Australia’s top Olympic sport needs a shake-up. These twists can revolutionise it

On the eve of the inaugural Australia v The World swimming showcase in Brisbane, Olympic champion Cameron McEvoy called for the concept to develop into a full-fledged system beyond being a standalone event.

McEvoy will line up with a host of his compatriots in taking on some of the best swimmers on the planet in a revolutionary spectacle he believes has the potential to take the sport into the future and capture a whole new audience outside of marquee meets.

Despite Australian swimming taking in roughly half the nation’s Olympic medals, interest outside the Games struggles to make an impression in the sporting market, but The World initiative has sought to change that.

Cam McEvoy celebrates.Credit: Getty Images

McEvoy, who claimed gold in the 50-metre freestyle in Paris, pointed to the success of the American college system, and it’s school versus school approach as a sign such format shakeups were needed to make swimming engaging year-round. This, however, was “taking that to the nth degree”.

The Queensland sprinter said the maiden competition, taking place from 6.30pm on December 12 at The Valley pool, would soon take it a step further by making a “full series out of it” – including multiple teams, a championship conference and a finals.

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“Especially for someone who’s been around for a long time now, seeing freshness within the competition landscape is really exciting,” McEvoy said.

“It’s one big ecosystem – you get a greater fan base that’s going to feed into the swimmers, swimmers are going to respond better, and it’s going to bring more fans in.

“Getting the team they have for the World team coming out here this time of year is impressive, and I think the calibre of people who have come out this time of year shows the format is needed.

“People are looking for this within the sport, so for Australia to be the ground zero for unearthing that and putting that out into the world of swimming is something special.”

Australia v The World will incorporate a host of fresh rules to keep swimmers and audiences on their toes – including power plays, a 400 metres speed challenge, eliminations and mystery events (see below).

Points will be accrued under these various rules to determine the eventual victor, with five-time Olympic gold medallist Kaylee McKeown hopeful the growth of similar initiatives would bring much-needed attention to swimmers throughout the four-year Olympic cycle.

New approaches to traditional swimming have been tried before, with McKeown lamenting the ill-fated International Swimming League – a team-based competition which began in 2019 but ceased in 2021.

But the backstroke sensation stressed that ahead of the Brisbane 2032 Olympics there was a need for innovation to capture a wider audience and inspire the next generation.

“Especially leading in Brisbane 2032, it’s so important to get a home crowd invested in the sport of swimming. I think we go really unrecognised considering we bring in the most amount of Olympic medals,” McKeown said.

“You see athletes in athletics make the semi-final, and it’s the best thing ever, but you see swimmers making the semi-finals and it’s hardly making the papers. I think more investing in these types of things and just being in the public eye is going to be really good for swimmers across the board.

“There can be many ways to skin a cat. This is the first time we’re doing anything like this, and I think it’s going to be really interesting that it’s not just the traditional events.”

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