The 800-meter Olympic gold is Ledecky’s second in the event.
Advertisement
Ledecky became the first swimmer to win gold in the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle at the same Games since compatriot Debbie Meyer in 1968.
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. Here she is by herself at the finish.
Great Britain’s Jazz Carlin took home the silver (8:16.17), while Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas (8:16.37) won bronze.
The 30-year-old won gold in 2015 at the World Championships in Beijing, just over a year after giving birth to her first child.
“I am not gonna be competing in four years”, Phelps said.
She is her own breed of dominance, smooth and sleek and lethal, particularly in distance events.
Ledecky has won five total medals in Rio, with four being gold, and she’s the fifth female swimmer to win at least four gold medals in a single Olympics (Missy Franklin was the most recent to do it before Friday).
Her dominant performance in Rio also included silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay. Ledecky’s silver came in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay.
Katie Ledecky did exactly what the swimming world expected her to Friday, winning the women’s 800-meter freestyle by several body lengths.
Carlin said: “Obviously it’s been a tough week and I’ve been feeling a bit ropey the last couple of days but it was my last swim at the Olympics and I wanted to go out and do the best job I could do”.
Defending Olympic champion Ennis-Hill will be looking to repeat her spectacular performance at the last Games as the heptathletes begin the day with the 100m hurdles.
Her time of 8:04.79 broke her own record by 1.89 seconds. So far, all of these medals have been earned by Maryland athletes on the Olympic swim team: Katie Ledecky with four medals, Michael Phelps with three, Allison Schmitt with two, and Cierra Runge, Jack Conger, and Chase Kalisz each with one.
Ledecky said she had got to bed at about 3.15 a.m and, not being one for sleeping in, was up again at about 9 a.m.
Advertisement
Other medal events include both men’s and women’s rowing, men’s and women’s shooting, men’s boxing, men’s tennis and both men’s and women’s judo, among others.
