[DC 86]

I don't know what Coach Bob Bowman was talking about when he indicated he thought the swimming team was near some kind of medal record.  It made no sense to me.  The announcers then had to scramble to compare this team to previous teams.  Total medals compares to 16 years ago.  Gold medals compares to 4 years ago.  Good, but not historic numbers.

I agree that Bowman was somewhat hyperbolic, but this was objectively the best performance (numerically) in the 2-max era. The US ended with 16 gold and 33 total metals. It's true that in 2012 the US also won 16 gold, but only 31 total. It's also true that in 2000 the US won 33 medals but only 14 were gold.

So this year was far better than "good". It would be accurate to say it was historic in being the best gold/total medal result, even though it wasn't dramatically different from the last six Olympics which have been dominated by the US in swimming.

[DC 86]

I don't know what Coach Bob Bowman was talking about when he indicated he thought the swimming team was near some kind of medal record.  It made no sense to me.  The announcers then had to scramble to compare this team to previous teams.  Total medals compares to 16 years ago.  Gold medals compares to 4 years ago.  Good, but not historic numbers.

I agree that Bowman was somewhat hyperbolic, but this was objectively the best performance (numerically) in the 2-max era. The US ended with 16 gold and 33 total metals. It's true that in 2012 the US also won 16 gold, but only 31 total. It's also true that in 2000 the US won 33 medals but only 14 were gold.

So this year was far better than "good". It would be accurate to say it was historic in being the best gold/total medal result, even though it wasn't dramatically different from the last six Olympics which have been dominated by the US in swimming.