Bobby Finke dove into the water Sunday with 120 years of history on his back. Since 1904, an American male has won individual gold at the Olympics. But, down to their final event, no U.S. man stood at the top of the Parisian podium.

Finke put those worries to rest with a wire-to-wire world record-shattering 1500-meter freestyle on Sunday that tied the U.S. with the Australians in gold medals in the water before the women’s medley relay gave the Americans the win two races later. Finke held off Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri, who stayed within a body length for the duration of the race but could not keep up when the American began his kick in the final 200. He broke China’s Sun Yang record, which Yang set at the 2012 London Games.

Katie Ledecky, the best long-distance woman in swimming history, could be seen in the stands cheering on Finke as the swimmers train together in Gainesville, Florida, at the University of Florida practice facility.

Finke’s victory allows the American swimmers to leave France on a high after an up-and-down two weeks in the pool. Finke finished second in the men’s 800 a few days before the 1500, and that surprising loss motivated him to end his summer with gold. The team as a whole lost the 4X100 men’s individual medley relay for the first time in the event’s history, earning silver behind China.

Anthony Nesty, the U.S.A. swimming head coach, gave an honest review of the difficulty the men faced in the water.

“We have to go back and look at our preparation headed into the meet and be better,” he said.

Despite some disappointment, including swimming superstar Caleb Dressel’s failure to win an individual medal, the Americans still outclassed the other countries. The U.S. won ten more medals (28) than the following closest team and took gold in eight races, the most of any nation. Four years from now, the Americans will have a home-field advantage in Los Angeles, which should provide a boost.

But, the world is on their tail.

Katie Ledecky will return to her fourth straight Olympics after lighting up the U.S. Olympic trials at Lucas Oil Stadium this week.

The Bethesda, Maryland, native has been the best American long-distance swimmer since she broke onto the scene at age 15, and her reign continues. Early in the week, she qualified as an American representative in the 400-meter freestyle, winning the event with a 3:58.35 time.

Last week, she eviscerated the field in her patented event, the 1500-meter freestyle. Ledecky finished with a 15:37.35 time, over 20 seconds faster than second place. She now owns the top 16 times in history for the event and looks to be at her peak with the Olympics just over a month away.

However, she still had more in the tank and began her pursuit of qualifying for the 800-meter freestyle. She won her preliminary heat and finished a half-lap better than second place.

“I never imagined I’d get to go to a fourth Olympic Games,” Ledecky stated, “I feel like I enjoy this more and more each year, and I think that’s a testament to the people around me my whole career.”

Ledecky ignited a Lucas Oil Stadium crowd of over 20,000 people as she swam in front of the most spectators in U.S. swimming history.

Along with her brilliance, Gretchen Walsh provided a moment of history for the fans. Walsh broke a world record in the women’s 100-meter butterfly with a 55.18 in the semifinals as she looks to dawn the red, white and blue for the first time at the Olympics.

The Americans are expected to do well in Paris next month, with Fan Duel having the United States set at -550 to win the most gold medals. The Olympics begin on July 26 and end on August 11. Olympic swimming starts on July 27 and finishes on August 9.

The governing boy for world swimming, FINA, has voted to restrict transgender swimmers from participating in women’s competitions. FINA voted 71.5% in favor to restrict swimmers who have transitioned after the age of 12 from participating in women’s competitions.

The vote came amidst the increasing controversy surrounding transgender athletes partaking in women’s sports as some say that due to an “advantage” that they have over biological women. The controversy surrounding transgender athletes was brought to the forefront due to the success of University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, whose increased success caused many people to question the fairness of the competitions. Thomas won the NCAA championship in the 500-yard freestyle in March.

One swimmer, Lisa Gaines, who competed against Thomas earlier this year, said the new restrictions are a step in the right direction. “I think this is kind of the first large governing body that has prioritized fairness in women’s sports, and so while it’s not everything, it’s definitely a bold first step and a step in the right direction,” Gaines told the media.

