It’s fitting that Ledecky closed out these games with the 800: Back in 2012, it was her shocking win in this event (at age 15, she beat then-world record holder Rebecca Adlington) that announced Ledecky’s presence as a swimmer with superstar potential.
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Rio de Janeiro (dpa) – Swimming superstar Katie Ledecky revealed Debbie Meyer sent her a good luck video before the Rio Games where she matched Meyer’s 48-year standing feat of a freestyle distance treble.
Ledecky led from the start and inexorably stretched out the gap over her opponents to finish in eight minutes, 4.79 seconds, beating her previous mark of 8:06.68 set in Austin, Texas in January.
Ledecky touched nearly half a length in front of her closest rivals – more than 11 seconds in front of silver medallist Jazz Carlin of Britain’s 8:16.17 with Boglarka Kapas of Hungary taking bronze in 8:16.37.
Dirado swam down Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, who starred at USC, in the final 25 meters of the 200 backstroke and touched the wall an instant before the race’s heavy favorite.
In a stunner in the 100-meter butterfly, Michael Phelps fell to Joseph Schooling of Singapore. The winning time was 50.39 seconds.
Phelps still has a chance to leave Rio with 23 golds in his career.
In all, Phelps has won four gold medals at these Games, two in relays as well as the 200-meter butterfly and 200-meter individual medley.
Australia, who led until Ledecky dived in and turned the race around, took silver and Canada the bronze.
Katie Ledecky completely smashed the world record to take the gold, finishing an incredible 12 seconds ahead of everyone else in the water. “This was my last swim and the Olympics are the pinnacle of our sport”.
Watching Ledecky swim, let alone race, is mesmerizing.
Instead of beating him, Phelps tied le Clos at 51.14.
No one, that is, except Ledecky and her coach Bruce Gemmell, who planned the 19-year-old’s rise to superstardom three years prior.
So it was unusual to see him, after what he insists was his final individual race as an Olympian, crowding onto a medal stand with two other swimmers. French star sprinter Florent Manaudou, the heavy favorite, finished second by one-hundredth of a second. “The memories mean a lot more than the medals to me”.
Ervin won his first gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, tying teammate Gary Hall Jr. for the top spot.
The thing is, it’s hard to dispute them, and she’s only gotten better since then.
Elsewhere, 21-year-old Briton Ben Proud claimed fourth place in a hugely competitive 50m freestyle final won by Anthony Ervin of the United States.
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“I feel very lucky to have gotten on the podium again”.
