While Phelps and Ledecky have been grabbing the headlines, other American swimmers have been pushing up the medal count.
Advertisement
It makes me think about how hard Katie LeDecky has clearly been working for the last 10 years and how she so richly deserves to see her hard work pay off.
Maryland native Katie LeDecky is just 19 years old, and already competing in her second Olympic games.
“Finishing up with a relay and with these thee unbelievable girls was a dream come true”, Schmitt, who earned her third consecutive medal in the event, said through USA Swimming. “I am so proud to be a medalist for two Olympiads”. And there is the promise for the rest of the week. She now holds 11 world records and holds the top spots in the 400-meter, 800-meter and 1500-meter freestyle. He seeks more redemption Tuesday night as he tries to reclaim the lone individual gold medal that got away from him in London – the 200m butterfly.
In a nip and tuck battle, China, Australia and the United States traded the lead throughout. The relay gold that night was the eighth USA medal. They won by 1.84 seconds.
He got it in the 4x100m freestyle relay on Sunday night, helping the USA reclaim the gold medal they lost to France in 2012.
“It’s really good”, said Bob Bowman, Phelps’s lifelong coach who is serving as the men’s head coach here. “And it’s not just the medals. We spent a lot of time on that”. But they’re only part of the story about American swimming. He also captured gold a year ago in the World University Games.
That was Franklin’s role four years ago, when her leadoff leg helped the US set an American record and claim the 4x200m gold. She is a champion again, though no longer a great one. Australia’s Kyle Chalmers won the gold.
“I want what’s best for this team”, she said. With the win, Team USA has won gold for five of the six Olympics since the 800 meter relay was created (the only exception in 2008 when Team USA got a bronze).
China’s Ding Ning avenged her loss in the London Olympics to countrywoman Li Xiaoxia, taking gold over Li in the women’s table tennis finals and extending China’s supremacy in the sport.
About Franklin: She is just 21, in what should be the prime of her career.
After five hours of sleep, Phelps said he actually felt rather fresh for the afternoon preliminaries.
Franklin won the 100-meter backstroke in London, but failed to qualify for that event here. She has admitted that she is baffled by her results. She took Tuesday, when she had no competition, to train quietly, eat some dark chocolate and call her mom. “She talked to me for a while”. “I took it out pretty fast and kind of forced everybody to try to do that”. Pieter Timmers of Belgium claimed the silver in 47.80, while Adrian made it onto the medal podium with the bronze in 47.85.
Ledecky anchored a squad that included Allison Schmitt, Leah Smith and Maya DiRado to a win over Australia, the only other country to win the event at the Summer Games.
Advertisement
So it’s Phelps for sure, and Ledecky, absolutely.
