it seems a little arbitrary having medals for both freestyle and also backstroke, butterfly, etc. Like, in track and field there’s not a 100m “running backwards” event. Why are there so many medals for swimming? Who decided it was that important relative to other forms of physical endeavor?
It also seems awkward in comparison to olympic weightlifting, which has TWO different lifts as part of a single event. I understand that they already bracket it by weight classes, but why not break it into a medal for the clean-and-jerk and another for the snatch? Or alternatively, add other events that test strength and precision?
I’m okay if the answer is just “that’s how it’s always been” and general path-dependence, but it seems a bit odd.
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Last time I paid attention to Olympic weightlifting there were separate Medals for the different lift types in each weight category. If that’s not the case at the upcoming Olympics I hope the organising committee released a statement explaining the decision
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