The Katie Ledecky-led US team struck gold in the women’s 4×200 freestyle relay. DiRado got the job done, covering her four laps in 1:56.39 and putting Ledecky in position to bring home the gold.
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Teenager Katie Ledecky said Thursday she is not thinking about the prospect of joining a select group of athletes to have won four gold medals in the same edition of the Olympic Games.
Ledecky won the 800 free in London at age 15, the first jaw-dropping moment of a career that has since featured an astronomical number of them. The 400 gold was her second overall.
Katie Ledecky set an Olympic record of eight minutes, 12.86 seconds to lead the 800m freestyle field after the preliminary heats on Thursday afternoon. Still, she added two more medals to her trophy case, also getting a silver in the 4×100 relay along with Ledecky.
A victory Friday night, in a race in which victory for her is a foregone conclusion, would complete a sweep of the 200, 400 and 800 freestyles, something only one other swimmer in history, Debbie Meyer in 1968, has pulled off. The youngest member of the USA swimming squad for the second straight games, she seems unflinching, undeterred, unstoppable. Canada took the bronze in 7:45.39.
Even before stepping foot on Stanford’s campus she has equaled Cardinal greats Jenny Thompson, Summer Sanders and two others for the most Olympic medals won at one Games.
“Finishing up with a relay and with these thee incredible girls was a dream come true”, Schmitt, who earned her third consecutive medal in the event, said through USA Swimming. “Tonight being on that relay with three of my best friends, I couldn’t have had more fun”.
“I am grateful for where I am right now, to be able to stand up there and hear our national anthem is something I am definitely soaking in”, she said. In a sport measured in hundredths of seconds, Ledecky is often left hanging on the wall for a half-minute or longer for everyone else to finish before climbing out.
The same goes for Michael Phelps, who clinched a spot in the men’s 100-meter butterfly semifinals with a fine showing in the heats.
“I was so excited to get the call up today to be on this relay”, said DiRado. Bronte is the reigning world champion, but Cate is the world-record holder. Thiago Pereira sent the Brazilian crowd into a frenzy by staying close to the two American stars, finishing third in 1:57.11.
Franklin earned a gold medal as part of the 4×200 freestyle relay in Rio after swimming in the preliminaries. At the 2012 Olympics, he finished fifth in the 50m freestyle in London.
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Ledecky also has a fan base in Grand Forks, where several of her relatives attended college.
