ISHOF inducts it’s first ever Relay Team: Women’s 1976 USA Gold Medal winning 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay ~ Sterkel, Boglioli, Peyton & Babashoff
The 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal featured a pair of dominant team performances. There was the excellence of the American men, who claimed victory in 12 of the 13 events. There was also the dominance of the women from the German Democratic Republic, who won 11 of the 13 events.
There was a distinct difference in how the U.S. men and East German women arrived at their success, however. While the American onslaught was fueled by hard work and pure talent, East Germany benefited – as official records eventually revealed – from a systematic-doping program.
Despite the illicit approach by the GDR, one U.S. women’s relay was not going to be denied.
When the 400-meter freestyle relay rolled around as the final women’s event of the Olympic program, few individuals believed Team USA had a chance at the gold medal. After all, East Germany had routed the competition for days, and boasted the gold and silver medalists from the 100 freestyle.
How could the United States possibly contend? It came down to a matter of belief.
Yet, the quartet of Kim Peyton, Wendy Boglioli, Jill Sterkel and Shirley Babashoff convinced itself that a magical moment was possible. The athletes were determined to end the competition on a high note.
The story ends with the United States beating East Germany by .68 and establishing a world record of 3:44.82, breaking the former mark by four seconds. One of the biggest upsets in Olympic history had been registered, and four women demonstrated what belief and teamwork can do.
Come join the 1976 Women’s Gold Medal Relay and find out just how “The Last Gold” actually happened! And share the stories of the rest of this year’s Class of 2024 in Fort Lauderdale.
If you cannot join us, please consider making a donation.
To make a donation, click here: https://www.ishof.org/donate/
This year’s International Swimming Hall of Fame Honorees include:
Honor Swimmers:
Lars Frölander (SWE)
Daniel Gyurta (HUN)
Dana Vollmer (USA)
1976 Women’s 4×100 Freestyle Gold Medal Relay Team (USA)
(Includes Shirley Babashoff, Wendy Boglioli, Kim Peyton*, Jill Sterkel)
Honor Divers:
Alexandre Despatie (CAN)
Yulia Pakhalina (RUS)
Wu Minxia (CHN) 2023
Honor Artistic Swimmer:
Virginie Dedieu (FRA)
Honor Water Polo Players:
Carmela “Lilli” Allucci (ITA)
Vladimir Akimov* (USSR)
Honor Coach:
Dennis Pursley (USA)
Honor Contributor:
Dale Neuburger (USA)
ISHOF 59th Annual Honoree Induction weekend
~ HOTEL INFORMATION ~
Host Hotel: Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort & Spa
To make reservations click here: https://book.passkey.com/e/50757008
321 North Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd., Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316 (954) 467-1111. Special ISHOF Guest Rate of $229 per night,
Additional Hotel Option:
Courtyard Marriott Fort Lauderdale Beach
Book your group rate for Honoree Ceremony
440 Seabreeze Blvd., Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316 (954) 524-8733
Special ISHOF Guest Rate of $169 – $199 per night
~ TICKET INFORMATION ~
Friday, October 4, 2024: Includes:
The Masters International Swimming Hall of Fame (MISHOF) Induction Ceremony
The ISHOF Aquatic Awards presented by AquaCal and
The ISHOF Specialty Awards
Click here to purchase tickets: MISHOF/AWARDS
Saturday, October 5, 2024: Includes
The 59th Annual International Swimming Hall of Fame Honoree Induction Ceremony
The Al Schoenfield Media Award and
The 2024 ISHOF Gold Medallion Award
Click here to purchase tickets: INDUCTION
#ISHOF #WorldAquatics #CityofFortLauderdale #USASwimming #AquaCal #Olympics #SwimmingHallofFame #SwimmingWorld #2024Paris
FLASH! Bobby Finke Crushes 1500 Free World Record In 14:30.67; WJR For Kuzey Tuncelli
Bobby Finke: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia
by Liz Byrnes – Europe Correspondent
04 August 2024, 10:02am
FLASH! Bobby Finke Crushes 1500 Free World Record In 14:30.67; WJR For Kuzey Tuncelli
Bobby Finke set a new 1500 free world record of 14:30.67, 12 years to the day since Sun Yang set the previous mark at London 2012.
The American was 0.94 inside Sun’s WR at 1450 and came home in 26.27 to take 0.35 off the Chinese athlete’s long-standing mark and defend the title he won in Tokyo three years ago.
Finke, coached by Anthony Nesty at the University of Florida, becomes the fourth man to win back-to-back titles in the longest race in the pool, joining fellow American Mike Burton (1968/1972) and Australian great Kieren Perkins (1992/1996) and Grant Hackett (2000/2004).
Vladimir Salnikov also won two titles but eight years apart in 1980 and 1988.
Gregorio Paltrinieri, Bobby Finke & Daniel Wiffen: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemeida
Gregorio Paltrinieri was second in 14:34.55, adding silver to his Rio 2016 gold, with Daniel Wiffen adding bronze to his 800 title in 14:39.63.
David Betlehem of Hungary was fourth in 14:40.91 while also of note was Kuzey Tuncelli who lowered his WJR to 14:41.22, as the 16-year-old finished fifth.
The Turkish teenager demolished the previous record last month when he went 14:41.89 at the European Junior Championships to take 4.2secs off the previous standard of 14:46.09 held by Croatian Franko Grgic since 2019.