Although transgender women are restricted, FINA’s new policy is calling for an “open competition” category that would permit all transgender women. “No one quite knows how this is going to work. And we need to include a lot of different people, including transgender athletes, to work out how it would work. So there are no details of how that would work. The open category is something that will start being discussed tomorrow,” a FINA spokesman said Monday.

In the past, testosterone levels in an athlete had been the determining factor in gauging their eligibility to compete in women’s competitions, but the International Olympic Committee gave new recommendations on the matter last November calling for officials to examine where and when a performance advantage exists as it pertains to different sports.

U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky claimed gold in the Olympic debut of the women’s 1500-meter freestyle race on Wednesday.

Ledecky’s victory came an hour after she was shut out of the medal podium in the 200-meter freestyle race. It was the first time in her Olympic career that she failed to make the medal podium. The Olympic swimmer failed to claim a gold medal in her first two events of the Olympics before winning the 1500-meter freestyle race. Many began to wonder if there had been a passing of the torch since Ledecky lost to Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus in her first two races. The American quickly silenced her critics on this historical night.

Ledecky’s victory in the 1500-meter freestyle was history-making, as it was the first women’s 1500-meter freestyle in the Olympics even though men have been competing at the same distance for decades. She dominated the event, finishing at 15 minutes and 37 seconds.

Ledecky was a body length ahead of Jianjiahe Wang of China after 200 meters and five meters ahead at the 300-meter mark. The 24-year-old swimmer breathed every other stroke and stretched her lead on each turn. For the remainder of the race, she swam in cruise control. it was a long test that was both mentally and physically exhausting.

The swimmer’s victory was fitting because she is regarded as one of the greatest American swimmers of all time. Ledecky has now won six career gold medals.

Fellow teammate Erica Sullivan won silver and Sarah Kohler of Germany took bronze.

Ahmed Hafnaoui was an unknown swimmer from Tunisia – at least he was until he made international headlines by snagging gold in the 400m freestyle during the Tokyo Olympics. Hafnaoui is just 18 years old.

Hafnaoui won with a time of 3:43.46. His qualifying round was the worst among those who made it to the final heat, forcing him to swim in lane 8. Nevertheless, Hafnaoui beat out Australian swimmer Jack McLoughlin by 14-hundredths of a second. Kieran Smith of the United States rounded out the medal podium by securing the bronze.

Hafnaoui was so shocked he could barely figure out where to stand on the podium. Smith had to move Hafnaoui to the middle between him and McLoughlin, the position typically taken by the gold medal winner.

When asked about how it felt to become a national hero, Hafnaoui was clearly still in shock. “I don’t know,” he stated.

Hafnaoui is hoping to swim at a university in the United States after he finishes competeting in Tokyo.

Australia’s Ariarne Titmus out-swam United States star Katie Ledecky in the 400-meter freestyle to win the gold medal. Titmus finished with the second-fastest time in history. 

Titmus’ coach, Dean Boxall, made major headlines alongside the swimmer due to his sideline antics. As Titmus overcame a body length gap behind Ledecky and took the lead late in the race, Boxall could not contain his excitement. He could be seen on his perch above the pool punching the air, ripping his mark off, kicking and thrusting the barrier.

A young girl volunteering appeared to attempt to calm Boxall, yet the coach was not phased. 

Boxall’s excitement turned to tears as Titmus collected her gold medal on the podium. “I could see Dean on the other side bawling his eyes out,” said Titmus to the Agence France-Presse. 

“I don’t feel the hype, it’s more you guys. I just try to race the best I can and ignore everything else,” added Titmus. “I honestly thought I’d be more nervous coming into this but Dean said to me, ‘Look, you know how to swim, this is just a big swimming race, you just have to do what you know how to do.'”

Boxall’s antics made headlines and were a major talking point on social media. A Morning Herald reporter, Vince Rugari, stated: “I’d never heard of him before but pretty confident he’ll now never have to buy himself a beer ever again. How good #Tokyo2020.”

Caeleb Dressel, Blake Pieroni, Bowen Becker and Zach Apple won gold for the USA in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay. Their time of 3:08.97 was able to beat the Italians by just 1.14 seconds and Australians by 1.25 seconds.

