But the 23 year old Stanford graduate swam down Hosszu in the final 25 meters. Basically, she blew everyone out of the water, and then blew Olympics-watching Twitter’s mind in the process.
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Katie Ledecky went to sleep late the night before her 800-meter freestyle final, waiting on roommate and fellow gold medal-winner Simone Manuel to get back to their room so Ledecky could congratulate her on a 100-meter freestyle win.
“I just wanted to lay it all out there”, Ledecky said.
“I’ve actually been feeling a bit ropey the last few days but it’s my last swim at the Olympics and I wanted to go out there and do the best job I could do”.
For Ledecky, special is routine.
Ledecky joined American Debbie Meyer as the only women to sweep the three longer freestyle events at the same Olympics.
“It feels like gold that I’m after her”, she said of Ledecky.
One more victory will take that win streak to 50, but, as Sam Amick writes, this team has some serious trust issues that need to be worked out before they find themselves stunned just like the women’s soccer team.
His butterfly semifinal started about 30 minutes after his brilliant swim in the 200 IM, and he also had to stand through a medal ceremony just before the race.
The Nationals (67-47), meanwhile, did manage one more run in the bottom of the seventh, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a second straight balky start from Stephen Strasburg, who yielded seven hits, six runs and two walks in 5 1/3 innings. “I couldn’t have gone any faster, it’s impossible”.
“It’s going to be exciting”, Ledecky said.
The joy Friday extended beyond Ledecky.
Phelps wound up in a three-way tie for silver along with two longtime rivals, Chad le Clos of South Africa and Laszlo Cseh of Hungary. He grinned afterward, appeared relaxed and sounded at peace with the result.
“We got a lot of young kids, and I think we showed how much talent they have here”, he said. He’ll need some help from his teammates to do it – he leads off with the butterfly leg of the 400 medley relay on the final night of swimming Saturday.
And while we’re talking about retirement, Maya DiRado bowed out on a high note.
After two years of hard labor in the pool and harder self-reflective work out of it, Phelps said, “I’m enjoying the sport like I did when I was an 18-year-old”. But DiRado rallied furiously on the final lap and got Hosszu at the touch to win in 2 minutes, 5.99 seconds.
Katie Ledecky came into the Rio Olympics facing enormous expectations. “I strongly and firmly believe that”.
The surprises continued in the men’s 50-meter freestyle. By the time she’s his age, 31, she could still be dominating the swimming events at the 2028 Olympics. “I’m excited for the next chapter and what that can hold”. For good measure, she earned silver anchoring the 4×100 free relay, showing the sort of speed that has only recently become part of her repertoire but bodes well for her branching out even more in the future.
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I saw archers and coaches from 33 nations compete for three days and interviewed several USA archers including Brady Ellison, Jake Kaminski, Vic Wunderle, Jamie Van Natta and Erika Anschutz Jones.