Ahmed Jaouadi of Tunisia was sixth in 14:43.35 followed by French pair David Aubry (14:44.66) and Damien Joly (14:52.61)
World Record: Sun Yang, CHN – 14:31.02 (2012)
Olympic Record: Sun Yang, CHN – 14:31.02 (2012)
Tokyo Olympic Champion: Bobby Finke, USA – 14:39.65
One reason Sun’s record stood the test of time was the Chinese athlete’s final 100 where he split 27.81/25.68 for an eye-watering 53.49.
To put that into some kind of context, Paltrinieri was 2.81 inside the WR at 1400 at the Budapest worlds in 2022 but his final 100 was 4.59secs slower as he finished 2.78secs outside in 14:32.80, a European record.
No other man had broken 14:32 until Ahmed Hafnaoui touched out Finke for the 2023 world title in 14:31:54 to 14:31.59.
Finke is noted for her trademark late charge but the 24-year-old struck out from the first stroke and seemed to take the rest of the field by surprise, such was his scorching pace and subsequent clear water.
He reached 400 in 3:50.38 ahead of Paltrinieri (3:52.05) and Wiffen (3:53.30) before the Italian ate into the deficit to move within 0.69 at the 600m mark with the Irishman more than a further 2secs adrift.
Paltrinieri reduced the deficit to 0.6 at the halfway mark as Finke reached 750 in 7:15.88 to 7:16.48.
The American picked up the pace again however and at 1000m was 1.38 inside WR pace. Paltrinieri attacked again but Finke’s turns and underwaters gave him an advantage every time.
Come the 1400m mark and Finke turned in 13:35.33 – 1.16 ahead of Paltrinieri with Wiffen a further 4.68secs adrift – and 2.20secs inside the WR.
At 1450, that had been reduced to 0.94 and it appeared the record may elude Finke given Sun’s blistering final 50 of 25.68 in London all those years ago.
Finke, however, turned on the turbo to come home and consign Sun’s record to history.
Bobby Finke: Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia
As he broke the duck for the US male swimmers in Paris, they avoided the fate of being the first team to not have an individual male title since Athens 1896.
“I knew,” said Finke. “I was reading all the articles and all the comments and everything. I like reading that stuff. It kind of motivates me inside.
“The world’s getting faster, and I think it’s a really good thing. It’s a really healthy thing for the sport. If one country is always dominating, I can’t really sit there and say the sport is growing. As much as it sucks that we’re not dominating any more, I think it’s good for the sport, and it shows how far the sport has come. Like what Michael Phelps has been able to do for the sport and potentially what Leon Marchand’s going to be able to do for the sport.”
Going out fast, he said, enabled him to build up a lead that wasn’t threatened.
“That really was not my strategy to go into the race. I didn’t know how the race was going to play out, so I kind of saw I had a pretty decent lead at the 300 and I knew I kind of just had to keep going and hopefully try and make the guys hurt a little bit trying to catch up to me. They started catching up to me, and I was getting a little worried, but I knew I just had to keep pushing him. As long as I could keep a little bit of a distance, I knew I was in good shape.”
He added:” I could see the world-record line on the board a couple of times, it wasn’t like I was trying to see it, I just happened to see it.”
Paltrinieri now has five Olympic medals from the last three Games – one gold, two silvers and two bronzes including a third-placed finish in the 8 in Paris.
Paris 2024 was the Italian’s fourth Games, 12 years after making his Olympic debut at London 2012 where he finished fifth aged 17.
Up next is the open water in which he won bronze in Tokyo as well as world and European titles.
His is a career of longevity, but the hunger remains.
“It will be always there,” he said. “If I quit today, tomorrow I will miss it. I have always longed to compete. I started without feeling nervous. I feel the same every time I compete, for the European championships, the worlds, the Olympic Games.”
Neither is he looking too far ahead nor pondering retirement with the Italian turning 30 next month.
Gregorio Paltrinieri: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini/Deepbluemedia
“I tried not to think about it over the past months, because I was thinking about the present, the moment. These could have been my last events in the pool. The open water might allow me to keep going, but I am not getting my head around medals, I am thinking more about my desire. I might even carry on (swimming) in the pool.
“I could even try to get on other podiums, but I am thinking more about what I like doing. In this moment, the pool has become very tiring for me. Let’s see.”
Wiffen has had an astonishing 2024 so far with double gold at the Doha worlds followed by gold and bronze in the French capital.
The 23-year-old has almost single-handedly pulled Irish swimming out of the shadow that had been cast by Michelle Smith, who won triple gold at Atlanta 1996 only to be banned for tampering with a doping sample two years later.
Wiffen’s time was his fourth-fastest and matched the time that secured Ryan Cochrane silver behind Sun 12 years ago.
Wiffen, who is coached by Andi Manley at Loughborough Performance Centre, had mixed feelings, saying: “To get a bronze medal in this, I’m sure if I said it at the start of the week, people would be very happy with it. But obviously, becoming an Olympic champion on the third day then finishing it off on the ninth day, it’s a little bit sad.”
After qualifying first from the prelims, Wiffen set his sights on the WR although he ‘knew’ that Finke would change his tactics and instead it was the American who wrote a new line in the history books.
“I said to Gregorio before the race that I knew that was going to happen,” he said. “And the only problem was I didn’t see it. I was looking that way, but I got body-blocked by Greg. Maybe that was the same what happened to Bobby in the 800 but I didn’t see Bobby go and by the time I noticed, I saw this leg kick, and I was like, oh, okay, now with this it’s going to be a very painful 1,500 for me.”