The American team had no weak point, as they were the fastest in every leg of the race. The USA has won 10 of the last 13 4x100m relay in the Olympic Games.

After the victory, Dressel spoke with NBC’s Michele Tafoya, “It feels great. We knew there was a huge target on our back, every go around. It was nice, I mean I’d say we dominated that pretty well. We’re never going to doubt ourselves, that’s how Team USA works. We had a couple people rule us out of that event, we’re never going to take that. It feels nice to dominate that event and have that back on home soil.”

Soul Cap, a British company that designs swim caps made explicitly for Black hair, says it was denied approval for its products to be worn by athletes at next month’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. The company was founded in England in 2017 by two Black men who wanted to create a swim cap that works with more voluminous and natural hairstyles like Afros and dreadlocks.

The swim caps produced by the company are roomier than a typical swim cap and come in sizes that can accommodate mid-back hairstyles. Soul Cap says it applied to FINA — the international regulatory body of water sports, including swimming — to have its caps approved for use at the Tokyo Games. However, the company says FINA rejected the application. “We’d sent a variety of our sizes to FINA,” a Soul Cap spokesperson told Quartz. “But we were actually rejected on registration, which meant we couldn’t even appeal their decision.”

According to RunnersWorld, FINA rejected the application because the caps don’t fit “the natural form of the head,” and to their “best knowledge the athletes competing at the international events never used, neither require caps of such size and configuration.” Toks Ahmed-Salawudeen, one of the founders of Soul Cap, said in a statement on Twitter that FINA’s decision could set back diversity in swimming. “For younger swimmers, feeling included and seeing yourself in a sport at a young age is crucial,” Ahmed-Salawudeen said. “FINA’s recent dismissal could discourage many younger athletes from pursuing the sport as they progress through local, county and national competitive swimming. We don’t see this as a setback, but a chance to open up a dialogue to make a bigger difference in aquatics,” the company said in sharing Ahmed-Salawudeen’s statement.

The U.K.’s Black Swimming Association, of which Alice Dearing is a founder, also denounced FINA’s decision. “A week after celebrating Alice Dearing becoming the first Black-Brit to qualify for the Olympics we are extremely disappointed to see the FINA decision – one that will discourage many younger athletes from ethnic minority communities from pursuing competitive swimming,” the organization tweeted. “The Soul Cap swim caps were barred by FINA because ‘to their best knowledge, the athletes competing at international events never used or required to use caps of such size and configuration’. We believe this statement confirms the lack of diversity in elite swimming and the lack of urgency for change.”

Michael Andrew is set to compete in arguably the most prestigious athletic event in the world: the Olympics. Andrew will head to Tokyo to swim for the United States, competing in the 50-meter freestyle, the 100-meter breaststroke and the 200-meter individual medley. Interestingly, Andrew will travel to Japan for the games unvaccinated, opting not to receive the jab for COVID-19.

Andrew attributed his decision to not get vaccinated to not wanting any foreign substance in his body this close to the games. “It was kind of a last moment. I didn’t want to put anything in my body that I didn’t know how I would potentially react to. As an athlete on the elite level, everything we do is very calculated,” Andrew said. “I didn’t want to risk any days out, because there are periods where, if you take the vaccine, you have to deal with some days off.”

Dave Durden, the head coach for the U.S. Olympic swim team, opted to not comment on the matter. Instead, Durden reiterated the safety procedures in place for all American Olympians, not just Andrew specifically.

The news of Andrew not receiving a vaccine came on the same day Japan declared a new state of emergency over COVID-19 spikes.

Andrew has long doubted the COVID-19 vaccine’s efficacy. In a podcast earlier this calendar year, Andrew stated, “Just because everyone’s heading in one direction, why do we have to follow that direction?” Andrew followed that up with more comments recently on the matter. “Going into Tokyo, the same thing, with testing every day. So we feel very safe and protected, knowing that we’re minimizing risk as much as possible. But personally, I have not had the vaccine yet and don’t plan on it in the distant future.”

