It was special, indeed: With a time of 8:04.79, Ledecky obliterated her own Olympic record of 8:12.86 (set in a qualifying heat in Rio), and took her world record down by nearly two seconds.
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Jazmin Carlin of Great Britain won the silver and Boglarka Kapas of Hungary won the bronze. In fact, she set a new Olympic record of 8:12.86 in the women’s 800 freestyle preliminary heats.
The only previous woman to win the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle at the same Games was American Debbie Meyer in 1968.
Ledecky also became only the third American woman to win four gold medals in a single Olympics, following fellow swimmers Amy Van Dyken and Missy Franklin. “I just knew that these three girls were going to put me in a good position to finish it out and I knew I could do it”, she added. “Toughest competitor, racer I’ve ever had to go up against”.
It was Ledecky’s fifth gold in all as she successfully defended the title she won at London 2012, when she was 15.
The five biggest events and storylines to follow on Monday at the Rio Olympics.
“As the flag was being raised I could see my family right under the flag … the emotions just hit me and I had to let it all out”, Ledecky said on Saturday during an interview on Today.
Before the Rio Games began, Ledecky was asked if breaking the eight-minute barrier was within her reach.
Katie Ledecky was the fastest swimmer in the pool, and she brought her American teammates along for the ride.
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. DiRado has already won one each of gold, silver and bronze in Rio.
Ledecky’s world records in the 400-, 800-, and 1,500-meter distances are incredibly impressive on their own.
Phelps rallied from sixth overall at the turn to lock up a silver medal in the men’s 100-meter butterfly, but the winningest Olympian of all time finished in a three-way tie for the medal with Chad le Clos and László Cseh. “The way she swims is very much the way I tried to swim”.
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“This whole day has been kind of insane because it’s all of these little last things that I’ve gotten to do, like my last warmup with the girls at the training pool today”, DiRado said.
