Tapering varies from individuals and sports you are competing in. For a sport like rugby, tapering will happen every week towards match day. For swimming, tapering for big events will occur like you say progressively to the competition day. some swimmers I know will reduce swim volume massively to events while others not so much. It has taken them a while to find the ideal tapering routine that fits them.

tapering like training and competition is specific to the athlete, sport, age and level the coach should taper as part of a major plan in the athletes career