- Date
- 21 Oct 2016
- Tags
- RIO 2016 , Olympic News, Swimming
Winning four golds and five medals, the USA’s Katie Ledecky completed a historic 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle hat-trick, breaking two world records in the process. Not far behind was Hungary’s Katinka Hosszú, who lived up to her nickname of the “Iron Lady” by negotiating a punishing schedule to pick up three golds and four medals in total, setting world and Olympic records in the two individual medleys.
Hosszú won the first of her golds on the opening day, smashing the individual 400m medley world record to claim her maiden Olympic title. Australia took the other gold of the day, retaining their 4x100m freestyle title, while Refugee Olympic Team member Yusra Mardini won the hearts of the Rio crowd with her performance in the 100m butterfly heats.
Day two: world records for Ledecky and Sjöström
Ledecky made quite an impression in her first individual event in Rio, clocking 3:56.46 in the 400m freestyle final to trim nearly two seconds off her world record. “The goal set after Barcelona 2013 was 3:56 or better. So to see 3:56 was really exciting,” said Ledecky, who extended her unbeaten run in Olympic and World Championship finals to 11. Joining Ledecky on the podium were Great Britain’s Jazmin Carlin and the USA’s Leah Smith.Day three: King and Hosszú take the plaudits
Competing at her first Olympic Games, 19-year-old American Lilly King scooped 100m breaststroke gold, clocking a time of 1:04.93 to hold off Russia’s Yuliya Efimova, with Katie Meili of the USA taking the bronze. “This win tastes special. These are my first Olympic Games and I’m proud to represent the USA,” said King. “Tonight has been so crazy. My life is changing right now. I’m a gold medallist and it’s what I’ve always wanted to be and it’s an incredible feeling.” King’s victory was her country’s first in the event since Megan Quann won gold at Sydney 2000. Defending champion Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania finished well down the field in seventh, over two seconds adrift of King.Day four: Ledecky and Hosszú stay on the gold trail
Ledecky dug deep to beat a quality field and win her second gold of the Games in the 200m freestyle, two days after landing the 400m freestyle title. Victorious in a time of 1:53.73, the American topped the podium from Sjöström and Australia’s Emma McKeon. “That was a really tough race and it hurt really badly,” Ledecky said after willing herself to gold again. “I’m pretty sure that’s the closest I’ve come to throwing up in the middle of a race.”Day five: Spain’s Belmonte makes national history
Mireia Belmonte became the first Spanish woman to claim an Olympic swimming gold when she won a thrilling 200m butterfly final. A double silver medallist at London 2012 in the same event and the 800m freestyle, she went one better in Brazil, touching home 0.03 seconds ahead of Australia’s Madeline Groves and Japan’s reigning world champion Natsumi Hoshi.Freestyle queen Ledecky enjoyed another glorious evening in the pool, helping the USA to victory in the 4x200m freestyle to pocket her third gold of the Rio Games. Australia, who led before Ledecky made her decisive contribution, won the silver and Canada the bronze. The new star of American swimming, Ledecky clocked a time of 1:53.74 for her anchor leg, over a second faster than any other competitor in the field, overhauling Australia’s Tamsin Cook to give a US quartet also featuring Allison Schmitt, Leah Smith and DiRado an ultimately commanding win by more than a second and a half.
Day six: 100m freestyle gold shared
Simone Manuel of the USA and Penny Oleksiak of Canada produced a dead heat in the 100m freestyle final, sharing the gold medal in a time of 52.70. It was the first time since Los Angeles 1984 that a women’s swimming gold medal was shared, with Nancy Hogshead and Carrie Steinseifer of the USA the joint winners on that occasion. The winner of 100m butterfly gold and 200m freestyle silver, Sweden’s Sjöström took the bronze to complete her Rio 2016 medal collection.The 20-year-old Manuel and Oleksiak, four years her junior, took full advantage when Australian Cate Campbell’s flagged in the closing metres. Campbell, who set a new world record of 52.06 in Brisbane in early July, led the field with 25 metres remaining but trailed in seventh, while sibling Bronte came in fourth.
Manuel explained that she had only come to Rio gain some experience and swim as fast as she could. “Just before the start I said to myself that I wanted to make the podium,” she said. “It’s just so huge for me to do even better than that and get the gold and beat the national record. It was a very tight race, and there were only two tenths between first and eighth. Penny is a really nice girl. We met here and we’re two young sprinters. I think it’s good for swimming and in some ways in breaks the stereotypes about sprint swimmers.”
Japan’s Rie Kaneto beat Russia’s Efimova to the 200m breaststroke title. Kaneto’s time of 2:20.30 was the season’s second fastest in the world, two hundredths outside the time she swam in April. Second at the halfway mark, the Japanese swimmer had moved into the lead by the final turn and held off Efimova in the final 50m to claim gold. The bronze went to China’s Jinglin Shi.
Day seven: Ledecky completes memorable hat-trick
Ledecky starred again on the penultimate day of swimming at Rio 2016, winning the 800m freestyle to complete an individual hat-trick in the stroke, having also won the 200m and 400m titles, not to mention 4x200m freestyle relay gold. In doing so, she bettered her own world record by nearly two seconds, taking it down to 8:04.79. In front from the start, the American teen won by over 11 seconds from Great Britain’s Carlin and Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas, and became the first swimmer to win the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle titles at the same Games since compatriot Debbie Meyer at Mexico City 1968.DiRado brought Team USA further joy when she took the honours in the 200m backstroke final, depriving Hosszú of a fourth gold. Canada’s Hilary Caldwell completed the podium. The 23-year-old American trailed the “Iron Lady” all the way before closing the gap in the final metres and just getting the touch ahead of her to win by six hundredths of a second.