Ledecky after her record-breaking win in the 800-meter freestyle. She is the first woman to sweep the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle races at the same Olympics since US swimmer Debbie Meyer did so at Mexico City in 1968.
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As a then-16-year-old coming off her first Olympics in London, Ledecky already knew what was in store for her at Rio 2016, down to the final stroke after she made it five medals – four of them gold – at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium on Friday.
She thanked her fans on Twitter for the support.
Singapore’s Joseph Schooling became an global sporting sensation overnight, when he condemned the greatest ever Olympian, Michael Phelps, to a rare defeat in the men’s 100m butterfly, denying the American his 23rd gold, and winning the first one ever for his NOC. Ellison was one arrow away from the gold medal round when he flat out missed and registered an eight in a shootout against South Korean Ku Bon-chan. I’ve done something that no one in our country has done before.
“We have a great history and I think we’re making a lot of new history this week”. The all-time record is five, set by Krisztina Egerszegi of Hungary.
Schooling was inspired to aim for the Olympics as a six-year-old after a dinner conversation with his grand-uncle, Lloyd Valberg, a former national high-jumper who was also Singapore’s first Olympian.
“He doesn’t cry very often and I don’t cry very often”, Ledecky said.
In the pool, Saturday could be Michael Phelps’s last time in an Olympic competition if he swims in the 4×100 meter medley relay.
JOSEPH SCHOOLING: I wanted to be like him as a kid. “As big as he wants to dream, as hard as he wants to work, to do whatever is in his head”.
Anthony Ervin touched first in the 50-meter freestyle.
France’s Florent Manaudou, the defending champion, finished second and just 0.01 seconds behind the 35-year-old veteran, who won in 21.40 seconds.
The United States women’s soccer team was eliminated by Sweden in the quarterfinals, a startling loss for the four-time Olympic champions that left Hope Solo without a shot at gold but with plenty of bitterness.
Three-time defending Olympic gold medalist US fell to Sweden 5-4 in a penalty shooutout in the first quarterfinals of the women’s Olympic soccer tournament, forcing the USA women to make an unexpected early exit from competition.
There’s something to be said for the camaraderie displayed by the American team. “I’m gonna try to make the team”, he said.
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Katie Ledecky (above) was more than 11 seconds ahead of silver medallist Jazz Carlin when she won the women’s 800m free. The bronze went to Canada’s Hilary Caldwell. “I’m really bad at it”. I’m so proud of her and Maya (DiRado, the surprise gold medalist in the 200 backstroke Friday) and all my teammates.
