Has any thought been given to the olympic swimming medley relays.?

Question

wouldnt it be fun if each leg of the relay was at the choice of the competitor.

ie freestyle versus backstroke versus breaststroke versus butterfly.

just imagine what the final lap would be like.

Answer 1

Interestingly enough, there is NO rule about how to swim freestyle.  Freestyle is just that - you are free to choose whatever stroke you want.  I've been involved in swimming as a competitor, coach, and fan, and I have seen swimmers choose to do different strokes during a freestyle race.  It's rare, and usually happens only at relatively unimportant meets.

So, there already is a relay where the stroke is the choice of the competitor. It's called the free relay.   Everybody does the crawl stroke because it's the fastest.

_/

Answer 2

that's a good idea although it would be tough if you were doing breaststroke and someone else is doing freestyle

Answer 3

swimming wasnt never exciting until micheal phepls

Answer 4

no not really

i quite like it the way it is

its more fair than doing it the "fun" way