He added: “I was trying to dig deep, trying to push it on. I was catching in the middle. And then, to be honest, I just got blew up because it was probably a bit too much today to catch.”
Wiffen had studied Sun’s 2012 race many times and in an interview with Swimming World last year, he identified Finke as the only swimmer who could possibly come back in a 53, adding somewhat prophetically: “I‘m not going to lie, I think you just have to hold a pace that’s way under the WR so you’ve got that leeway on the last 100 so you probably need to be three seconds faster than him going into the last 100.”
He said in Paris: “I’m happy for it to go. It was a record that needs to be off the books. And I’m very pleased with Bobby. He’s a great competitor, and everybody’s very friendly in the field, which maybe you don’t get in a lot of events. And I’m very happy that all three of us shared the podium again, maybe different order this time than the 800, but it’s going to be a long, long couple of years of battling it out for who gets the top spot.”
Paris Olympics: Au Revoir Emma McKeon As Aussie Girls Make One Final Splash After Record Breaking Week
ONE LAST SPLASH: Australia’s silver medal-winning 4x100m medley relay team (L-R) Mollie O’Callaghan, Emma McKeon, Jenna Strauch and Kaylee McKeown Photo: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).
by Ian Hanson – Oceania Correspondent
05 August 2024, 01:31am
Paris Olympics: Au Revoir Emma McKeon Aussie Girls Make One Final Splash After Record Breaking Week In The Pool.
In an emotionally charged finale, Australia’s women have swum their way into the Olympic record books, celebrating with a collective “bomb” to finish off a spectacular week in the pool at the Paris La Defense Arena.
After collecting their silver medals in the 4x100m medley relay and with a typical show of Aussie larrikinism, and with our greatest Olympic larrikin, golden girl Dawn Fraser in the grandstand, the Aussie girls, Kaylee McKeown, Emma McKeon, Mollie O’Callaghan and Jenna Strauch launched themselves into the pool – with a flying leap, tracksuits and all.
FINAL DUNKING: Emma McKeon and the AUS 4x100m medley relay team Photo Courtesy Delly Carr (Swimming Australia)
Urged on by McKeown the spur of the moment plunge, was not only to let off some steam after a pressure-cooker week that saw the Australian girls with a Midas touch, but also to celebrate the career of Australia’s greatest Olympic medal winner, McKeon.
The 30-year-old triple Olympian from Rio, Tokyo and Paris swam her final laps in the butterfly leg of the medley relay – the silver taking her overall medal tally to 14 (six gold, three silver and five bronze) – the most by any Australian athlete in the history of the Games – adding gold, silver and bronze from her Paris campaign.
And the smile said it all on McKeon’s face as she celebrated her stellar career alongside backstroking golden girl McKeown who finished the Games with five medals (two gold, one silver and two bronze) taking her overall Games tally to eight medals (five gold, one silver and two bronze).
McKeown sitting on top of the most individual gold medal list with four from her 100-200m backstroke double-double from Tokyo and Paris – ahead of fellow swimmers Ariarne Titmus, Ian Thorpe, Shane Gould, Dawn Fraser and Murray Rose, kayaker Jess Fox and track athlete Betty Cuthbert all with three each.
Titmus carving her own slice of history defending her 400m freestyle crown from Tokyo, winning her second gold with O’Callaghan, Lani Pallister and Bri Throssell (Shayna Jack and Jamie Perkins) in the women’s 4×200 and silvers in the 200 and 800m freestyles – taking her overall Olympic individual medal tally to six – three gold and three silver and her overall medal tally to eight.
O’Callaghan joined Titmus, Gould and Susie O’Neill when she won the 200m freestyle from world record holder Titmus – chiming in with golds in the 4x100m and 4x200m free relays;, silver in the 4x100m medley and bronze in the 4x100m mixed medley -a total of five medals in Paris from three gold, one silver and one bronze.
The 20-year-old has an overall Olympic medal total of eight adding in her three relay medals as a heat swimmer (two gold and one bronze) from Tokyo.
And it was O’Callaghan’s anchor leg with a sizzling split of 51.83, swimming the Australians past China and Canada, that took the girls from fourth into the silver medal position – maintaining Australia’s podium record in the relay for the last eight Games since Atlanta in 1996 with three gold and five silver v the USA five gold and three silvers.
The US taking Paris gold in a new world record with China the bronze –breaking the gold medal deadlock, taking the USA to eight gold after Bobby Finke’s amazing world record in the 1500m levelled the two teams on seven golds a piece.
The Americans saving their best till last after the Australians had given the world’s No 1 team something to chase – and the fright of their lives.
And in one of the most inspiring individual medal swims of the meet, Queenslander, Meg Harris, legally deaf after a childhood accident, produced the swim of her life to take the silver in the 50 metres freestyle behind world record holder, Sweden’s Sarah Sjoestroem.
WHEN SILVER IS GOLD: Meg Harris after her silver medal-winning 50m freestyle Paris 24. Photo Courtesy Delly Carr (Swimming Australia)
Harris clocking her personal best time of 23.97 – history’s 11th fastest performer with Cate Campbell,McKeon, and Libby Trickett the only Australians ever to swim faster, admitting because of her deafness, she’s had to improve her starts.
McKeon won gold in 2020 in Tokyo, Campbell the bronze in Beijing in 2008 and Trickett the bronze in 2004 in Athens.
