By the time Ledecky got in the pool for her leg, the Americans were.89 behind the Aussies.
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An hour passed when Phelps added the 21st gold to his collection by helping team United States of America win the 4×200 freestyle relay together with Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas and Ryan Lochte, who swam the first three legs and let him finish the event. When Ledecky started her leg, the US trailed Australia by 0.89 seconds.
Swimming next to teammate and longtime rival Ryan Lochte, Phelps put up an effortless-looking time of 1 minute, 55.78 seconds Wednesday night to claim the prime middle lane in the final.
Ledecky’s medal haul is now up to three gold and one silver in four races so far. Australia would take silver while Canada picked up the bronze.
After picking up a silver and a bronze in her first two swimming events at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, all Santa Rosa native Maya DiRado needed was a gold medal.
One night after winning the 20th and 21st gold medals of his career, Michael Phelps wasn’t up for any hardware.
Rising fourth-year Leah Smith won a gold medal in tonight’s 4x200m freestyle relay at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Harvey then fought Tunisia’s Ines Boubakri to a 12-12 tie before letting the quarter-final slip away in a bittersweet finish to her historic day in Rio de Janeiro.
“It was a dream to be on a United States relay and to win gold”. Four years ago in London, the United States crushed all comers, winning 31 medals, including 16 golds, trouncing second-best China’s 10 medals.
He was back at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium on Wednesday, getting started on his bid to win the 200-meter individual medley for the fourth straight time.
Both Phelps and Ledecky have already won gold in Rio, but they’re hoping to add to their respective treasure trove as the world watches.
“I want what’s best for this team”, Franklin said. Phelps finished with a time of 1.53.36 while Sakai followed with 1.53.40.
“She’s one of my idols”, said Harvey, breathless but upbeat after finishing seventh. “It’s pretty exciting to make top eight at my first Olympics – from Canada!” Recognize, too, Josh Prenot, who snared a silver in the men’s 200 breaststroke, just 0.07 seconds behind surprise victor Dmitriy Balandin of Kazakhstan.
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But as this 19-year-old from Bethesda pulls all this off – as she makes it just seem natural even as she defines “outlier” – she merely fits into a larger puzzle here for the USA swim team. “It’s the best thing I can do for my country”.
