Paris 2024: Unusual rule in Olympic swimming relay revealed

A massive talking point was the fact there was an extra team in the race - with nine countries swimming in the final rather than the usual eight.

Video transcript

This unusual rule was on display at Paris 2024 during the men's four by 200 metre relay at the Paris Olympics.

There was an extra team in the race with nine countries swimming in the final rather than the usual eight.

This was because Israel and Japan produced the exact same time in the heat, which ended up being the eighth fastest qualifying time.

So rather than make the two countries swim off for a place in the final, officials made the rare call of allowing both to advance.

Israel swam in Lane zero, the final which is normally unused, and Aussie legend Ian Thorpe admitted he'd never seen anything like it and didn't even know it was possible to allow nine teams into a final.

But under world aquatics rules, Olympic Pools must have 10 lanes for this exact scenario.

In commentary for Channel nine, Ian Thorpe said.

Usually if there was an equal place third the eighth lane in a pool we would have a swim off, which is the usual rule we found out in a relay.

They actually have a different rule to allow an extra team to be able to swim