At Swimming Worlds, Hungary Deserves Biggest Gold Of All

Courtesy of Rob Penner. Opinions are those of their author and do not necessarily reflect those of SwimSwam.

The World Championships came to a close earlier this month and it always takes a week or two to reflect back and absorb some of the great performances that we witnessed, along with the event’s overall impact on the sport and the global sporting landscape.

I have the unique perspective in that the last world championships I attended were the 1998 FINA World Championships in Perth, Australia. Yes, those were the last Swimming Worlds that did not have a swimmer named either Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte competing in them — so my Worlds experiences have bookended the Michael Phelps era.

And my lasting impression is this: wow, have the World Championships grown up! The 1998 Worlds were a staid, low-key affair with a medium-sized outdoor venue, a food court that could reasonably be compared to the vendor area at a big high school football game and lukewarm buzz around town – even in swimming-crazed Australia. By contrast, the events in Budapest were a veritable Super Bowl of swimming over two weeks: five different venues, a massively popular (and crowded) fan zone, a state of the art indoor swimming and diving arena, light shows, musical acts and signs, banners and billboards visible all around the graceful Hungarian capital city on the Danube.

That’s not to take away from my first Worlds experience 20 years ago, they were wonderfully-organized. Instead, it highlights the growth of swimming over the past two decades thanks to increased television emphasis on our sport at the Olympics, the media coverage explosion from the Michael Phelps era, the addition of races like semifinal heats and 50m sprints, easier access to meets and athlete personalities via social media and livestreaming and the increased production values at big events beyond the Games such as Worlds, Olympic Trials and Euros.

As someone who has been closely following Olympic sports since the mid-90s, it’s fair to say that – in the U.S. at least – swimming has certainly overtaken Track & Field and Gymnastics as the number one summer Olympic sport if you go by year-round media coverage, personalities and television popularity.

But beyond the global growth of swimming, you still need local organizers and home town fans who understand how to put on a good show, support both home country athletes and international stars with boisterous energy and have a solid understanding of swimming’s unique characteristics as a sport. Budapest did all that — and more.

Hungary took over the hosting duties for these World Championships in February 2015, when Guadalajara, Mexico withdrew as host four years after they were first selected. With just over two years time, the city of Budapest put on quite a show that made our sport proud. It was called the biggest sporting event in Hungary’s history – and it showed.

Beyond the organizational aspects, Hungary’s great aquatics tradition – don’t forget their proud water polo history – left a big imprint on the Championships. They cheered their home country swimmers with adoring enthusiasm, whether it was Katinka Hosszu winning gold in the IM or their underdog men’s freestyle relay team coming from an outside lane to snag bronze. They cheered non-medal finishers and semifinal qualifiers alike while recognizing the talents and accomplishments of international stars like Sarah Sjostrom and Adam Peaty when world records were broken.

Caeleb Dressel and Sarah Sjostrom may have won FINA Swimmer of the Meet honors, but it was the public’s energy, enthusiasm and grand stage provided to these athletes that put such a terrific spotlight on their successes and made all the competitors shine bright. It left quite the impression. And for that, I would award Budapest the biggest gold of all.

Rob Penner is the VP, Marketing & Communications at SwimOutlet.com, the official online retailer of USA Swimming. He has worked eight Olympic Games and has three Emmy Awards working as a writer for NBC Olympics.