Michael Phelps emphatically ruled out a U-turn on his decision to quit swimming after the Rio Olympics following a shock defeat on Friday in his final individual race.
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To underscore the United States’ status as the Olympics undisputed superpower, at the current rate of winning medals (going back to 2000) it will take nearly a century and 21 more Summer Games for the next nation to reach the 1,000 gold plateau, with China finally hitting the mark in 2100.
“I try not to think too much about the history of anything”, said Ledecky, who didn’t get to bed until after 3 a.m. after anchoring the US women to victory in the 4×200 free relay on Wednesday.
Defending champion Andy Murray of Britain tries to become the first player to win two Olympic singles golds, facing Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in the men’s final at 3:30 p.m. Clark Smith, Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz joined Lochte to get the USA into the final with the second fastest time of 7 minutes, 6.74 seconds. Meyer took the 200, 400 and 800 at the 1968 Mexico Games, and Ledecky matched that performance with a couple of world records as well.
The superstar lineup Friday includes Katinka Hosszu of Hungary going in the 200 backstroke at 10:03 p.m. “I already have the race picked out”.
Hilary Caldwell of Canada had the second quickest time of 2:07.40. Her time in Rio comes to an end with four gold medals, one silver and immeasurable anticipation for her next go-round in the Olympic games. With a positive result against Colombia, the women’s team will be in prime position to repeat as gold medal winners for the fourth consecutive summer games and become the first women’s team to win a World Cup and Olympic gold in back-to-back years. The women’s 100m breaststroke finals are at 10:54 p.m.
Ledecky closed out her Rio trip with a bang, shattering her own world record in the 800-meter freestyle Friday night.
Katie Ledecky with her 200m freestyle gold medal in Rio. Gabby Douglas, the Olympic all-around champion in 2012, is also in the final, as is defending Olympic uneven bars champion Aliya Mustafina of Russian Federation.
The Brazilian men, booed by fans and squeaking by so far in the Olympic tournament, could get a chance to recapture their nation’s adoration in the match Saturday. In the longer of the two, the man to beat is David Rudisha, though he did struggle in the Kenyan trials.
Cutting in before the journalist had finished, the American shook his head and smiled.
Ayana clocked 29 minutes 17.45 seconds, an incredible 14 seconds inside the 29:31.78 set by China’s Wang Junxia in 1993. “She was in the very first heat”. It’s here that we get to see his adorable Olympic fashion.
Women’s quarterfinals start at 4 p.m.
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Phelps has won this event at the last three games so it stands to reason that he’ll make it to the medal swim and if he does, this one could be historic for many reasons.
