U.S. swimmers set two world records, beat Australia in gold medal race

NANTERRE, France (AP) The final night of swimming at the Paris Olympics brought a wide range of emotions for a U.S. team that no longer dominates the world.

A world record by Bobby Finke.

Joy.

A historic defeat that has revived criticism of Chinese doping.

Stunning.

Finally, another world record for the women's 4x100m medley relay team, edging out rivals Australia for first place in the gold medal table.

Phew!

“A great way to end the meet,” said Lilly King of the winning relay team, who joined her teammates in walking the deck waving the stars and stripes as the crowd filed out of La Défense Arena.

Finke set her new standard in the 1,500m freestyle before the Americans rounded off a thrilling nine days of swimming in style.

The United States finished with eight gold medals, ahead of Australia, which won seven events. It was still the lowest total for the Americans since the 1988 Seoul Games, where they were defeated by an East German doping program.

The French finished with 28 medals in total, two fewer than their total from three years ago in Tokyo. In total, 13 countries won at least one gold medal. French star Lon Marchand was a country in his own right and 19 teams reached the podium.

After a string of disappointing performances from some of its biggest names, Team USA was very conscious of its gold medal battle with the Australians.

“I knew Bobby had tied it,” King said. “Bobby’s swim was electric. It was unbelievable. He really got my energy going into the relay. I was motivated to extend that lead and win gold.”

That's exactly what she did.

King, whose third Olympics will be his last, made up for a disappointing performance in his individual events by taking the lead in the breaststroke segment.

It was then Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske, two of the biggest American stars of these games, who brought home the record in 3 minutes and 49.63 seconds, breaking the record of 3:50.40 set by the United States at the 2019 world championships.

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Regan Smith kicked off the backstroke leg, winning a relay gold medal for the second straight night after starting her Olympic career with five silver medals and a bronze.

Reigning Olympic champions Australia took silver this time in 3:53.11. Bronze went to China in 3:53.23.

Four world records were set at the meeting, including three by the United States.

Historic loss for Americans

China surprisingly won gold in the men's 4×100 medley relay, ending American dominance that dated back to the event's introduction at the Rome Games in 1960.

The only time the United States did not win gold was in 1980, when it boycotted the Moscow Games.

The winning team included Qin Haiyang and Sun Jiajun, both of whom were among about 20 swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance before the Tokyo Games but were allowed to compete. The result has sparked fresh resentment among other nations who believe the Chinese could get away with cheating.

The real star of the Chinese team was Pan Zhanle, who had earlier set a world record by winning the 100m freestyle and pulling away from American Hunter Armstrong on the final leg to cross the line in 3:27.46.

The Americans won silver in 3:28.01, while France took bronze in 3:28.38, giving Marchand his fifth medal of the Games, including four individual golds.

British star Adam Peaty, whose team narrowly missed out on a medal by finishing fourth, has criticised a system that allowed Chinese swimmers to compete at the Olympics.

If you touch and you know you're cheating, you don't win, do you? Peaty said. As an honourable person, I mean, you should be out of the sport, but we know that sport is not that simple.

Peaty noted that after the initial revelations, additional reports surfaced of other positive tests in the Chinese program that went unpunished.

“I think we trust the system, but we also don’t,” he said. “No matter who’s in the race, I expect it to be fair to them. We did our best as a team to do it, and maybe it would have been worth a bronze medal. Who knows?”

Caeleb Dressel, who swam the butterfly for the Americans, said before the Olympics that he had no confidence in the World Anti-Doping Agency or its sports governing body, World Aquatics.

With a silver medal around his neck, he seemed resigned to the belief that nothing would change.

“I don't work for the AMA,” Dressel said. “I can't do anything.”

Finkes World Record

Finke maintained a record pace throughout the race and really made the difference at the finish. He clocked 14:30.67, breaking the record of 14.31.02 set by China's Sun Yang at the London 2012 Games.

Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri took the silver medal in 14:34.55, while the favourite for the race, Ireland's Daniel Wiffen, was unable to continue his momentum in the 800m freestyle. He was never decisive and settled for bronze in 14:39.63, narrowly edging out Hungary's David Betlehem for the final podium spot.

Finke became only the fourth swimmer to defend the men's title in the longest event in the pool, and the first since Australia's Grant Hackett in 2004.

“I really wanted to get back on the top step of the podium and I hear the anthem again like I did for the first time in Tokyo,” said Finke, who swept the 800 and 1,500 three years ago.

This time, a gold medal in the 1,500m and a silver medal in the 800m also seemed rather positive to me.

It was a dream, he said.

Sweden wins gold in women's 50m freestyle

Sweden's Sarah Sjström won her second gold medal of the Paris Olympics, racing furiously from one end of the pool to the other to easily claim the 50-metre freestyle title.

Sjström, 30, competing in her fifth Summer Games, had already won the 100m freestyle, an event in which she holds the world record, but she only decided to swim on the advice of her coach.

She was more surprised than anyone by this victory, which made her brimming with confidence heading into the 50m freestyle.

Sjström clocked 23.71 seconds, just shy of the world record of 23.61 seconds she set at the 2023 world championships in Fukuoka, Japan. In a race that is usually decided by hundredths of a second, the Swedish star turned that into a relative victory. She was fastest at the start and clearly took control halfway through the single lap, where swimmers didn't even bother to surface for air.

Australia's Meg Harris took silver in 23.97, while China's Zhang Yufei took bronze in 24.20. For Zhang, another swimmer implicated in China's doping scandal, it was her fourth bronze of the Games, in addition to the silver.

Walsh, in his first swim of a busy night, narrowly missed out on a medal in 24.21.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

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