Hosting the second-ever Youth Olympic Games, China dominated the medal count, hitting double digits with 10 golds and 17 total medals.
That came courtesy of some dominant Chinese studs, who combined to sweep the women’s and mixed relays. Most memorable will probably be their newfound sprinters Yu Hexin and Shen Duo, each of whom really burst onto the international scene with this meet.
Russia follows with 6 golds and 13 total medals. They got their biggest haul from backstroker Evgeny Rylov, who nearly swept the backstroke races over the course of the week, only missing gold in the 200, where he was second.
You’ll notice there were more golds awarded than silvers and bronzes. That’s because of two ties for gold – in the men’s 100 back and women’s 200 back.
One of the faster final day risers was Hungary, which went 1-2 in the men’s 200 fly and also won the women’s 100 fly. That discipline was great for Hungary, with Liliana Szilagyi crushing two golds in the 100 and 200 fly in what would have been Junior World Records, were she just a bit younger.
Also notable: Australia was held without a gold medal, but piled up the bronzes. The Aussies won 10 total medals, 9 of them bronze. That’s the third-highest total in overall medals.
The Youth Olympic Games feature a very small team roster limit in an effort to help spread medals out to different nations that don’t always have medal opportunities in big-time international competitions. That strategy seemed to work out: no less than 29 different countries earned a YOGs medal, a pretty impressive feat considering there were just 36 total events in the pool.
Final Swimming Medal Table for Youth Olympic Games
| Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| China | 10 | 5 | 2 | 17 |
| Russia | 6 | 4 | 3 | 13 |
| Hungary | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| Italy | 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| USA | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Ukraine | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Lithuania | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Great Britain | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Brazil | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Croatia | 1 | 1 | ||
| Egypt | 1 | 1 | ||
| Japan | 1 | 1 | ||
| Vietnam | 1 | 1 | ||
| Germany | 3 | 4 | 7 | |
| Venezuela | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Hong Kong | 2 | 2 | ||
| Australia | 1 | 9 | 10 | |
| Spain | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Trinidad & Tobago | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| El Salvador | 1 | 1 | ||
| Greece | 1 | 1 | ||
| South Korea | 1 | 1 | ||
| Switzerland | 1 | 1 | ||
| Thailand | 1 | 1 | ||
| New Zealand | 2 | 2 | ||
| Norway | 2 | 2 | ||
| Bahamas | 1 | 1 | ||
| Slovenia | 1 | 1 | ||
| Totals | 38 | 34 | 36 | 108 |
Wait, didn’t Jamaica win some gold?
Jared, I think you meant Youth Olympic Games medal in that final sentence instead of European Championship. You guys must be exhausted, thanks for your reporting!
Whew, you’re right. A third of my brain is still in Berlin (and the other third in Australia!). Thanks for the heads up, we’ve updated now!