Katie Ledecky obliterated the field and her own world record in winning the 800m freestyle at the Rio Olympics on Friday, uniting the 200m, 400m and 800m titles for the first time since 1968.
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The scoreboard replays the United States’ Katie Ledecky celebrating after she won gold in the women’s 800-meter freestyle at the Summer Olympics, during the seventh inning of a baseball game between the Washington Nationals and.
“I hit all my goals right on the nose this week”, said Ledecky, adding that her goal in the 800 free was “8:05 or better”. “Last night, I probably got the most sleep I’ve gotten all week”. That beat the Australian team of Alexander Edmondson, Jack Bobridge, Michael Hepburn and Sam Welsford, who finished in 3:51.008 to earn the silver medal.
Maya DiRado gave the Americans another gold, pulling off a furious rally on the final lap to upset “Iron Lady” Katinka Hosszu of Hungary.
“I think he did (need swimming)”, Bowman said. Ervin became the oldest Olympic swimmer ever to win an individual event; his 16-year gap between medals also equals the longest gap in Olympic history.
Britain’s Bradley Wiggins leads teammates Edward Clancy, Steven Burke and Owain Doull as they compete in the men’s team pursuit finals Friday.
United States’ Carli Lloyd lies on the ground during a quarter-final match of the women’s Olympic football tournament between the United States and Sweden in Brasilia Friday Aug. 12, 2016.
Phelps wound up in a three-way tie for silver along with two longtime rivals, Chad le Clos of South Africa and Laszlo Cseh of Hungary.
Some 23 seconds after Ledecky touched the wall, the last of the eight finalists chugged to the end of the grueling race. The impression one gets is that if Ledecky kicked harder, if she did what her competitors are doing, it would only disrupt her mystifying propulsion. The only question was how far ahead of that pace she would finish – and the answer was by almost two seconds. Sixteen years ago Ervin won gold in the same event.
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“She’s absolutely spectacular, I’ve never seen anything like it”, Joyner says. Florent Manaudou of France claimed silver and American Nathan Adrian bronze. She certainly has nothing to complain about after winning two golds, a silver and a bronze in Rio.
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Back in 2012, Ledecky came away with just one gold – she had yet to polish her performances in the shorter distances at 200 and 400 meters.
