Katie Ledecky has finished first a staggering eight times during her illustrious Olympic career, but it was a silver medal on Thursday that cemented the swimmer’s place as the greatest American female Olympian of all-time.
After helping the United States take second place in the 4×200 relay, the Stanford alum collected her 13th Olympic medal, breaking a tie with Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin.
Australia won gold after swimming the race in a record 7:38.08.
Claire Weinstein led off the race for the U.S. by swimming her leg in 1:54.88. Paige Madden did hers in 1:55.65, and then Ledecky closed the gap with Australia after she swam in 1:54.49 before Erin Gemmel finished the race in 1:55.40.
The U.S. completed the race in 7:40.86.
Ledecky’s eight gold medals are tied for the most by an American woman with Thompson.
The Bethesda, Maryland native has a chance to break the record on Saturday. Ledecky will compete in the 800 free, an event she has historically dominated.
Ledecky owns 29 of the 30 fastest times in the event.
After winning the 1,500 freestyle in dominant fashion on Wednesday, Ledecky told reporters, “I try not to think about history very much. I know those names, those people I’m up with. They’re people I looked up to when I first started swimming. So it’s an honor to be named among them. I’m grateful for them inspiring me. There are so many great swimmers that have helped me get to this moment.”
Kohler to row for gold in single scull
Clayton native Kara Kohler qualified for Saturday’s A final in the women’s single scull after she placed third her semifinal with a time of 7:22.33.
The veteran rower will have a chance to add to her Olympic medal collection for the first time since 2012, when Kohler captured bronze in the quadruple sculls in Londo.
Kohler finished just five seconds off the leader in the semifinals, with New Zealand’s Emma Twigg pacing the field with a time of 7:17.19.
Eight years ago, Kohler almost gave up the sport after being left off the 2016 team that went to Brazil.
But thanks to her friendship with then high-school student Jack Woll, Kohler rediscovered her love of the sport as she mentored the young man.
She later competed in the 2021 Toyko Olympics, and now the Cal alum has a chance to medal for the first time in over a decade.
Morikawa in the golfing middle
Cal alum Collin Morikawa finished squarely in the middle of the pack after the first day of play in the men’s golf event.
Morikawa, who finished in a seven-way tie for third place at the Tokyo Olympics, shot 1-under 70 in the first round in Paris, tying him for 29th out of 59 spots.
The 27-year-old has some ground to make up, but has plenty of time to do it.
Japanese golfer Hideki Matsuyama is at the top of the leaderboard with an 8-under 63, and Morikawa’s American teammate Xander Schauffele is second, two shots behind.
Morikawa had two birdies and shot one bogey on the firsst day of competition.
Olympic golf has no cut, with all 60 competitors playing 72 holes over four days.
Walnut Creek’s Ionescu, Team USA avoid Belgium’s upset bid
Playing what was a de facto home game for Belgium, the U.S.A women’s basketball team held off several spirited runs to prevail 87-74 and clinch a spot in the quarterfinals.
Ionescu had six points in 19 minutes off the bench, but more importantly, the Miramonte alum provided a steady presence at point guard and dished out a team-high five assists.
A’ja Wilson led all scorers with 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, while Breanna Stewart poured in 26 points. Both made a number of difficult jump shots in isolation.
Emma Meesseman, who plays for the Chicago Sky in the WNBA, scored a team-high 24 points as Belgium gave the U.S.A everything it could handle. The teams were tied 23-23 after one quarter, and the overwhelming favorites only started to play better once Ionescu and Alyssa Thomas came off the bench and provided a spark.
The U.S.A led 46-38 at halftime, and although Belgium was able to hang around, Wilson and Co. ended up winning by double-digits. They’ll try to make it 58 victories in a row when they take on Germany in the last group stage game.
Jha’s historic run comes to an end
Milpitas’ Kanak Jha’s quest for his first Olympic medal ended in the round of 16 on Thursday morning. Jha, 24, was the first American man to reach that round in Olympic competition.
Jha was denied a trip to the quarterfinals after he lost to China’s Fan Zhengdong 4-0.
The Milpitas native, who used GoFundMe to pay for the training for and trip to Paris, surpassed Jimmy Butler’s foray into the round of 32 from the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.
USA rowing champs have Oakland connection
Nick Mead, Justin Best, Michael Grady and Liam Corrigan powered past New Zealand to win the USA’s first gold medal in the men’s four rowing event since 1960.
“It’s literally unbelievable,” Corrigan told the Associated Press. “I crossed the line, I thought I was going to have some kind of celebration, but I was just in disbelief, like my hands were on my head. It was just crazy.”
Team USA took first place with a time of 5:49:03, edging past New Zealand by 0.85 seconds. The champions. Several of the athletes have a connection to the East Bay.
Gradu. Best. amd Corrigan all trained in Oakland to prepare fo the Olympics.
“It’s really an emotional moment to be able to represent the USA on the highest stage and walk away in the most successful position,” Grady, who works for a San Francisco tech company, told USA Today. “Not a lot of people can say that.”
Men’s water polo rally comes up short
High-level performances by several Bay Area stnadouts were not enough to stop the USA from falling to reigning silver medalists Greece 13-11, the USA’s second loss in three group stage games.
Stanford alum Alex Bowen scored twice, and former Cal goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg had eight saves and also scored the first Olympic goal of his career.
The teams were tied at 4-4 after one period and the USA led 7-6 at halftime, but Greece scored three goals in a row to end the third to take an 11-9 advantage into the four quarter.
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The USA will play its next match against Montenegro on Saturday.
Youngest swimmer at 200m backstroke finishes fifth
Nineteen year-old Keaton Jones performed admirably in the 200m backstroke final, with the Cal swimmer finishing fifth with a time of 1.55.39.
Meanwhile, former Cal swimmer Hugo Gonzalez came in sixth after finishing in 1.55.47.
Jones overcame a bout with mononucleosis six months ago, an illness that threatened to ruin his Olympic plans.
“It derailed him, but I told him, ‘Even before mono you were doing some incredible stuff,’” Cal coach Dave Durden told the Bay Area News Group before the Olympics.