“I’ve always had to work on my start -I have a stronger finish so I had to make sure I was actually focusing on my race – about a great break out, a great swim and it all came together in the moment and I felt pretty good in the water,” said Harris, who also told Eddie McGuire on Channel 9 how she manages her starts with her hearing impairment.
“I have learnt for a while now, swimming for so long, I’ve had to train myself and listen to ‘take your marks and the go’ and with an incredible crowd like that it’s always hard but they have ‘take your marks’ coming from the speaker in the blocks and I have trained my self to go and I have a pretty good reaction, when (the field goes). I was very happy with the start and my time which was the first time under 24 seconds….”
SHOW MEDALS: Meg Harris of Australia, silver, Sarah Sjoestroem of Sweden, gold, Yufei Zhang of China, bronze show the medals after competing in the swimming 50m Freestyle Women Final during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Paris La Defense Arena. Photo Courtesy (DeepBlueMedia)
AU REVOIR FROM PARIS 2024: Kaylee McKeown, Jenna Strauch, Emma McKeon and Mollie O’Callaghan with one final Au Revoir after winning silver in the 4x100m medley relay at Paris La Defense Arena. Photo Courtesy (DeepBlueMedia)
Paris Olympics, Day 9 Finals: American Women Blast World Record in 400 Medley Relay to Finish Meet With Gold
Regan Smith, Lilly King, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske crushed the world record in the women’s 400 medley relay — Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
by David Rieder – Senior Writer
04 August 2024, 10:51am
Paris Olympics, Day 9 Finals: American Women Blast World Record in 400 Medley Relay to Finish Meet With Gold
The United States women’s team has largely impressed in Paris, winning medals in 11 out of 14 individual events and missing the podium by one hundredth in two others. Torri Huske (100 butterfly) and Kate Douglass (200 breaststroke) won individual gold medals while Regan Smith claimed silver in three individual races. Only Australian might in freestyle and backstroke and the presence of Canadian teenage star Summer McIntosh prevented an even-higher output of gold.
Australia was unbeatable in the freestyle relays earlier this week, but the Dolphins did not have the balance across the 100-meter events to match up with the U.S. in the women’s 400 medley relay. Consider the first three swimmers in American lineup: 100 backstroke world-record holder Smith, 100 breaststroke world-record holder Lilly King and 100 butterfly world-record holder Gretchen Walsh.
Walsh was actually not the top-performing American in the 100 fly this week, with Torri Huske edging her out for gold, but Huske was needed on the freestyle leg in this event after blasting a time of 52.29, the fastest time by an American in five years, to win silver in the individual event this week. And with those four elite legs, the world record set by an American team five years that included Smith and King was definitely under fire.
Indeed, the team led wire-to-wire, creating an insurmountable, three-second advantage on King’s breaststroke leg. The foursome smashed the global standard by three-quarters of a second, with Huske powering to the wall in 1:49.63.
World Record: United States (Smith, King, Dahlia, Manuel) – 3:50.40 (2019)
Olympic Record: Australia (McKeown, Hodges, McKeon, Campbell) – 3:51.60 (2021)
Tokyo Olympic Champion: Australia (McKeown, Hodges, McKeon, Campbell) – 3:51.60
Regan Smith — Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia
On the opening leg, Smith faced Kaylee McKeown, the swimmer who beat her out for individual gold in the 100 back. This time, though. Smith got the better of the Aussie, completing her 100 meters in 57.28 to break the Olympic record McKeown set on the way to gold five days earlier. The time ranks No. 2 in history, behind the 57.13 Smith clocked at the U.S. Olympic Trials last month.
King dove in for what she professes to be her final Olympic swim and came through with a 1:04.90 split, the quickest in the field and a whopping 2.41 seconds clear of Australia’s Jenna Strauch. Walsh fired off a 55.03 split, tying the fastest-ever for the 100 fly, allowing Huske to cruise home in 52.42 to secure gold and the first-ever performance under three minutes, 50 seconds.
“I was thinking what was that record before we broke it,” King said, harkening back to her presence on record-breaking squads in both 2017 and 2019. “We brought the record down a lot. It’s really cool to continue be a part of that relay and watch it get faster and faster and faster with pretty much the same people. It was an awesome way to cap off the meet.”
Australia’s team of McKeown, Strauch, Emma McKeon and Mollie O’Callaghan took silver in 3:53.11, with O’Callaghan anchoring in 51.83 to move the Aussies from fourth to second place. China’s Wen Letian, Tang Qianting, Zhang Yufei and Yang Junxuan secured bronze in 3:53.23, leaving a valiant Canadian team in fourth place (3:53.91).
The gold medal was the Americans’ eighth in the pool at the Olympics, the team’s lowest total since 1988, but a late surge of four golds in the final two days of competition allowed them to overtake and pass Australia, been stuck at seven since the conclusion of Friday night’s finals.
Smith and King both said they did not know the team’s medal count prior to the relay, but Walsh admitted, “I knew that Bobby (Finke) had tied the gold medal count,” referring to the American distance ace’s world-record-setting swim in the 1500 free. “Bobby’s swim was electric. It got my energy going,” Walsh said.
Following the race, Smith stood on the top step of the podium for the first time in her career. Her first six Olympic medals, three in Tokyo and three individual races in Paris, included five silvers and one bronze. She claimed her first gold medal by virtue of her prelims leg on the mixed 400 medley relay, and this win brought a second gold, this time with Smith playing a much more central role.
