in the broadcasting booth and influencers like Kyle Sockwell's efforts to inject additional fun into the sport, swimming is in good hands. The wealth of talent and potential for attractive narratives in the sport has always been there, it was simply a matter of whether the media wanted to pursue it.
The hype is there. Are you?
