In the women’s all-around, Simone Biles is the favorite to win gold and Aly Raisman will be a medal contender.
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Katinka Hosszu of Hungary just missed her fourth individual gold medal of these Rio Olympics, finishing second to DiRado and.06 seconds behind the American.
For DiRado, who is quitting swimming at the age of 23 to take up a job in management consultancy, it was the ideal goodbye after a week in which she has now won two gold, one silver and one bronze medal.
And as she contemplated her achievement in Rio, the preternaturally poised teen couldn’t hold back her emotions. She was in the relay semifinal earlier in the day, meaning she gets a gold medal along with her relay teammates.
United States’ Maya Dirado celebrates after winning gold in the women’s 200-meter backstroke final during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 12, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At 1:00.90, Hosszu hit the half-way 0.57 seconds ahead of DiRado and at the last turn was still 0.48sec up.
“I’m motivated by seeing how good I can be”. She already owned the 12 fastest times in the world for the event entering the race, but she shattered her previous record and won the race by nearly eight seconds.
“I just don’t see it happening”, Bowman said Thursday night.
Ledecky is the first Olympian to take the 200m, 400m and 800m gold at a single Games since another USA teenager, Debbie Meyer, achieved the feat at Mexico City in 1968 – the year the 800m was added to the programme.
As the race approached the 150 meter mark, Hosszu looked to be getting stronger as she now had established over a half a second lead over DiRado.
The Olympic Games is DiRado’s best swim meet ever. The Stanford grad said knowing there’s an expiration date on her professional swimming career has has helped her to stay motivated and excited.
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“I was absolutely fine with it”, Franklin said of sitting out the finals.
