Katie Ledecky of the United States celebrates after the women's 800m freestyle final of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)
PARIS, Aug 3 (Xinhua) -- Katie Ledecky celebrated a happy anniversary as she claimed the ninth Olympic gold medal of her career by winning the women's 800-meter freestyle in Paris on Saturday night.
The win means the 27-year-old has won the 800-meter freestyle in each of those Olympics, adding Paris to her successes in London, Rio and Tokyo and she explained that winning on August 3rd was special, as it was exactly 12 years since she claimed her first gold medal as a 15-year-old in London 2012.
"The four times is the one that means the most to me," she commented, explaining that "August 3 is the day I won (aged 15 in London) in 2012, and I didn't want August 3 to be a day I didn't like."
Ledecky had a tough battle with Australia's Ariarne Titmus, who took silver, with Paige Madden knocking five seconds off her personal best to claim bronze.
The American continues to add to her Olympic legacy, and now has nine gold medals and 14 medals in total, but the swimmer admitted she was "just relieved I got my hand on the wall," and refused to commit to competing in Los Angeles 2028.
"It's not easy. I'll take it year by year, and give it everything I've got for as long as I have left in me," was all she would say.
If Ledecky is a relative veteran aged 27, Canada's Summer McIntosh is one of the young stars of the pool and she made history on Saturday by winning the women's 200 meters medley to become the first Canadian to win three gold medals at the same Olympics at the age of just 17.
McIntosh had previously won gold in the 200-meter butterfly and the 400-meter medley in Paris, and produced a stunning final leg to overtake Kate Douglass of the United States, who had looked set for victory.
"It's pretty surreal. I'm just so proud of myself and how I've been able to recover and manage events," said the teenager, who put her success down to "hard work and dedication," and "all my family and my teammates, and my coaches have also worked so hard for me to be here today," commented the teenager.
She said she owed that "so many (athletes) before me that have led the way and inspired me to be where I am today. I really owe a lot back to them."
The evening began with Kristof Milak of Hungary taking gold in the men's 100-meter butterfly final on Saturday.
Milak produced a strong finish to overtake Josh Liendo of Canada in the closing meters to add gold to the silver medal he won in the 200-meter event and to justify his decision to miss last year's World Championships, citing exhaustion, but Liendo wasn't downhearted.
"It's awesome: It's a huge milestone, and it's something that I don't take lightly. Definitely a lot of pride to be able to get that, and it's just a surreal moment. This day and the crowd, just kind of everything coming together. It's hard to put into words," commented Liendo.
Canada's day was made even better by Ilya Kharun taking bronze in the same event.
"A couple of days ago, Josh and I said how crazy it could be for us both to be on the podium," he said.
In the final race of the day, the U.S. and China set the two fastest times of all time as they took gold and silver in the mixed 4x100m medley relay.
The U.S. took gold in a new world record of 3:37.43, knocking 0.15 seconds off the previous record, while China's time of 3:37.55, with a quartet of Xu Jiayu, Qin Haiyang, Zhang Yufei and Yang Junxuan, is also a better result than the last world mark. ■
Team China are seen before the mixed 4 x 100m medley relay final of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Xia Yifang)
Zhang Yufei of team China competes during the mixed 4 x 100m medley relay final of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Xia Yifang)
Qin Haiyang of team China competes during the mixed 4 x 100m medley relay final of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Xia Yifang)
Zhang Yufei of team China competes during the mixed 4 x 100m medley relay final of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Xia Yifang)
Torri Huske of team USA celebrates after the mixed 4x100m medley relay final of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)
Team USA celebrate after the mixed 4x100m medley relay final of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Luo Yuan)
Ryan Murphy of team USA celebrates after the mixed 4x100m medley relay final of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)
Bronze medalist Paige Madden of the United States attends the victory ceremony for the women's 800m freestyle of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Du Yu)
Silver medalist Ariarne Titmus of Australia attends the victory ceremony for the women's 800m freestyle of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Du Yu)
Bronze medalists team Australia attend the victory ceremony for the mixed 4 x 100m medley relay of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)
Gold medalists team USA attend the victory ceremony for the mixed 4 x 100m medley relay of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Du Yu)
Gold medalists team USA attend the victory ceremony for the mixed 4 x 100m medley relay of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Du Yu)
Silver medalists Team China attend the victory ceremony for the mixed 4 x 100m medley relay of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Du Yu)
Silver Medalists Team China attend the victory ceremony for the mixed 4 x 100m medley relay of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)
Medalists attend the victory ceremony for the mixed 4 x 100m medley relay of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Du Yu)
Katie Ledecky of the United States celebrates after the women's 800m freestyle final of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Yuguo)
Gold medalist Summer McIntosh of Canada attends the victory ceremony for the women's 200m individual medley of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)
Gold medalist Summer McIntosh (C) of Canada, Silver medalist Kate Douglass (L) of the United States and bronze medalist Kaylee McKeown of Australia take selfies during the victory ceremony for the women's 200m individual medley of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Yuguo)
Gold medalist Summer McIntosh (L) of Canada and silver medalist Kate Douglass of the United States attend the victory ceremony for the women's 200m individual medley of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)
Gold medalist Summer McIntosh of Canada attends the victory ceremony for the women's 200m individual medley of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Xue Yuge)
Silver medalist Kate Douglass of the United States attends the victory ceremony for the women's 200m individual medley of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)
Gold medalist Summer McIntosh of Canada attends the victory ceremony for the women's 200m individual medley of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)
Gold medalist Summer McIntosh of Canada attends the victory ceremony for the women's 200m individual medley of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Du Yu)
Team China celebrate after the mixed 4 x 100m medley relay final of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Xue Yuge)
Team China celebrate after the mixed 4 x 100m medley relay final of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Xue Yuge)
Summer McIntosh of Canada celebrates after the women's 200m individual medley final of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)
Summer McIntosh of Canada celebrates after the women's 200m individual medley final of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)
Summer McIntosh of Canada celebrates after the women's 200m individual medley final of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)
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