< The once-mighty U.S. swim team sinks in early Olympic races, winning only two golds

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Well, she's done it again. In Paris today, legendary American swimmer Katie Ledecky won gold in the women's 1,500 freestyle final, setting a new Olympic record. This is her eighth gold medal, and it comes at a moment when American swimmers needed a boost. The U.S. has reigned supreme in Olympic swimming for a long time, but so far at the summer games, they've only won three gold medals. NPR's Brian Mann joins us from outside the Olympic Aquatics Centre in the Paris suburbs. Brian, how did this race play out today?

BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: Boy, Ari, you could tell that it was sort of a history-making performance. Katie Ledecky broke away from the pack of swimmers right out of the blocks. She kept pulling away. It was relentless. You know, this 1,500 distance is a grueling endurance race. She swam it like a sprinter, never slowed down. She's never lost this race at this distance in 14 years. That's just unheard of. And she's extended her career - you know, she's 27 years old - by really focusing on this perfect training, this technique, taking care of her body. And so she's still untouchable at these longer distances. And, you know, as you say, Ari, the U.S. was hungry for a moment like this. This was the first time since Sunday that an American swimmer reached the top of the podium.

SHAPIRO: So she's doing great, but why is the rest of the team underperforming?

MANN: Well, you know, there's been a shift. At the Tokyo Summer Games three years ago, the U.S. won 11 gold medals. We're now most of the way through the swimming competition here in Paris, and yeah, American swimmers have only won three gold medals so far. To find out what changed, I've been talking with athletes, and they say the world of swimming has just changed.

SHAPIRO: Let's listen to what they told you.

RYAN MURPHY: You know, and really, the parity internationally, it's really competitive right now.

MANN: That's Ryan Murphy, who won gold in the men's 100-meter backstroke three years ago. He holds the Olympic record in this event, but here in Paris, he finished third with a bronze medal. And Murphy told me the reality is the rest of the world is just getting faster. They're catching up and sometimes pulling ahead.

MURPHY: The learning curve is so quick around the world. You know, and I think that's a big reason, you know, why there's so many talented athletes across the world now.

MANN: I heard this again and again, often from some of America's stars. Bobby Finke also scored a gold medal three years ago in the 800-meter freestyle. But this week, he wound up with a silver medal behind an Irish swimmer.

BOBBY FINKE: I don't think it's to deal with how strong Team USA is or how weak we are. I think it's just a point of how much the sport has grown.

MANN: This shift toward greater parity in Olympic swimming, it can really be traced to a single event eight years ago.

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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Michael Phelps has just finished his career the only way he knows how, winning gold. That's right, he earned his...

MANN: Michael Phelps scooped up an unprecedented 23 gold medals over his Olympic career. He was such a dominant force that his retirement alone after the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, it was enough to level the international playing field. And right now, the stars coming up trying to replace him, they're not America.

LEON MARCHAND: I felt really proud to be myself and to be also French tonight, so it was an amazing time for me.

MANN: That's Leon Marchand, a young French swimmer who's emerged as one of the big stars of these Olympics. He won a race called the individual medley by a huge margin. He showed the kind of untouchable speed that Phelps used to pour on. And Marchand embodies another trend that's leveling the field fast.

MARCHAND: I think NCAA were, like, pretty good practice for me.

MANN: Marchand actually lives in the U.S. He swam for Arizona State University. He trains with Bob Bowman, the legendary American swimming coach who worked with Michael Phelps. American Olympic athletes here say this is a growing trend. Some of the best foreign swimmers they face, including breakout Canadian star Summer McIntosh, they actually come up through the American system, training with the best U.S. coaches, picking up the best American ideas. But their gold medals go to their home countries. The U.S. athletes here say they don't mind this practice. Here's Katie Ledecky talking about McIntosh.

KATIE LEDECKY: Especially Summer being in the U.S., training in the U.S., it's always fun to race the best.

MANN: Americans say the rise of other teams and new swimming icons from other countries, they say that pushes them. It makes them better and brings more attention to the sport. Of course, that kind of parity is also sometimes really painful. Here's Bobby Finke again. He spoke after falling short in his bid for another gold medal in the backstroke.

FINKE: As much as, like, it sucks, because you want to dominate, but, like, to me, it's a good thing for the sport, just because it shows the growth and the progress we've come.

MANN: And really, you can hear the progress behind me. The crowds hear, people attracted to the sport, really huge at these Olympics.

SHAPIRO: Brian Mann's reporting there. He's still with us from Paris. Brian, could Katie Ledecky's eighth gold that she won tonight be a turnaround for U.S. swimming in these Olympics?

MANN: We're going to see a lot more gold medals from this U.S. team. They'll always be one of the top medal-winning teams, but the era when America owned the Olympic pool, that may just be gone for good.

SHAPIRO: NPR's Brian Mann. Thank you.

MANN: Thank you, Ari.

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