Two star athletes – Anita Alvarez and Dana Mathewson – have been able to perform at the peak of all athletic competition, representing the United States at the Olympics. Critically, they have drawn wisdom and inspiration from mentors and others in their sport, which has been foundational in their success.

The post VIDEO: U.S. Olympic Athletes Dana Mathewson & Anita Alvarez Discuss COVID-19 Vaccine appeared first on uSports.org.

2019 Getty Images NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND - JULY 24: Dana Mathewson of USA during her match against Lucy Shuker of Great Britain on day two of the LTA British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships at Nottingham Tennis Centre on July 24, 2019 in Nottingham, England. (Photo by Paul Harding/Getty Images for LTA) https://usports.org/video-katie-ledecky-explains-how-shes-training-for-the-tokyo-olympics/ https://usports.org/video-katie-ledecky-explains-how-shes-training-for-the-tokyo-olympics/#respond Wed, 16 Jun 2021 14:00:20 +0000 https://usports.org/?p=191732

With the Olympics quickly approaching, United States swimmer Katie Ledecky is largely focused on the competition during the games; what comes afterward is a matter of conjecture.

U.S. Olympic athlete Katie Ledecky is an incredibly well-accomplished swimmer, medaling six times during her career. One of the sources of her motivation to perform at an elite level has come from the motivating words of Kobe Bryant, which she recalled fondly at the Team USA Media Summit.

Olympic athlete Katie Ledecky talks about her excitement towards the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. The Olympics were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the swimmer mentioned that the event was canceled before reaching the 100-day mark.

On Tuesday, 1996 Olympic swimmer Scott Miller was taken into police custody and charged with drug trafficking after Australian officers seized methamphetamine valued at $AU 2 million (US$ 1.6 million). Miller was accused of directing a criminal syndicate, according to Police Detective Superintendent John Watson.

“Others, it will be alleged, are working under his instruction,” Watson said.

Along with Miller, police arrested a 47-year old man who has yet to be named. This other person was arrested at his Sydney home after police found methylamphetamine concealed in eight candles in January, according to a police statement.

“For all intents and purposes, they looked like regular candles, but they weren’t laced with fragrance, they were laced with death and misery,” said Detective Watson, according to Nine News.

The 45-year old Miller’s arrest is part of a larger investigation. Earlier this year, New South Wales authorities looked into a criminal syndicate involved with the supply of illegal drugs, mostly meth, across the state, according to a police statement.

Miller had won a silver medal in the 100-meter butterfly at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. He was also a member of the Australian 4 x 100-meter medley relay team in Atlanta, which won bronze. Additionally, he also won a world championship gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly at Rio de Janeiro in 1995.

U.S. Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte is no stranger to controversy and not-so-smart decision making, especially following the scandal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, in which he lied about being robbed when in actuality he had drunkenly vandalized a local gas station. The act caused him to lose sponsorships and resulted in a 10 month ban, and it looks like things are only getting worse following an ill-advised social media post.

Lochte posted a picture of himself receiving a substance from an IV on May 24. After an investigation by the US Anti-Doping Agency, it was deemed that the substance itself, a specific sort of Vitamin-B complex, was legal, but that Lochte had exceeded the legal limit of 100 milliliters. As is the case, the USADA has banned Lochte from competitive swimming for 14 months, stemming from this past May and continuing on to July of 2019.

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Lochte issued a statement in which he said, “It’s devastating to my family about this because I definitely made myself a better person after Rio, and I was back in training. I was feeling good. I was swimming fast. My son being born. Everything was happening. Everything was perfect, and then this happened. And it’s devastating. As soon as you get to a certain point or level, in any kind of sport career, you’re always going to have an eye on you. I think I’ve learned it the hard way. Definitely. Especially since Rio. And now this.”

The 12-time Olympic medalist claims to have not been aware of the rule, stating that it was a “newer” one. He’s not entirely wrong, as it was instituted back in 2012, but the ironic part is that the current rule actually upped the allowed amount of the substance from 50 milliliters to 100 milliliters. So even if he weren’t aware of the new rule, the old one would have seen him incur an even more drastic violation.

