Australian Swimmer Titmus Upsets American Ledecky in Women’s 400-meter Freestyle at Tokyo Olympics
U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky lost for the first time in her Olympic career Sunday when Ariarne Titmus of Australia narrowly won the gold medal in the women’s 400-meter freestyle race at the Tokyo Summer Games.
Ledecky was leading for most of the race when 20-year-old Titmus — known in her home country as the “Terminator,” the name of the popular big-screen cyborg killing machine portrayed by Arnold Schwarzeneggar — caught Ledecky in the final lap to win the race by just 0.67 seconds, dethroning 2016 Olympic champion and dashing her hopes of winning four gold medals in Tokyo. Ledecky’s world record still stands.
Titmus’s victory triggered an emotional celebration by her coach Dean Boxall, whose screaming, fist-bumping dance in the stands immediately went viral.
Ledecky took home the silver medal for her second place finish, while China’s Li Bingjie won the bronze.
Meanwhile, the U.S. men’s team won the 4×100 meter freestyle relay Sunday, led by star Caeleb Dressel, who is hoping to win six gold medals at Tokyo. Italy came in second, with the Australians taking home the bronze medal.
In the men’s 100-meter breaststroke, Britain’s Adam Peaty won his second consecutive Olympic gold medal, repeating his victory at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands finished in second place, while Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi finished in third place.
Canada’s Maggie MacNeil won the gold medal in the women’s 100-meter butterfly event, dethroning defending champion and world-record holder Sarah Sjöström of Sweden, who finished in seventh place. China’s Zhang Yufei and Emma McKeon of Australia won silver and bronze, respectively.
Another major upset Sunday occurred on the basketball court, when France defeated the United States 83-76 in the first round of tournament play. Evan Fournier scored 28 points as France handed the U.S. its first Olympic loss since 2004. The Americans, led by such NBA stars as Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Jrue Holiday, had already lost two exhibition games in the runup to the Olympics, including a shocking 90-87 loss to Nigeria.
Monday’s competition began with a historic contest in skateboarding, when Japan’s Momiji Nishiya and Rayssa Leal of Brazil, both of them 13 years old, took home the gold and silver medals, respectively, in the women’s street event. Nishiya’s compatriot, 16-year-old Funa Nakayama, won the bronze in the sport’s Olympic debut.
Back at the pool, the British pair of Tom Daley and Matty Lee outpointed Chen Aisen and Cao Yuan of China to win gold in the men’s synchronized 10-meter platform diving event. Alexsandr Bondar and Viktor Minibaev of the Russian Olympic Committee won the bronze.
As of Monday, China leads with 15 total medals, one more than the United States, while the host Japan has nine. The U.S. leads the gold medal count with seven gold medals, with China and Japan tied with six.
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