There were a few Olympic records set at Tokyo. The two most exciting races to watch when it comes to tight races, for me, is track and field and swimming. It is in these sports where tenths of a second can mean the difference between gold or silver or bronze. The same happens in track and field although with athletes like Usain Bolt, it tends to occur less, although there have been some tight races. This is what I found, so in terms of world records. I am focusing less on individual athletes and more on the year the OR was set and how many records have survived in each year. Some are surprising as no one yet has beat Jackie Joyner Kersee from the U.S. since 1988 in certain track and field events and no one has beat Michael Phelps from the U.S. since 2008 in certain swimming events. The longest record is from 1968 in long jump by Bob Beamon who is 74 years old now. Here is the breakdown of the Olympic years where records were set and remain until the next summer Olympics in Paris in 2024.

Swimming Olympic Records

2020 Tokyo has 17 OR

2016 Rio has 6 OR

2012 London has 2 OR

2008 Beijing has 5 OR

Track and Field Olympic Records

2020 Tokyo has 9 OR

2016 Rio has 6 OR

2012 London has 6 OR

2008 Beijing has 8 OR

2004 Athens has 4 OR

1996 Atlanta has 3 OR

1988 Seoul has 4 OR

1980 Moscow has 3 OR

1968 Mexico City has 1 OR