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Lochte said, “It’s a hard sanction because I didn’t take anything illegal, but a rule is a rule. I wasn’t too clear on the rules, but now I am. And I know there’s other athletes that don’t know this rule. I want to help them and make sure that other athletes don’t make the same mistake I did.”

He also promised to change his social media habits, saying “I’m just going to post on my son and my wife, leave everything else out.”

Due to the suspension, Lochte will miss this August’s Pan Pacific Championships, as well as the 2019 World Aquatics Championship. However, he does plan on swimming in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, at which point he will be 36-years-old.

Michael Phelps may have beaten nearly every other human swimmer on the planet in a race, but he has yet to prove if he is faster than a shark.

Michael Phelps will race Great White on Discovery’s ‘Shark Week’

Discovery Channel announced on Friday that the 31-year-old swimmer — a 23-time Olympic gold medallist who retired after a spectacular finish at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro — will race a great white during the network’s “Shark Week” festivities in July.

Phelps vs. Shark: Great Gold vs. Great White will air on Sunday, July 23 at 8 p.m. ET.

Here is the release Discovery sent out on Friday:

“They are one of the fastest and most efficient predators on the planet: Sharks. He is our greatest champion to ever get in the water: Michael Phelps. 39 world records. 23 Olympic golds. But he has one competition left to win. An event so monumental no one has ever attempted it before. The world’s most decorated athlete takes on the ocean’s most efficient predator: Phelps V Shark – the race is on! Produced by Peacock Productions.”

More details about the competition remain unknown. The fastest Phelps has ever swam is 6 miles per hour, which is amazing by human standards, but rather slow for a shark. A great white can reach average speeds of 25 miles per hour or higher, especially when they are pursuing prey.

Phelps posted a photo of a great white on Instagram on Saturday to express his excitement.

“I was able to do something that I had always wanted to do. Be in a cage and dive with great white sharks!! #Bucketlist,” he wrote as a caption.

The retired swimmer, who married his longtime girlfriend Nicole Johnson last fall, also posted a picture on Instagram after filming wrapped. In the photo, Phelps thanked Discovery for the experience.

“Shark Week” will officially begin an hour before Phelps’ big race, at 7 p.m. EST on July 23.

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 11: Gold medalist Michael Phelps of the United States celebrates during the medal ceremony for the Men’s 200m Individual Medley Final on Day 6 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium on August 11, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

A Brazilian judge issued an order Wednesday to impede Ryan Lochte and James Feigen– two of the four American swimmers who stated they were robbed at gunpoint during the Olympics on Sunday– from leaving the country as suspicions emerged over their testimony of the incident.

Brazilian Judge Orders Ryan Lochte and James Feigen To Stay In Country

However, 12-time Olympic medalist Lochte had already left Brazil before the judge issued the order to seize his and Feigen’s passports, according to Mr. Lochte’s lawyer in the United Staes. It was not immediately known whether Mr. Feigen, 26, was still in Brazil.

Mr. Lochte, 32, had claimed that he, Mr. Feigen and two other American swimmers–Jack Conger, 21, and Gunnar Bentz, 20– were robbed at gunpoint early Sunday by men who identified themselves as police officers, though many believe they may have simply been posing as policeman. The four swimmers were caught in the incident after departing in a taxi from a party at Club France, a temporary venue set up to promote France during the Games.

Investigators have not yet discovered evidence corroborating the account, according to local news reports. Thus, the judge was prompted to issue the order.

“You can see the supposed victims arriving without signs of being physically or psychologically shaken, even joking amongst themselves,” Judge Keyla Blanc de Cnop said in a statement, referring to video of the swimmers arriving back at the Olympic Village after the party.

During the robbery, one of the bandits was said to have put a gun to Lochte’s forehead.

Police arrived Wednesday morning at the Olympic Village to take the swimmers’ passports and gather further testimony from them regarding the alleged robbery, US Olympic Committee spokesman Patrick Sandusky said.

Nevertheless, the athletes were not there.