“It feels amazing,” Smith said in an NBC Sports post-race interview. “These three have done incredible. They’ve had such great careers and been amazing at these Games. They’ve all heard the anthem on the podium, and I haven’t yet, so I’m so excited to up there with them this time.”
Huske finished as the highest-performing American this week, winning 100 butterfly gold and 100 freestyle silver while also claiming three relay medals (two gold and one silver). “This week was absolutely amazing, and there’s no better way to end a week,” Huske said in her NBC interview. “These girls had such a big lead. It kind of took the pressure off me. I would have had to mess up real bad. I’m just so thankful for Team USA and for these ladies next to me.
Walsh claimed her second relay gold medal and fourth overall medal of the week, which included an individual silver in the 100 fly behind Huske and a 50 free finals appearance where she missed the top-three by one hundredth. Among the American foursome, King was the only swimmer who had yet to win a medal this week, finishing fourth in the 100 breast by one hundredth and eighth in the 200 breast, and she blasted by far her best swim of the meet.
Australia’s team featured the swimmer who edged out Smith for Olympic gold in the 100 and 200 back, McKeown, leading off the squad while 200 free gold medalist O’Callaghan would anchor. McKeon, one of the greatest relay swimmers ever, was expected to vastly out-perform her individual times on the butterfly leg. But breaststroke would doom the Australians, with Strauch having finished 22nd in the 100 breast in 1:07.27. Strauch tried to stick with King in the first half of her swim but faded badly down the stretch.
Notably, the silver medal marked the 14th podium finish of McKeon’s career. In her final Olympic swim, she moved into a tie with Katie Ledecky for the most medals career medals among female swimmers.
China also had a dynamite group, with individual medalists in Tang and Zhang while Yang was coming off a 51.96 split anchoring the country’s mixed 400 medley relay Saturday, but backstroke would put the Chinese team more than two seconds behind the Americans and Australians, a deficit the last three swimmers could not overcome.
Canada brought in McIntosh for her 13th swim of the week, and after winning three individual gold medals and a silver, she dove in with Canada holding down second place following Maggie Mac Neil’s 55.79 butterfly split, but McIntosh could only manage a 53.29 split as O’Callaghan and Yang sprinted ahead.
Olympic Women’s Water Polo: Maddie Musselman Helps U.S. Pound France
Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
by Matthew De George – Senior Writer
03 August 2024, 07:40am
Olympic Women’s Water Polo: Maddie Musselman Helps U.S. Pound France
Maddie Musselman scored four goals and added an assist as the U.S. dominated France, 17-5, in group play of the Olympic women’s water polo tournament Friday.
The win makes the U.S. 3-1 in group play and books a quarterfinal spot, giving them an extra off day.
Musselman added an assist. The U.S. led 7-3 at half and outscored France 10-2 after the break. Ashleigh Johnson made 10 saves, and a dogged defense held France to 5-for-29 (17 percent) shooting.
Jenna Flynn tallied a hat trick. Maggie Steffens paired a goal with five assists. Rachel Fattal and Ryann Neushul scored twice each.
Most of the games in Round 4 of the tournament proved lopsided. The closest was a 10-7 affair won by Australia over Canada behind hat tricks from Bronte Halligan and Alice Williams. Halligan had two of the three Australia assists. Williams required 10 shots to get her hat trick. Gabriella Palm made six saves.
Olympic Women’s Water Polo Group Stage Day 1 Recap
Olympic Women’s Water Polo Group Stage Day 2 Recap
Olympic Women’s Water Polo Group Stage Day 3 Recap
Emma Wright paced Canada with three goals. Jessica Gaudreault turned aside 11 shots in net.
Valeria Palmieri scored four goals to lead Italy to a 12-8 win over Greece. Dafne Bettini scored two goals and two assists, and Roberta Bianconi, Guilia Viacava and Claudia Marletta scored twice apiece. Caterina Banchelli made eight saves in goal.
Nicoleta Eleftheriadou and Vasiliki Plevritou scored three times each for Greece.
Hungary trailed after one quarter but eventually pulled away from China, 17-11, behind seven goals on nine shots from Rita Keszthelyi.
Dorottya Szilagyi scored three goals to go with three assists. Vanda Valyi had two goals and three helpers. Kamilla Farago and Krisztina Garda scored twice apiece.
Yiwen Lu and Zewen Deng scored three goals each for China.
The quarterfinals begin on Aug. 6. Because there are 10 teams in the women’s tournament, as opposed to 12 for the men, each team gets one day off in the group stage. Quarterfinals will be set after the last round of games.
The U.S. will finish no worse than second in Group B. Spain, which beat the U.S., can win the group by defeating Italy on Sunday.
Australia can win Group A if it beats Hungary on Saturday.
Paris Olympic Diving: Despite Push from Mexican Pair, China Stays Perfect in Men’s 3-Meter Synchro
Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
by Matthew De George – Senior Writer
03 August 2024, 08:25am
Paris Olympic Diving: Despite Push from Mexican Pair, China Stays Perfect in Men’s 3-Meter Synchro
For the first time at the Paris Olympic diving competition, a Chinese team showed weakness on the boards. That wasn’t enough, though, to disrupt their quest for a medals sweep in Paris.
Long Daoyi and Wang Zongyuan were the first Chinese divers to be outside of first place at the end of a round in this Olympics, but they rallied to gold with a score of 446.10 in the men’s 3-meter springboard synchro on Friday at the Paris Aquatics Centre.
