This is Adrian’s sixth career Olympic medal. But the Aussie siblings, who teamed up to lead their country to gold in the 4×100 freestyle relay, couldn’t hang on. She was scheduled to anchor the Canadian 4×200-metre freestyle relay later Wednesday evening.
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Her jaw dropped as she looked up to the scoreboard and saw a tie for gold and an Olympic-record time of 52.70 seconds. And it was the eighth-fastest women’s 100-free time ever.
Success is indeed proving contagious for Canada at the pool.
Manuel becomes the first African-American woman to win an individual swimming medal in USA history.
The 21-year-old swam the fastest 100 freestyle of his life in 47.88 seconds, but was three-hundredths out of a medal in fourth.
Taylor Rusk, also 16, won her second relay bronze.
“It’s been a long journey for me”, she said after the race. “The atmosphere was really fun”. DeLaet now sits in 2nd place with three rounds to play.
It’s already clear that Oleksiak and Rusk-the first two medal-winning athletes to be born in the 2000s, the International Olympic Committee confirmed-are pushing their older, more experienced teammates to unimagined heights. Before the first relay victory, it had been 20 years since a Canadian woman had medaled at the Olympics.
“We were kind of the underdogs and that’s the best place to be in”.
Bronze in the 4×200: Heading into the race, teammate Brittany MacLean said the Canadians knew that if they could get within striking distance of the podium by the time Oleksiak dove in for the final leg, they would have a good shot at a medal. “She’s been closing so incredibly”. And after prelims and semifinals and seeing where I was sitting, when I came in tonight I was like, “I want to get on that medal stand”. He will also compete in the 50 free and medley relay later this week for a chance to add to his haul.
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Canada’s Santo Condorelli of Kenora, Ont., reacts to his race in the men’s 100-metre freestyle semifinal during the 2016 Olympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016.
