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Australia Closes Out 2023 World Championships On Top Of Swimming Medal Table

2023 WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2023 World Championships concluded tonight from Fukuoka, Japan which means we have a finalized swimming medal table with Australia on top.

The Aussies amassed an impressive 13 gold medals, 7 silvers and 5 bronze for a total of 25, rendering this competition the second time since the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne that Australia has beaten the United States in the medal table at an elite international meet.

The last occasion was ironically also in Fukuoka at the 2001 edition of the World Championships.

Claiming golds in both the men’s and women’s medley relays this evening helped the United States frog-hop China to land #2 in the medal table, taking home the most medals with 38, comprised of 7 golds, 20 silvers and 11 bronze. China’s 5 golds ensured a 3rd place medal table finish.

The United States’ total of 38 medals represents the country’s 2nd biggest haul at a World Championships. Last year in Budapest the stars n’ stripes brought home 45 medals while the U.S. tied this year’s 38 at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest.

 

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patrick
1 year ago

These comments are why athletes suffer mental health issues. Since when is top 3 in the works no longer good enough? Sure we all crave gold but the US out medaled #2 by 52%! the meet scoring is the same as it has always been. Regardless of championship this is how its done. Even if it was reset to 5-3-1 as some one suggested US tops Australia 106-91. Give the team props for depth and celebrate not denegrate these young kids many of whom were at their first major international championship.

actualsportspych
Reply to  patrick
1 year ago

I get burned out by armchair psychologists declaring what causes mental health problems, especially when they don’t realize that these sort of comments exacerbate the problem.

Expecting the rest of the world to stop presenting stressors is a very, VERY short term fix. Learning tools and strategies to cope with stressors is the only real fix.

Follow my Substack for more, or whatever

Phichael Melps
Reply to  patrick
1 year ago

Okay you are like the 3rd person who has attempted to use a straw man argument to distort what people are actually saying. No one has said that top 3 is no longer good enough. The simple point is gold trumps the other two medal colours. That is as simple as it gets. No one has said that silver and bronze medal winners are worthless.

As someone who has suffered significantly with mental health issues (including having lost a career in the military due to these issues) I think you should be ashamed of yourself for using a mental health straw man argument to try and get one on people simply making a different case to yours. Grow up and… Read more »

Sub13
Reply to  patrick
1 year ago

And Australia won 93% more events. And broke infinity times more world records. What else you got? A

David S
1 year ago

The only thing that matters is 🥇.
All the other medals mean you should’ve trained harder

Aigues
1 year ago

Reminder : Giving a medal to the winner is normal, giving a medal to the 2nd and 3rd is totally arbitrary, we could also sum-up the number of 4th places, or the number of finalist.

Given that each country is limited to 2 swimmers, I think the bronze is biased.

Personal Best
1 year ago

These comments are wild!

I could write an essay on this as some already have but it won’t make a different and not many would care.

Just one point though… no one is denouncing silver and bronze medals. That’s just stupid, and remember, a gold medal sort also means a secondary silver medal sort, and then a bronze medal sort. And bronze is also not to be dismissed as without it you don’t get on the medal table at all.

Just chill and enjoy the spectacle of one of the best WCs we’ve had in a while.

Fukuoka Gold
Reply to  Personal Best
1 year ago

I’m 100% sure that if the situation is reverse: USA has more golds and Australia has more medals, EVERYONE would agree that number of gold comes first in medal tally.

Too many sourpuss losers make these comments wild 😁

Last edited 1 year ago by Fukuoka Gold
mds
Reply to  Fukuoka Gold
1 year ago

No. It is not a biased position. It is what is in the rules. While Australia was clearly the dominant squad in winning the most events, USA dominated just as fully in the team standing under the system laid out in the rules.

Live with it. Or get the rules changes.

Joshua Liendo-Edwards-Smith
Reply to  mds
1 year ago

Or how about you live with the fact that not a single person in the world other than desperate Americans believes America was anywhere “winning” this meet.

The points system sucks and the people desperately crying about Australia beating them suck more (that includes you).

Felix
1 year ago

For the population Australia has this results are even more impressive. When you consider in all Australia would and should be world number1 in SPORTS! IF Aussies play the sport then the chances are Australia will be either on top or close to it..!
So CHINA USA take note, it doesn’t matter even if you did win more medals than Australia which you haven’t let me emphasise again but even if you did it’s really pathetic you guy’s can’t win even more convincingly.
Also INDIA, for over 1billion people and yet yous can’t win cricket more often is really embarrassing. Honestly how can you even compare..? Australian’s are naturally gifted in all sports and they should be the world’s best!

David S
1 year ago

What seems to be different about the Australian team now is that our best swimmers are great racers and seem to excel in the pressure cooker environment of world championships and Olympic Games. Having the trials much closer to the championships works well. For a country of just 26 million – about one fifteenth the population of USA – we certainly punch above our weight. There wouldn’t be many times at worlds or Olympics where we’ve medaled in every relay, which highlights the current depth. A good mix of teenagers emerging and veterans hanging on.

Joshua Liendo-Edwards-Smith
1 year ago

For all people saying total medals are what counts, were you outraged when Dressel (5 gold) was featured on the cover of SwimSwam magazine following Tokyo instead of McKeon (4 gold, 3 bronze)? They won the same number of individual medals, but she won 2 additional medals overall.

So you’re all saying that McKeon in Tokyo was clearly a better performer than Dressel, right? And that Emma was better than every American in history besides Phelps?

Fukuoka Gold
Reply to  Joshua Liendo-Edwards-Smith
1 year ago

And I bet the whole farm that every Americans (including people who are defending ‘point system’ and ‘all medals are equal’) would much prefer Regan to win 100 back gold, than Regan silver and Berkoff bronze.

But sore losers have to have coping mechanism.

Last edited 1 year ago by Fukuoka Gold
mds
Reply to  Fukuoka Gold
1 year ago

You know, poor winners are just as irritating as whiny poor losers. I comes down to what you are valuing and how you measure it.

The whole issue is Individual v Team.

The ‘point system’ is what is in the rule book for Team of the meet. If you can’t take that, either develop more depth or lead the charge to change the rules.

No one has said “all medals are equal.” It is simply a matter of the title of the ‘Table,” If it is a Medal Table, list and add up all medals. If it is a Gold Medal Table just list the winners. And in that regard Australia was fantastic. As far as your example… Read more »

Fukuoka Gold
Reply to  mds
1 year ago

Here comes whiny poor loser

Joshua Liendo-Edwards-Smith
Reply to  mds
1 year ago

You say that Australians should “change the rules” if they don’t like how it’s done… but then immediate whine about how the medal table is sorted.

Medal table always has been and always will be sorted by golds first. If you don’t like it, stop whining and lead the charge to change the rules.

Hallesy
1 year ago

Congrats to Australia for having an amazing meet. Congrats to China for winning the overall gold medal count and great job U.S. for having an amazing final day! It seems like everyone is competing equally with drug testing working! That makes every country a true winner!

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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