Sarah Sjöström To Compete At Fifth Olympic Games In Paris Following Selection By Sweden
Four-time Olympic medallist Sarah Sjöström will compete at her fifth Games in Paris next year after being selected to represent Sweden.
Sjöström has so far been selected to the 50 free in which she won silver at Tokyo 2020 behind Australian Emma McKeon.
That came only five months after the 30-year-old broke her elbow in a slip on ice in February 2021, prompting her to say:
“This is one of my biggest achievements in my career. I’ve won a lot of medals and broken a lot of world records, but this has been the toughest challenge so far.”
Sjöström is one of five individuals swimmers to have been selected for Paris along with:
- Michelle Coleman: 50, 100 free
- Louise Hansson: 100 butterfly
- Sophie Hansson: 100 breaststroke
- Erik Persson: 200 breaststroke
- Women’s 4×100 medley
- Women’s 4×100 freestyle
A statement on the Swedish federation’s website read:
“We say big congratulations to the swimmers who were selected today to represent Sweden during the Olympics in Paris 2024.
“Upcoming Olympic selections are tentatively scheduled for the following dates in 2024: 25 January, 14 March, 17 April, 15 May, 30 May, 13 June, 26 June, 3 July and 8 July.”
Sjöström Looking Beyond Paris
Sarah Sjöström: Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
Sjöström won gold in the 100 fly at Rio 2016 plus 200 free silver and 100 free bronze and will compete at Paris 2024 16 years after making her Olympic debut aged 15 at Beijing 2008.
Sjostrom has been competing at the very top table for more than half her life having become European 100 fly champion aged 14 in Eindhoven, Netherlands, in March 2008.
This year she joined Katie Ledecky as the only woman to have claimed five straight world titles in a single event when she won the 50 fly once more in Fukuoka, 12 months after the American achieved that feat in the 800 at the Budapest worlds.
Victory in the 50 free – following a WR in the semis – meant she moved beyond Michael Phelps as the swimmer to have claimed the most individual medals in World Championship history.
In an interview with Swimming World in September 2022, Sjöström spoke of her plans to compete at her sixth Olympics at LA 2028.
Only fellow Swedes Therese Alshammar and Lars Frolander plus Oussama Mellouli and Derya Büyükuncu have swum at six Games.
“Definitely. (It’s) very unlikely I am not doing it.
“Paris will be the first one and I try to always take one year at a time – that is the main thing.
“We’ll see – maybe I’ll find out in two years (and) I’m like ‘ah, no, I’m done’ but I don’t think so.
“I think I am going to continue for much longer.”