“My heartiest congratulations to Joseph Isaac Schooling for his historic gold medal win, and Olympic record of 50.39 seconds for the 100m butterfly!”
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“I don’t know if I’ve (ever) been in a tie, so a three-way tie is pretty wild”, Phelps said. She certainly did that. She’s seeking to complete a sweep of the 200, 400 and 800 freestyles for the first time since the 1968 Mexico City Games.
In recent days, Meyer’s been texting with Ledecky’s’ mom, Mary Gen.
Schooling was not a surprise gold medallist in Rio, after performing strongly in global competition during the past two years. You’re telling me that wouldn’t be the most riveting race of the night? “But joining Debbie in that history is incredible”.
Ledecky also became only the third American woman to win four gold medals in a single Olympics, following fellow swimmers Amy Van Dyken and Missy Franklin. “When I looked around I saw (the time), then the guys came over and I was like ‘Three?” Then, after her coach moved to the West Coast, Ledecky hooked up with Bruce Gemmell and never missed a beat. I think with a different goal, he’s going to come back and push his limits.
Ledecky led from the start and inexorably stretched out the gap over her opponents to finish in 8 minutes, 4.79 seconds, beating her previous mark of 8:06.68 set in Austin, Texas, last January.
“This whole day has been kind of insane because it’s all of these little last things that I’ve gotten to do, like my last warmup with the girls at the training pool”, DiRado said. Boglarka Kapas of Hungary took bronze.
Katie Ledecky obliterated the field and her own world record in winning the 800m freestyle in 8min 04.79sec.
Ledecky was barely breathing hard.
Also Friday, Michael Phelps, in what he insists was his final individual race as an Olympian, was beaten by a 21-year-old who grew up idolizing the most decorated athlete in Olympic history.
“I have two laps left in my career”, he said, “so I am happy and I’m excited and looking forward to tomorrow”. She won by almost 12 seconds.
“I’m not competing in four years”, Phelps told reporters rejecting the comments made by Ryan Lochte earlier on Friday about his presence in the next Olympics Games. Leah Smith of the United States finished sixth. Ledecky is not sure yet what she’ll study, but she’s looking forward to being just another college freshman.
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“It’s going to be exciting”, Ledecky said. So, it’s OK. I have another race tomorrow and we’ll get ready for that.
