At a glance the Paris swimming medal table looks much as it did three years ago for the United States – top once again, both in golds and overall medals.
But the meet continued a narrative that emerged in Tokyo of supremacy maintained but dominance lost. When Bobby Finke retained his men’s 1500m freestyle title on Sunday on the final day of the Olympic meet, he was salvaging pride for the American men rather than signing off from France with an exclamation point on behalf of his nation.
