Great Britain’s men’s 4x100m relay team won a record eighth swimming medal in the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday, finishing second behind USA.
Dates: July 23rd to August 8th, Tokyo time: BST +8 |
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Duncan Scott’s silver in the men’s 4x100m medley relay established a new record for medals won by a Briton at a single Games in Tokyo 2020, setting a new record for medals won by a Briton at a single Games.
Scott, Adam Peaty, Luke Greenbank, and James Guy finished 0.73 seconds behind the gold-medal winners, the United States of America.
Italy took bronze after finishing third.
Scott’s fourth medal in Tokyo came in the form of silver, capping up Britain’s most successful Olympics in the pool.
In the last event of the swimming, the USA required a world record time of three minutes 26.78 seconds to defeat Great Britain to gold.
Caeleb Dressel, an American superstar, won his fifth gold medal in Tokyo with the victory. He joins Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz, and Matt Biondi, as well as Kristin Otto of East Germany, as the only swimmers to win five gold medals in a single Olympics.
After a very successful Olympics, British swimmers say their goodbyes in the pool.
Great Britain’s swimmers finish the Tokyo Olympics with four gold medals, three silver medals, and one bronze medal, capping off an amazing reversal in fortunes.
They completed London 2012 with only three medals – one silver and two bronze – less than a decade ago, and they only won one gold medal in the previous Olympics in Rio.
They will now depart Tokyo with eight medals, the most in any sport won by Great Britain at these Games.
Only Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy, and Jason Kenny have won more Olympic medals than Scott, who has three silvers and one gold.
Scott told Sport, “I have a lot of excellent team-mates.” “I’ve been lucky enough to be a member of several fantastic relay teams.”
Peaty, who won Britain’s first gold medal of the Games in the men’s 100m breaststroke, now has three medals to his name, two of which are gold.
However, rather than celebrating a record-breaking medal count, the foursome was upset that they did not end with a final gold, emphasizing how far Great Britain had come in swimming.
“That is the current norm,” Peaty remarked.
“We’re not interested in bronzes or silvers; we want to know how to earn gold. That is how I see things.”
Dressel is leading the push for a medal for the United States.
Dressel won the men’s 50m freestyle in a dominating performance before assisting the USA to gold in the relay.
The 24-year-old added to his 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, and 4x100m freestyle relay medals in Tokyo by winning in an Olympic record speed of 21.07 seconds.
Ben Proud of the United Kingdom came in fifth place, with France’s Florent Manaudou taking silver and Brazil’s Bruno Fratus taking bronze.
Bobby Finke, a teammate of Dressel’s, won gold in the men’s 1500m freestyle, adding to the USA’s medal tally. Mykhailo Romanchuk of Ukraine won silver, Florian Wellbrock of Germany won bronze, and Dan Jervis of the United Kingdom finished fifth.
Emma McKeon earned her 10th Olympic medal in the women’s 50m freestyle, more than any other Australian athlete in history.
The 27-year-old set an Olympic record by crossing the finish line in 23.81 seconds to win her third gold medal of the Games and sixth overall in Tokyo. Her ten Olympic medals put her ahead of Ian Thorpe, an Australian swimming icon.
World record holder from Sweden Sarah Sjostrom came in second, with Pernille Blume of Denmark coming in third.
Finally, Australia won gold in the women’s 4x100m medley relay, while the United States came in second and Canada claimed third.