It was a close battle, with less than eight points separating the three podium finishers. Juan Celaya Hernandez and Osmar Olvera Ibarra of Mexico secured silver in 444.03. Great Britain’s Anthony Harding and Jack Laugher were third with a score of 438.15 points.
Long and Wang found themselves second after the fourth round. It’s the first time in 21 rounds in Paris that a Chinese pair hasn’t been in first place in a final. The deficit was 0.24 points to the Mexican duo.
But the Chinese pair rallied with the best dive of the fifth round (85.68 points) and the best dive of the sixth round (95.76) to win the title and help China start 4-for-4 in diving golds.
“I encouraged myself,” Long said. “This competition wasn’t easy for us, and this contest was tight.”
Mexican silver medalists Juan Celaya Hernandez and Osmar Olvera Ibara; Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
The medal is Long’s first at the Olympics. Wang won silver in 3-meter men’s springboard at the Tokyo Games three years ago and paired with Xie Siyi to win gold on synchro. This pair won world titles in this event in 2023 and 2024.
Celaya and Olvera rode the roller coaster. They were fifth after two rounds and shot up to third after tying Great Britain for the best dive of the third round. They had the best dive of the fourth, getting 85.68 on their 407C to take nearly eight points from China.
Though they couldn’t keep pace late with China, a silver medal remains a massive result for the country. It’s just the third in any sport in Paris for Mexico.
“This is what we’ve been working (for) all day, all night,” Celaya said. “We’ve been sleeping, we’ve been dreaming about this moment, and being able to make it reality, being able to feel the cheer of the people, our support of the whole country behind your backs is amazing.”
Laugher and Harding were in the mix the whole way, helping Great Britain win medals in all four synchro events. They’ve already surpassed their total from each of the last two Olympics before the individual events even begin.
It’s Laugher’s fourth career Olympic medal, including gold on this event in 2016 with Chris Mears. Harding, 24, is an Olympic medalist for the first time, after silvers with Laugher at Worlds in 2022 and 2023.
“Now with four around my neck, I don’t want to start ranking each one, but for me and Anthony, our story and our journey, I’m just so proud of what we’ve done,” Laugher said. “We knew the pressure was on. Three diving events have gone so far (before ours) and we’ve had three British medals. It was just a wonderfully fun competition. It was all so close.”
Italy’s Lorenzo Marsaglia and Giovanni Tocchi were fourth, nearly 35 points off the podium. Fifth was Jules Bouyer and Alexis Jandard of France.
Americans Tyler Downs and Greg Duncan finished last in eighth. They never recovered from the worst dive of the fourth round, their 5154B yielding just 37.74 points. They scored 346.08.
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Passages: Carolyn Schuler Jones, Two-Time Olympic Gold Medalist Dies at 81
by Dan D’Addona — Swimming World Managing Editor
31 July 2024,
Passages: Carolyn Schuler Jones, Two-Time Olympic Gold Medalist
The current Olympics are a time to look back on Olympians of the past, especially those the sport has recently lost.
Carolyn Schuler Jones was a two-time Olympic gold medalist at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.
She died on July 22, 2024, at age 81.
Schuler Jones won the gold medal in the 100 butterfly in Rome and was on the gold medal winning medley relay for the United States at age 17.
She had the reputation for coming up big in the biggest moments. Heading into 106-, she was part of an AAU National Championship team from the Berkeley Y Team, which won the national crown with just five swimmers – so dominant they set the American record on the medley relay at nationals.
Schuler Jones edged the nation’s best, including her teammate to get second place in the 100 butterfly at the 1960 Olympic Trials, then surge to the gold medal in Rome, holding off compatriot Carolyn Wood.
Jones made her presence known immediately in Rome, qualifying first out of the preliminary heats (1:09.8), then won the gold by nearly a meter over Mariane Hemmskerk and breaking the Olympic record in the process in a time of 1:09.5.
Then it was on to the medley relay, where she gave Chris Von Saltza a sizeable lead after beating the world record pace as the U.S. went on to claim the gold medal and broke the world and American record (4:41.1), along with Lynn Burke and Patty Kempner. Her split was 1:08.9.
She was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) in 1989.
Paris Olympics: Historic Day For Cam McEvoy and Kaylee McKeown on Australian Swim Team Doused in Parisian Gold
SWIMMING IN A POOL OF JOY: Cam McEvoy celebrating Australia’s first ever Olympic medal in the men’s 50m freestyle – and a gold at that. Photo Deep Blue Media.
by Ian Hanson – Oceania Correspondent
02 August 2024, 07:54pm
Paris Olympics: Historic Day For Cam McEvoy and Kaylee McKeown on Australian Swim Team Doused In Parisian Gold
Like the world’ fastest man on water, Cam McEvoy, Australia held its collective breath for 21.25 seconds in the early hours of Saturday morning.
A nation then catching its breath, before its “little fish” Kaylee McKeown made her own history-making splash with a fourth individual Olympic gold medal – over two Games – in the 200m backstroke, 37 minutes later.
BUNDLE OF JOY: Cameron Mcevoy of Australia celebrates after winning the gold medal in the swimming 50m Freestyle Men Final during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at La Defense Arena in Paris (France), August 02, 2024. Photo: DeepBlueMedia.
Back-to-back golds for an Australian team basking on top of the swimming medal tally with seven gold and sending celebrations into overdrive in the Paris La Defense Arena (and the Irish pub down the road) and lightning up loungerooms and coffee machines back home.
The two Queenslanders added gold medals No. six and seven for a spectacular week (so far) and created two special pieces of history for this swimming mad country.
