The Hungarian – nicknamed the Iron Lady – was set to contest five individual medals at the Games but, with an appearance in the 200m individual medley final coming later on Tuesday, she opted to drop the 200m butterfly.
Advertisement
Double Olympic gold medallist Katinka Hosszu of Hungary was a no-show for this morning’s 200 fly prelims, as she’s chosen to focus all her energy on the 200 IM final tonight.
American Maya DiRado added a bronze to the silver she won in the 400m IM.
The 27-year-old became the first swimmer from her country to win the women’s 200m individual medley, touching home in a new Olympic record time of 2mins 6.58sec.
Hosszu didn’t scratch the event prior to the session, nor did she give a reason for the no-show, so she’ll receive a charge of 100 Swiss francs.
“I thought really that having just one gold would be unbelievable”, she said. Hosszu broke her own Olympic record with a time of 2:06.58. “Having three so far is really just a bonus”.
At eight of previous 10 Olympics that featured both events, the swimmer that won the women’s 400m individual medley also won the 200m four-stroke race.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun racing, knowing that I already have three”.
Advertisement
“When I looked around and saw the time, I was over the moon”, said O’Connor. “She has such a wide range of events that she’s been continually improving on the last couple of years”.
