2020 TOKYO SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
- When: Pool swimming: Saturday, July 24 – Sunday, August 1, 2021
- Open Water swimming: Wednesday, August 4 – Thursday, August 5, 2021
- Where: Olympic Aquatics Centre / Tokyo, Japan
- Heats: 7 PM / Semifinals & Finals: 10:30 AM (Local time)
- Full aquatics schedule
- SwimSwam Event Previews
- Entry Lists
- Live Results
Pool swimming has officially come to a close for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. In total, 208 different Olympic medals were distributed among 124 swimmers. 27-year-old Aussie Emma McKeon earned the most medal of all swimming Olympic medalists with seven, the most ever achieved by a woman in a single Olympics. McKeon picked up four relay medals, two gold (400 free/medley relays) and two bronze (800 free/mixed 400 medley relays), and three individual medals, including 100 fly bronze and a 50/100 free double gold sweep.
The swimmer with the next-most medals is 24-year-old American Caeleb Dressel, who hit five gold medals, just one more than McKeon’s four Tokyo golds. Dressel was a member of the gold medal-winning 400 free relay and world record-breaking 400 medley relay, as well as nabbing three individual medals in the 50/100 free and 100 fly.
20-year-old Kaylee McKeown was the swimmer with the third-most medals with four, three of them being gold. McKeown was a dominant force in the backstroke events with her 100/200 event sweep, as well as leading off the winning 400 medley relay and contributing to the mixed 400 medley relay alongside McKeon. McKeown also had the third-most gold medals behind Dressel’s five and McKeon’s four.
More swimmers that picked up four medals include 24-year-old American Katie Ledecky (400/800/1500 free, 800 free relay), 23-year-old Chinese Zhang Yufei (100/200 fly, 800 free/mixed 400 medley relay), 20-year-old Aussie Ariarne Titmus (200/400/800 free, 800 free relay), and 24-year-old Brit Duncan Scott (200 free/IM, 800 free/400 medley relay). Following the top seven swimmers were 13 swimmers that earned three medals in total.
Among the double-medal winners on the medalists list, only 8 swimmers picked up two individual-only medals in Tokyo.
- Siobhan Haughey earned Hong Kong’s first two swimming medals by hitting silver in both the 100 free and 200 free.
- Hungarian Kristof Milak won the Olympic title in the 200 fly as well as taking silver in the 100 fly.
- Japan’s Yui Ohashi picked up double gold by sweeping the 200 IM and 400 IM.
- Dutchman Arno Kamminga nailed double silver in the 100 breast and 200 breast.
- South African Tatjana Schoenmaker first earned silver in the 100 breast before winning the 200 breast.
- Ukrainian Mykhailo Romanchuk picked up two distance medals, 800 free bronze and 1500 free silver.
- American Bobby Finke was the double men’s distance champion in the 800 free and 1500 free.
- Another American, Hali Flickinger, earned two bronze in the 400 IM and 200 fly.
All of the named swimmers, and a plethora of others, had relay capabilities (or the mere presence of a relay spot) to their advantage when earning these medals. While Ledecky and Titmus earned three individual medals, they were able to earn a fourth medal simply swimming on a finals relay. Likewise, Zhang was able to pick up a second gold medal after being added to the 800 free relay following her 200 fly gold performance. Zhang also added another silver to her collection swimming on the mixed 400 medley relay after earning silver in a historically fast 100 fly final.
Notably, Aussies Mollie O’Callaghan and Brianna Throssell picked up three medals being prelims relay-only swimmers. O’Callaghan, who is 17 years old, became a two-time gold medalist contributing to the prelims 400 free/medley relays and earned bronze swimming prelims of the 800 free relay. Throssell was also a prelims 400 medley relay member, earning gold, as well as a prelims member of the bronze medal-winning 800 free relay and mixed 400 medley relay.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Medals — By the Numbers
- 208 Olympic medals were distributed in Tokyo 2020
- 124 swimmers will walk away with at least one Olympic medal
- 53 swimmers will walk away with two or more Olympic medals
- 20 swimmers will walk away with THREE or more Olympic medals
- 7 swimmers will walk away with FOUR or more Olympic medals
- 60 swimmers will walk away with an Olympic BRONZE medal
- 58 swimmers will walk away with an Olympic SILVER medal
- 48 swimmers will walk away with an Olympic GOLD medal
- 16 swimmers will walk away with TWO or more Olympic GOLD medals
- 3 swimmers will walked away with THREE or more Olympic GOLD medals
Note: these totals don’t add to the same as the by-country medals table, which you can view here. Each prelims and finals swimmer on a relay is counted as 1 medal below, versus 1 medal in aggregate per country in the primary medals table. So, for example, the American women will receive 20 total medals for relays, which is reflected below.
