Through the first five days of the swimming program at the 2024 Paris Olympics, many of the conversations have been around the emergence of ‘the next generation.’ France’s Leon Marchand, Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan, and Italy’s Thomas Ceccon each won their first individual Olympic gold medals. All three of them shared the pool at the 2019 World Juniors in Budapest five years ago.

Canada’s Summer McIntosh and Romania’s David Popovici also won individual golds and neither have turned 20 yet.

It’s hard to really define “generations” in swimming in the way that many of these swimmers break out at different times but are all defined by what they did in their first Olympics. While these swimmers are experience Olympic glory for the first time, many are beginning to wind down their careers and beginning to think of what comes next after the sport imminently ends for them.

For swimmers like Adam Peaty of Great Britain and Caeleb Dressel of the United States, who made their Olympic debuts in Rio 2016, they’ve expressed a lot of emotion in the year 2024 talking about their love for their kids.

"It makes me cry again anytime anyone talks about my boy,” Peaty said after his silver in the 100m breaststroke. “In the car some days, you have bad days, you have good days, and my son asked me, 'Daddy, are you the fastest boy in the world?' And I’m like, ‘I sure hope so,’ but not today. Not today. And I really, truly believe this moment was meant to be, because in my heart I'm so happy.

"I mean there's so much to debrief on with the team as well. What went right, what didn't go so well? Did I get caught up in the battle between the two people next to me? Possibly. But all variants of a thousand variants lead to the same result and the same feeling in my heart that I couldn't have given more. So I did it, you know, for my son.”

On Monday night after American Ryan Murphy won his bronze medal in the 100m backstroke, his third straight medal in the event after gold in Rio 2016 and bronze in Tokyo 2020, he was greeted by a gender reveal sign from his wife, Bridget. The sign read, ‘Ryan, it’s a girl!’

Almost all of the questions sent Murphy’s way in his press conference were about his future as a girl dad rather than about the medal he just won.

“It’s really exciting to be a girl dad. January of next year my life is going to change a lot and I’m really excited for that. It definitely does put things into perspective. Up to this point, swimming has been the most important thing in my life. Pretty much every major decision I make is with swimming in mind and that is going to change coming up. I’m really looking forward to what is coming - a baby girl.

“We had been guessing a couple weeks now what the gender was going to be and so that was a great way to find out,” Murphy said. “That lit me up and really brought this night to a whole other level.”

For 100m breaststroke silver medalist Nic Fink of the United States, he and his wife Mel will be expecting a baby in September.

For Peaty, in Sunday’s 100m breaststroke final, he was aiming to be just the fifth swimmer to win three Olympic gold medals in the same race. With 15 meters to go, it appeared to those in the venue he was going to. But at the finish, his block flashed two lights instead of one - silver.

In his press conference, Peaty expressed tremendous gratitude with the silver, highlighting the accomplishment, but sharing how his perspective on the medal has changed since Tokyo 2020 three years ago.

“I’ve been so grateful to win so many medals,” Peaty said. “I’ve been so dominant and have such performances as first man to go 57 and first man to go 56, but I am so happy to be here with this medal tonight. It has challenged me in 1000 ways. I think anyone listening to this who may have children, something that Nic is going to be amazingly blessed to have very soon, that your whole perspective on life changes. My responsibilities have changed so much in the last three years because of my son and I don’t regret one single day.

"For me, I gave my best performance with the cards I’ve been dealt. It could have gone a number of ways. I’m not going to define my career in the terms of the ups and the downs by a medal. I’m just so happy to be among these incredible athletes and performances. With the race I was in with Arno and Qin in the last 15 meters, I felt like I had it, but that’s sport and I think that’s going to throw you up and down, and we’ve all been through it. I’m just happy that I got the win and it went to an incredible guy.”

For Peaty, he took an extended break from racing, citing a need to work on his mental health. He didn’t race at either the 2022 or 2023 World Championships, where his world record remained but his presence was missed by those in the final.

“I’m very happy with the gold but of course, it’s not the same feeling without having (Adam) Peaty here,” Italian Nicolo Martienghi said after winning the 100m breaststroke World title in 2022. “(Peaty) is an inspiration for me,” Martinenghi said. “I texted him before I came here and I’m happy to be the guy that is in his position now but I know he is going to want to come back…”

Peaty came back earlier this year with the only sub-58 of the year at the British Trials in April and finished the season with a silver medal at the Olympics.

“This whole 14 months has been to show that you can literally be at the bottom of the bottom and try to find a way through and medal. I’m so grateful to do what I do but I am so happy I can race these boys.

"It took every fiber in my body to be here, because some days I didn't want to be. And that's not just in sport, I think.”

Dressel took an extended break from the pool in 2022, citing a need to take a break from the sport

He didn’t touch the pool for eight months after leaving the 2022 World Championships midway through the meet. Many in swimming wondered if they would ever see him again.

Dressel took the time to find who he really was without swimming. He went on his honeymoon to Iceland; he swam with manatees, and he explored the outdoors.

He wasn’t happy with swimming, so he briefly walked away from it to find happiness.

In February 2024, he welcomed his son, August, to the world. On Saturday night, tears fled Dressel’s eyes when he hugged his son after the medal ceremony for the 4x100m freestyle. It was the third time Dressel sang The Star Spangled Banner for winning that relay at the Games, but the first one in which his son was in the audience.

“Just making an Olympic team, no one can take that away from you and you’re an Olympian for the rest of your life and what is special is my son got to watch me make an Olympic team,” Dressel said after the Olympic Trials in June. “He’s not going to remember it. I’ll tell him, trust me. I have photos to prove it. That was extremely special.

“It’s not something I thought about how special it would be until I chewed on it a little more and now that I’m done swimming (at this meet) thinking about just some of those photos everyone was talking about. I got choked up. That was a really special moment.”

Peaty (age 29), Murphy (29), Fink (31), and Dressel (27) are all close in age and reaching the end of their careers. As members of the same generation of the sport, we’ve seen them grow up as swimmers. Peaty and Murphy won their first individual gold medals in Rio 2016. Dressel won his first in Tokyo 2020. Fink made his first Worlds team in Barcelona 2013.

There was a point in time when they were on top of the world, but we’ve seen that doesn’t last forever. There comes a time when the sport comes to an end and the next generation takes over, and whether that time is now or in four years from now in Los Angeles 2028, life moves on.

For swimmers like Murphy, Peaty, and Dressel that have experienced the sport’s pinnacle of a gold medal at the Olympics, they have shown to find that there comes a time in life when there’s more to it than sport, as evident by their emotions when speaking of their children.