If you tuned in to watch the Olympics last night, you may have seen Michael Phelps win his record-extending 19th gold medal, Simone Biles dominate nearly every event in the gymnastics qualifiers, or Katie Ledecky crush her own world record in the women’s 400-meter freestyle.
Advertisement
For teenagers Katie Ledecky and Simone Biles, their star turns in the Summer Olympics might be just beginning.
That gave Lochte and Phelps an incredible margin to work with, as Phelps had already won the 200 butterfly earlier Tuesday night. The attention to Phelps and his South African rival before a semifinal race the previous night – look, the oddball is shadow-boxing in the waiting area! – was soap operatic.
Phelps will be going for the 20th gold medal of his career, but le Clos has plenty of motivation, too.
Much of the talk ahead of the rematch in Rio had centered on Phelps’ revenge mission – and he didn’t disappoint – he smashed it.
This was the second consecutive gold for the American women, and included two returning members from the winning 2012 team, Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman.
Le Clos faded to fourth.
As the noise grew, Phelps stood tall and asked the crowd for more. She’s favored in the 800-meter freestyle event and will also swim as part of the gold medal favorite 4×200-meter freestyle relay team.
Bethesda native Katie Ledecky just won another huge race – this time in her weakest event, the 200 meter freestyle.
Ledecky, on the other hand, cruised into the final as the second-fastest qualifier, with a time of 1 minute, 54.81 seconds – almost 3 seconds faster than Franklin.
Ledecky has been on a mission in Rio, first helping the U.S.to silver in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay on Saturday and then doing Sunday what she does best: break records.
She is also the current world record holder in the 800- and 1,500-meter freestyle events.
“That was a really tough race and it hurt really badly”, Ledecky said.
“It’s the closest I’ve come to throwing up at the end of a race”.
“I feel like every year at the big championship meets, my stroke just feels as good as it ever has”, she said. “I couldn’t have gone any faster, it’s impossible”.
WORLD-RECORD LIFT: Deng Wei won Olympic gold and set a world record in women’s weightlifting, hoisting 147 kilograms in the clean and jerk and 115 in the snatch for a total of 262.
Day 3 of Rio Olympics added extra smiles for Canadian Women’s Rugby 7 team after taking home a bronze medal against Great Britain.
Advertisement
Katie Ledecky of the United States won her second gold medal of the meeting and Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu her third, extending their dominance of women’s swimming in feats that on any other day would have grabbed top billing.