| All Tokyo 2020 Olympic Swimming Medalists | |||||
| Athlete | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | TOTAL |
| Caeleb Dressel | USA | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Emma McKeon | AUS | 4 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Kaylee Mckeown | AUS | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Zhang Yufei | CHN | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Katie Ledecky | USA | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Ariarne Titmus | AUS | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Adam Peaty | GBR | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| James Guy | GBR | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Evgeny Rylov | ROC | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Mollie O’Callaghan | AUS | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Cate Campbell | AUS | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Tom Dean | GBR | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Yui Ohashi | JPN | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Zach Apple | USA | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Bobby Finke | USA | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Blake Pieroni | USA | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Duncan Scott | GBR | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Maggie MacNeil | CAN | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Ryan Murphy | USA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Yang Junxuan | CHN | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Kristóf Milák | HUN | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Tatjana Schoenmaker | RSA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Lydia Jacoby | USA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Brianna Throssell | AUS | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Zac Stubblety-Cook | AUS | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Meg Harris | AUS | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Madison Wilson | AUS | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Bronte Campbell | AUS | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Emily Seebohm | AUS | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Li Bingjie | CHN | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Chelsea Hodges | AUS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Tang Muhan | CHN | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Zhang Yifan | CHN | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Dong Jie | CHN | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Wang Shun | CHN | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Freya Anderson | GBR | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Matthew Richards | GBR | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Calum Jarvis | GBR | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kathleen Dawson | GBR | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Anna Hopkin | GBR | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Ahmed Hafnaoui | TUN | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Brooks Curry | USA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Andrew Wilson | USA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Bowe Becker | USA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Michael Andrew | USA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Hunter Armstrong | USA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Chase Kalisz | USA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Tom Shields | USA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kylie Masse | CAN | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Regan Smith | USA | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Lilly King | USA | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Siobhan Haughey | HKG | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Arno Kamminga | NED | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Kyle Chalmers | AUS | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Penny Oleksiak | CAN | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Kayla Sanchez | CAN | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Taylor Ruck | CAN | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Luke Greenbank | GBR | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Thomas Ceccon | ITA | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Alessandro Miressi | ITA | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Kliment Kolesnikov | ROC | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Mykhaylo Romanchuk | UKR | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Erika Brown | USA | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Abbey Weitzeil | USA | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Allison Schmitt | USA | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Jack McLoughlin | AUS | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Rebecca Smith | CAN | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Yan Zibei | CHN | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Xu Jiayu | CHN | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Florent Manaudou | FRA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| James Wilby | GBR | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Manuel Frigo | ITA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Lorenzo Zazzeri | ITA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Santo Condorelli | ITA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Gregorio Paltrinieri | ITA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Tomoru Honda | JPN | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Ivan Girev | ROC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Martin Malyutin | ROC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Mikhail Vekovishchev | ROC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Mikhail Dovgalyuk | ROC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Aleksandr Krasnykh | ROC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Sarah Sjöström | SWE | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Katie Mclaughlin | USA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Emma Weyant | USA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Brooke Forde | USA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Erica Sullivan | USA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Paige Madden | USA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Bella Sims | USA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Torri Huske | USA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Claire Curzan | USA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Rhyan White | USA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Alex Walsh | USA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Jay Litherland | USA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Matthew Temple | AUS | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Zac Incerti | AUS | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Alexander Graham | AUS | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Nicolò Martinenghi | ITA | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Federico Burdisso | ITA | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Hali Flickinger | USA | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Brendon Smith | AUS | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Elijah Winnington | AUS | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Thomas Neill | AUS | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Isaac Cooper | AUS | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Leah Neale | AUS | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Tamsin Cook | AUS | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Mack Horton | AUS | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Cameron McEvoy | AUS | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Fernando Scheffer | BRA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Bruno Fratus | BRA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Sydney Pickrem | CAN | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Pernille Blume | DEN | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Matti Mattsson | FIN | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Sarah Köhler | GER | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Florian Wellbrock | GER | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Simona Quadarella | ITA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Noè Ponti | SUI | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Jérémy Desplanches | SUI | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Kieran Smith | USA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Catie Deloof | USA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Kate Douglass | USA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Natalie Hinds | USA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Annie Lazor | USA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Simone Manuel | USA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Olivia Smoliga | USA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
You might have some difficulty explaining to the host Japanese why Molly O’Callaghan is ranked above their IM star Yui Ohashi based upon nothing more than 3 relay prelim swims.
