American Katie Ledecky winning the 800 freestyle was the closest thing to an absolute lock that you could find at the pool in Rio. In fact if you were to put a $500 bet down in Las Vegas before the race you would have won a whopping $10.
Ledecky came into the final with the 12 fastest times in the history of the 800 freestyle and in Rio she had already claimed gold in the 200 and 400 freestyle as well as the 4 x 200 freestyle relay. The 19 year old won the event this evening in a time of 8:04.79 over 11 seconds ahead of the field and 1.89 seconds under her own world record of 8:06.68, which she set at the Arena Pro Swim Series in January.
- Ledecky (Rio)
- 28.03/57.98 (29.95)/1:28.71 (30.73)/1:59.42 (30.71)/2:30.06 (30.64)/3:00.76 (30.70)/3:31.13 (30.37)/ 4:01.98 (30.85)/4:32.20 (30.22)/5:02.94 (30.74)/5:33.54 (30.60)/6:04.30 (30.76)/6:35.07 (30.77)/ 7:05.44 (30.37)/7:35.80 (30.36)/8:04.79 (28.99)
- Ledecky (Arena Pro Swim Series)
- 28.35/ 58.82 (30.47)/1:29.40 (30.58)/2:00.20 (30.80)/2:31.03 (30.83)/3:01.80 (30.77)/3:32.60 (30.80)/4:03.22 (30.62)/4:33.87 (30.65)/5:04.62 (30.75)/5:35.39 (30.77)/6:06.00 (30.61)/6:36.75 (30.75)/7:07.37 (30.62)/7:37.84 (30.47)/8:06.68 (28.84)
“I had a lot of fun tonight,” said Ledecky. “I just wanted to push myself and see what I could do. It was my last Olympic race here in Rio. The Olympics is the pinnacle of our sport and I have to wait four more years to have that moment again so I wanted the last one to be special.”
“It felt faster than any event I had ever done before so I was pretty confident that I would be under that world record time.”
By taking the event she becomes the first woman to win the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle in one Olympic Games since fellow American Debbie Meyer accomplished the same feat in 1968.
Since winning the 800 freestyle in London Ledecky has been unbeatable in international competition winning the event at the 2013 and 2015 World Championships as well as the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships.
This was her second world record of the Games as she set a new mark in the 400 freestyle winning the event in a time of 3:56.46 breaking her own record of 3:58.37, which she set at the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships.
After the race Ledecky said that she achieved what she set to achieve over the last week, “I couldn’t be happier,” said Ledecky. “I hit all of my goals and had so much fun.”
“Team USA has been doing great and we feed off of each other’s energy.”
“I woke up with a sore throat this morning because I was screaming for Simone Manuel at the TV last night – she’s my roommate – and then seeing Maya Dirado win the 200 metres backstroke in what was her last race ever just got me so excited to race.”
If she was yellow, brown, black or from Eastern Europe, 99% of the comments here would be doping accusations.
This dispute about who is more dominant or greater reminds me the kindergarten dispute of who is stronger – elephant or whale, lion or tiger. 🙂
The following example may help you with the measuring scale: the relay of two silver medalist Jazz Carlins won’t beat Katie Ledecky at 800 (the second leg starts from the water). Or this even more funnier one. Take usa prelim team at 4×200 relay, replace Allison Schmitt by Simone Manuel who was seventh at 200 trials let them start from the water except first leg and they will be in trouble to beat Ledecky.
Go pro. Now
Of course we see some sour losers around here. Your favorite swimmer didn’t win. Deal with it.
Hey does she have tattoo of the Olympic Rings? Anyone know.
If she wasn’t American, everyone would be screaming doping at the top of their lungs, especially in the swimswam comment sections.
Not sure what spirit that comment is made in.. Yes, there is a lot of nationalism on the board and I’m sure there would be more griping if she wasn’t American. That said, there is absolutely nothing to suggest that she’s a doper, aside from being fast. Her improvement curve is normal — just higher than everyone else!
If Ledecky weren’t American, she would be Sun Yang in 2012 and we can go back to look at the Swimswam comments after his 1500m win. As of now it is on the next to last page of Sun Yang articles going backwards in time.
Most comments on the final recap had nothing to do with Sun Yang–but I did see a fair number of favorable comments and I did not see any negative ones, although I do not guarantee that I did not miss something.
There were 8 comments in an article devoted entirely to Sun Yang and his 1600m splits. There was one negative comment by Bulldoze attacking the Chinese for doping focusing mostly on Ye Shiwen,… Read more »
They should make her the anchor on the medley relay.
I kind of think Simone pretty much earned that swim.
Katie Ledecky is the Greatest of All Time swimmer!
All bow down to Katie of the House Ledecky, the First of Her Name, Queen of Swimming and the Olympics, Protector of the Pool Kingdom!
#MichaelWho
no. she is great. not phelps great though. he’s exceeded her medal haul at 4 of the five games in which he’s competed. she’s got a ways to go for the GOAT title. that said, if anyone could do it it might be her
Miss. Ledecky, I hope you reconsider your decision not to turn pro. With your name recognition you could collect $5M-10M over the next year and set yourself for life and pay for your own education at Stanford. Don’t make the same mistake that Franklin made.
Her family is independently wealthy and could already pay for her Stanford education. Money doesn’t seem to be the object for Ms. Ledecky. Thank goodness.
Is Ledecky’s family going to support her financially the rest of her life? You know it isn’t a bad thing to make money from something you love doing.
Right on target. NBC, IOC and sponsors are making a lot of money off Ms. Ledecky. She deserves to get paid and should go pro to help herself as well as other swimmers.
Seeing how well Stanford women did at these Olympics gives me a LOT of confidence about Ledecky’s future. She has nothing to worry about. Greg Meehan is legit