It seems disproportionate to other sport, except maybe gymnastics. Some popular sports don’t even have any representation, like cricket or bowling or squash. How did swimming get so much representation?
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I would say that this is less to do with the sport of swimming, and more to do with the history of the Olympics. We think of the games as a festival of many sports, but in reality there have always been a small number of flagship sports.
The big three are athletics, swimming, and gymnastics. In the modern era you might add track cycling to that, in the past you might add equestrianism and yachting.
These sports dominate in terms of number of events and also in terms of coverage, not because they have massive participation or viewer appeal, but because they are what the Olympics is really about.
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