That’s just how it works. Dressel and Phelps both have gold medals accredited to them when they only swam the heat of a relay.
The addition of men’s 800 free and women’s 1500 free was long-overdue.
While the addition of a medley relay was ridiculous.
Next time they will add the 50s of stroke, the mixed 4X100 free relay, the men and women’s 4X50 free and medley relays, the mixed 4X50 free and medley relays and obviously the men and women’s 1500 fly and we’ll see some swimmers bring home between 10 and 15 medals. Ridiculous.
It will be interesting to see how this evolves. A critique against the 800m and 1500m addition is that the same people win them. This was one rationale for the Olympics to briefly remove the 200 IMs from the programme in the 1970s – and we now see a 200-400 IM double on the women’s side nearly every Olympics.
A common critique against swimming is that there were too many events even before the recent additions. Comparing 2016 to – say – 1968 – the only additions may have been i) the 50m freestyles, ii) adding the 4×200 free for women for gender balance and iii) the open-water marathon swimming events. So swim fans could say “hey, the programme… Read more »
ngl would have liked to see MP in 2008 sweep the 100 – 200 – 400 – 800 – 1500 fly
Maybe Milak in Paris 2024 :O
So if this meeting was based on points and the team with the most points (like a regular meet) wins? Who would have won men and women?
It’s kind of pointless to work that out. Australia left swimmers at home who might have finalled and GB withdrew from individual events to focus on relays, because the emphasis is on medals. If this was a meet based on points, then teams and strategies would have been different.
But without doing the maths I assume US men won and Australian women won.
Dressel is top of the multiple-medalist individual list.
Gold determines who’s top
But expectations were that he’d break 3 WRs not one. Didn’t swimswam predict some crazy times for him?
McKeon was the most understated great Olympian I can think of in forever. Which in my mind, only adds to her greatness. No excessive celebrations, thigh-slapping to psyche people out, sitting on the lane ropes, finger-wagging, just a smile, quiet confidence and satisfaction. In a world full of carnival barkers, what an absolute gem. Wish we knew more about her, saw her more, here in the U.S. Huge fan of her now.
For everyone that is neither American or Australian this fight about who is better that’s been going on in the comment sections all week is ridiculous and annoying. Why can’t you guys just be happy about all the great swimming we’ve been able to watch after 1.5 years of COVID, without talking down on each others swimmers and who is better? I’m sure most of the swimmers, you know the ones that are actually doing the racing, are just excited for each other and that they are all able to be in the pool again. Grow up guys!
As a non AUS-USA reader I find it highly entertaining and immensely ridiculous.
I don’t see a petty battle back and forth. I see Australians being proud of their team and Americans doing everything they can to put them down and insist that USA is the best. Your characterisation of how it’s played out is wrong. Just read the comments on this article and you’ll see who is celebrating their country vs who is arguing and trying to put everyone else down.
Well, kumbay-f’in-ya.
Lily King’s comments pre-games, about US gold medal potential, would have fired up the Aussies. Will go down in the history books alongside US “guitars” in 2000, and the French team comments in 2008 about the relays. Hopefully someone from the US team does something similar a few weeks out from Paris!
Just say: “blah blah… best team ever.. blah blah.. U-S-A U-S-A.. blah blah.. gold medals”. That’ll do 😉
Kylie Masse of Canada was also a multiple individual medal winner, silvers in the 100m and 200m back.