Self-made new-age sprinter, McEvoy won Australia’s first ever medal in that helter-skelter 50 freestyle final.
McEvoy out-touched the brave Brit, Ben Proud, by 0.05 (21.30) and French legend 33-year-old Florent Manaudou (21.56) won a remarkable fourth medal from his fourth Olympic final.
McEvoy said in his poolside interview on Channel 9 that his win was “Literally just pure joy…it’s amazing to win and that entire 21.25 seconds was bliss.
“The way my stroke moved through the water; I never thought I’d ever be able to experience that.
“The joy of the moment I just had and to get a gold medal with it….it’s unreal.”
Dissecting his race, McEvoy said: “For about 48 meters it was amazing, before the last two meters knowing ‘I’ve got to get this touch as good as I can, with only a bit of a glide.
“Thinking ‘oh no’ – fingers crossed. Then I turned around and saw the first and I was pretty pleased about that.
“It was very hard to contain myself. I don’t think I’ve ever celebrated that much after a race ever – that’s a first for me too…”
McEvoy, now 30, won Australia’s first ever medal in an event first swum in Seoul in 1988 and in a racing schedule that covered 3x50s (heat, semifinal and final) that took him a total of 63.95 seconds (21.32, 21.38 and 21.25). He didn’t draw breath – until it was all over!
SHOW MEDALS: Benjamin Proud of Great Britain, silver, Cameron Mcevoy of Australia, gold, Florent Manaudou of France, bronze show the medals after competing in the swimming 50m Freestyle Men Final during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at La Defense Arena in Paris (France), August 02, 2024. Photo Deep Blue Media.
McEvoy heaped praise on his coach Tim Lane, his girlfriend Maddi Bone, his team at the Queensland Academy of Sport and his family and friends.
In the city where the pioneer of Australian Olympic swimming, Sydney’s Freddie Lane, won our very first gold medals in 1900 – both won in the River Seine in the 220 yards freestyle – swum with the current – and the one off, discontinued Obstacle Race.
And in 1924 when the Games returned to Paris with Manly’s Andrew “Boy” Charlton setting a new world record to win Australia’s first gold medal in the 1500m freestyle.
It’s fitting that the Class of 2024 can celebrate that 100th anniversary of Charlton’s feats, writing its own record-breaking chapter in Australia’s stellar swimming history.
Charlton, at just 16 when he surged to his historic Olympic 1500m gold, which took him 20 minutes 06.6 – a new world record time.
Twenty-three-year-old McKeown also booked her place in swimming’s annals in an Olympic record time of 2 mins 03.73 secs (breaking American Missy Franklin’s 2012 time from London) to become Australia’s greatest ever individual gold medalist, with four golds after completing the 100/200m backstroke double defense from Tokyo.
Before the 200m final, McKeown, with her 100 and 200m golds from Tokyo and her 100m victory in Paris, had joined fellow Australian swimmers, the legendary Dawn Fraser (cheering on from the Paris Arena), Murray Rose, Shane Gould and Ian Thorpe, current kayak golden girl Jess Fox and former track sprinting legend, the late Betty Cuthbert and her current Dolphins teammate Ariarne Titmus all with three individual gold medals.
McKeown now stands alone, for the moment, with four individual gold – a tally that is very much a moveable feast with McKeown (200IM), Titmus (800m freestyle), and kayaker Fox, already the winner of a whitewater double in Paris, up in the new canoe cross event – all chasing the next chapter.
It’s been 20 years since the last swimmer, Ukraine’s Yana Klochkova (2000 and 2004) created her own double-double act defending her Sydney IM double over 200 and 400m, in Athens.
HISTORY MAKER: Kaylee McKeown of Australia has won four individual Olympic gold medals.Two during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at La Defense Arena in Paris (France), July 30, 2024. Photo Deep Blue Media.
On her history making feats, a humble McKeown said: “That is a pretty cool thing to have next to my name and I have looked up to so many cool people growing up in this sport and to be amongst them is amazing…and I would never in a million years have thought I could have achieved what I have done. And I have so much more to give in this sport and I think it’s all down to my coach Michael Bohl and my teammates…”
There was hardly time to celebrate for McKeown, who draped her third gold medal around the neck of her reluctant coach Bohl, before rushing off for her 200IM semifinal.
While a nation and her family and supporters continued to celebrate her history-making feats, her night in the pool wasn’t finished. It was back to business for “the little fish” as she’s known in the McKeown household.
It’s been a nonstop first six days for the Aussie Swim Team – a week (that’s not quite done) doused in gold as the Dolphins continue to make a huge splash in a city that holds so much history.
On ‘Heartbreaking’ Night, Caeleb Dressel Says He’s Still Enjoying the Ride
Photo Courtesy: DeepBlueMedia
by Matthew De George – Senior Writer
02 August 2024, 02:27pm
On ‘Heartbreaking’ Night, Caeleb Dressel Says He’s Still Enjoying the Ride
Three images of Caeleb Dressel from Friday night were hard to reconcile.
There was the legendarily steely competitor bouncing out onto the deck at Paris La Defense Arena before the Olympic final of the men’s 50 freestyle, momentarily caught up in the raucous atmosphere from the partisan French crowd cheering on national icon Florent Manaudou.
There was Dressel, rarely shy about introspection, after finishing sixth in the 50 free and fifth in his heat in the men’s 100 butterfly semifinal, beaming about the fun he was having at the Paris Olympics while describing how “heartbreaking” his swim was.
