The remarkable American teenager Ledecky won her fourth gold medal in a time of eight minutes 04.79 seconds, smashing her own world record and finishing more than 11 seconds ahead of Carlin.
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The moment was freighted with significance: Ledecky became only the second swimmer to capture gold in the 200, the 400 and the 800 in the same Olympics, duplicating the trifecta that Debbie Meyer pulled off 48 years ago in the 1968 Mexico City Games.
Ledecky’s name will go down in history next to Debbie Meyer’s as the only female swimmers ever to win three individual freestyle events at one Games.
It was the seventh world swimming record of the Rio Games, and the second by Ledecky, who achieved a similar feat in winning the 400 freestyle, but it wasn’t the only highlight on the next-to-last night of swimming in Rio. Ledecky made her Olympic debut in London, winning the gold in the 800-meter freestyle when she was just 15.
The 31-year-old Phelps still has a chance to leave Rio with 23 golds in his career. Not one to waste any time (obviously), she starts on September 9. That was two-tenths of a second better than the bronze medalist, Boglarka Kapas, of Hungary.
She is her own breed of dominance, smooth and sleek and lethal, particularly in distance events.
Bethesda’s Katie Ledecky comes home with four gold medals, including the last in the 800-meter free that was replayed at Nationals Park during Friday’s seventh-inning stretch. Tears streamed down her face as the national anthem played during the medal ceremony, her history-making week finally over. Four years later, Ledecky raced in three individual events and two relays, totaling 3,400 meters. It was Ledecky’s fourth gold in Rio after also winning the 4×200 freestyle relay. Her time of 29 minutes, 17.45 seconds bested the old mark set in 1993 by more than 14 seconds. “The possibilities are endless for her”.
“I hit all my goals right on the nose this week, and I couldn’t be happier with how this week has gone”, she said.
“The rest of the field was Olympic medallists and world medallists so I knew it was a tough field as well as Katie being in the race”. “Last night, I probably got the most sleep I’ve gotten all week”. It was all because of her roommate, Simone Manuel.
The first day of track and field yielded a couple firsts for the United States: Michelle Carter is not only the first female American to take gold in the shot put, but she and her father Michael (who won silver in 1984 before embarking on an National Football League career) are the first-ever father-daughter team to capture individual-event track and field medals. At age 19, she’s both the youngest member of the USA swim team and its most sure-thing victor.
“I try not to think about the history much”, Ledecky said.
Ledecky’s admirers include numerous biggest names in the sport. She has been known to politely correct journalists when they get their facts wrong.
Carlin, who missed the London 2012 Games because of illness, celebrated her “incredible feeling” after years of upheaval after changing coaches and moving training bases to Bath under Dave McNulty’s guidance. In 2008, he needed a miraculous lunge to the wall to beat Serbian Milorad Cavic by.01 of a second, Phelps’ closest call during his record-setting run to eight gold medals at the Beijing Games. “I can set some new goals”.
By the last laps, the only question was how low Ledecky could go.
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Four more swimming golds are up for grabs including Michael Phelps in the 4×100 meter medley relay.