“The swim team moved out of the village after their competition ended, so we were not able to make the athletes available,” Sandusky said in a statement, adding that the committee would “continue to cooperate with Brazilian authorities.”

 Sandusky added that due to security protocols, he could not disclose the swimmers’ whereabouts.

Mr. Lochte’s lawyer, Jeff Ostrow, rejected claims that his client and the three other swimmers may have fabricated details of the incident, calling such assertions efforts by Brazilian officials to deflect criticism of the many problems facing the Rio Games.

“The country has a dark cloud over it for a million and one reasons, from their economy to their crime to their management of the Olympics,” said Mr. Ostrow, who is based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and attended the Games last week. “My client has cooperated thoroughly with the Brazilian authorities and stands behind his statement.”

 “He sat for a victim interview with the Brazilian Tourist Police, USOC Security, State Department, FBI, and anyone else that the Brazilian authorities requested to be present,” Ostrow also told CNN. “He left for the United States as he was planning to after he completed his events. He was not asked by the Brazilian authorities to remain in Brazil for further investigation.

The 100-meter butterfly has always proved to be one of the most challenging events for five-time Olympian Michael Phelps. 

Singapore’s Joseph Schooling Beats Phelps In 100M Butterfly In Rio

The shortest individual race in Phelps’ Olympic program has consistently been the one in which his victory margin is the smallest. His three straight wins, beginning at the 2004 Games in Athens, came by a total margin of 28-hundredths of a second.

In his last three finals, the 31-year-old American swimming star had never been better than fifth after the first 50. In Friday night’s final, he finished more than a half-second behind the frontrunner, Singapore’s Joseph Schooling, a rising junior and all-American swimmer at the University of Texas.

Phelps dashed after Schooling in the last 50, but the 21-year-old Singaporean was unstoppable. He finished with a time of 50.39, faster than Phelps swam in any of his Olympic triumphs.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJDRWB-gE7q/

“As a kid I wanted to be like him,” said Schooling, who took a photo with Phelps before his eight-gold-medal showing at the Beijing 2008 Games. “It’s crazy to think of what happens in eight years. A lot of this is because of Michael. He’s the reason I wanted to become a swimmer.”

Phelps tied for second with Hungarian Laszlo Cseh and South African Chad le Clos in 51.14. Le Clos first defeated Phelps in butterfly in 200-meter in 2012.

At le Clos’s suggestion, the silver medalists interlocked hands and raised their arms like relay members as they walked to the medals podium. “I think it was a great thing because we are good friends and we have a long history together,” Cseh stated. “It was right to do that.”

Phelps, who was vying for a fourth consecutive Olympic title in the event, clearly appeared tired.

“I’m enjoying the sport like I did when I was an 18-year-old,” said Phelps.

Phelps took comfort in knowing he had worked hard and prepared well, unlike his half-hearted approach to the 2012 London Games, where he seemed to rely on guile and guts to win six medals, including four golds.

“I’ve been able to stand on the block and say I’ve done everything I could to prepare myself, and that’s all that matters,” he said.

During the post-race news conference, Phelps sat beside Schooling. After answering several questions directed at him, the American playfully stopped the media: “Joe should be getting most of the questions,” he said. “He just won a gold medal.”

Phelps added he was proud of schooling. Seeing his time gave Phelps permission to retire. “Being able to close the door on the sport the way I wanted to, that’s why I’m happy right now,” he said.

The appreciative crowd at Olympic Aquatics Stadium, which applauded non-stop for Phelps, included his fiancee, Nicole Johnson, and the couple’s 3-month-old son Boomer, who seemed to be perfectly sound asleep.

Meanwhile, Team USA’s Maya DiRado came from behind to win the 200-meter backstroke on Friday, beating Hugnary’s Katinka Hosszu with a time of 2 minutes, 5.99 seconds. Canada’s Hilary Caldwell finished third in 2:07.54.

DiRado, 23, swam in her final race on Friday before retiring to begain a job with a management consulting firm in Atlanta.

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 12: Joseph Schooling of Singapore celebrates winning the gold medal in the Men’s 100m Butterfly Final on Day 7 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium on August 12, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)