And there was Dressel, NBC cameras lingering, crying on the shoulder of a Team USA staffer, after it was confirmed that he would miss out on the 100 fly final and be unable to defend his Olympic gold from Tokyo.
“Very obviously not my best work,” Dressel said, looking upbeat in the mixed zone. “I’ve had a lot of fun, though. I can honestly say that. Hasn’t been my best week. I don’t think I need to shy away from that. But the racing’s been really fun here. Walking out for that 50 and the 100 fly, it’s special and I don’t want to forget that. I’d like to be quicker, obviously. But not my week.”
The oblique glances at Dressel’s journey through these Olympics are tough to square, just as casual fans who tune into the sport every four years might find it tough to relate this more human but more fallible version of Dressel with the cartoonish, all-conquering hero that emerged from Tokyo.
There, Dressel won five gold medals, including the 50 free, 100 free and 100 fly. Since, he’s become a father, taken an extended break from the sport and embraced therapy and mental skills coaching as a way to maximize not just his times but his enjoyment of the sport.
Caeleb Dressel; Photo Courtesy: DeepBlue Media
He hasn’t reached the speed of Tokyo. He fell shy of qualifying for a spot in the 100 free at Olympic Trials in June, though he did qualify for the relay and played a crucial role in winning gold in the 400 free relay in Paris. He won’t defend his titles in the 50 free and 100 fly, Friday made sure.
He still could yet win two more golds in the men’s medley relay and mixed medley relay, which would take him to 10 for his career, more than any human being not named Phelps.
But still, the series of images perplexes. Dressel was by his own admission miserable under the weight of pressure in Tokyo, so much that he had to leave the sport and find who he was outside of it. Were it not for that process, he wouldn’t be in Paris, which to him would’ve been a bigger defeat than any time he could post here. So Dressel being slower but happier was a possible pathway as he left the mixed zone. But its veracity is challenged by the tears poured out, vestiges of the competitor within that, while in better balance with other aspects of his life, still has its revenge to take when performances don’t meet the standard he sets.
“I could be performing better, but I’m not,” he said. “I trained to go faster than the times I’m going. I know that. So, yeah, it’s tough. A little heartbreaking. A little heartbreaking for sure.”
Dressel has the relays to salvage his Games. He swam prelims of the mixed medley relay, so he’ll get whatever medal the USA should earn, even if strategy dictates a female butterflier in finals Saturday night. The men’s medley remains 15-for-15 at non-boycotted Olympics, the closest to a sure thing this sport has. Even with the U.S.’s vulnerabilities, clear weaknesses in each of their competitors make America still the favorite.
But Dressel would probably caution against that phrasing. The last three days will salvage his Games in the water. Out of it, spending time with his wife and son, Dressel said he’s having a blast. Times are, at this point in his career, out of his control, far from the buccaneering days of the past when records fell like leaves in the fall. He’s made peace with the possibility that he will never set a best time again.
But those are external factors. So perhaps the common thread uniting the three dissonant versions of Dressel on display is the internal – the disappointment he felt of falling short of his standards, and the joy he’s felt at living out a Games more in line with his aspirations.
“I think just seeing the moment for what it is instead of relying on just the times,” he said. “That’s a good bit off my best and it felt like it. So I think just actually enjoying the moment. I mean, I’m at the Olympic Games. Don’t want to forget that.”
Paris Olympics, Day 7 Finals Heat Sheet: Tight Men’s 50 Freestyle Final to Open Session
Cam McEvoy — Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
by David Rieder – Senior Writer
02 August 2024, 06:25am
Paris Olympics, Day 7 Finals Heat Sheet: Tight Men’s 50 Freestyle Final to Open Session
Night seven of swimming finals in Paris will be a shorter session with only seven races, but the first three will all be hotly-contested finals, with the men’s 50 freestyle, women’s 200 backstroke and men’s 200 backstroke. After that will be semifinals in the men’s 100 butterfly and women’s 200 IM.
Click here to view the full heat sheet.
All of the favorites successfully advanced to the 50 free final despite close calls from a pair of past championships, with Caeleb Dressel narrowly making it through prelims and Florent Manaudou struggling in the semifinals. Manaudou will swim in lane one in the final, with Dressel in two while Ben Proud and Cam McEvoy will have lanes four and five, respectively, after tying for the top mark in semis. Notably, Maxime Grousset withdrew from the final to focus on the 100 fly, allowing Josh Liendo a spot in the final.
In the women’s 200 back, Phoebe Bacon swam the top semifinal time ahead of defending champion Kaylee McKeown while Regan Smith will swim out of lane seven after she conserved energy in her semifinal heat following a silver-medal performance in the 200 fly. Kylie Masse, who won silver three years ago in Tokyo, will swim in lane two.
Finally, Leon Marchand will try to join Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz as the only men to win four individual gold medals in one Olympics. Marchand is the favorite in the 200 IM, and he will be in lane four. All eight swimmers in the field have previously won a medal in this event at the Olympics and/or World Championships, with Carson Foster and Duncan Scott seeded second and third, respectively, while defending champion Wang Shun is in lane six.
All of the favorites safely advanced into the semifinals of the two events contested here. Grousset, Liendo and Caeleb Dressel swim in the first semifinal heat of the 100 fly, with Kristof Milak and Noe Ponti in heat two, while all four of the favorites in the 200 IM, Summer McIntosh, Kaylee McKeown, Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh, swim in the second heat.