Rio De Janeiro
The fourth gold medal of these Games for the 19-year-old from the Washington, D.C., area wasn’t a surprise — she he now holds the 13 fastest times ever in the event.
She finished in 8 minutes 4.79 seconds, about 11 seconds ahead of second-place Jazz Carlin of Britain. The previous record was 8:06.68.
The victory gave Ledecky another milestone. She is the first woman to sweep the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle races at the same Olympics since U.S. swimmer Debbie Meyer did so at Mexico City in 1968.
Ledecky, the youngest member of the U.S. Olympic swimming team, also won gold in the 800-meter freestyle relay and silver in the 400-meter freestyle relay.
Michael Phelps, meanwhile, finished in a three-way tie for silver in the 100-meter butterfly at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium on Friday in the final individual race of his storied career.
Singapore’s Joseph Schooling finished in 50.39 seconds, an Olympic record, to outdistance Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, who touched the wall in 51.14 seconds.
“It’s what I had,” said Phelps, who reiterated his plans to retire following the Olympics. “It’s been a really long week and I knew it was going to be a tough one.”
Phelps, with four gold medals at these Games to give him 22 in his career, will compete in the 400-meter medley relay today.
Carmelo Anthony, Kyrie Irving & Co. survived their second straight strong challenge at the Rio de Janeiro Games, fending off Serbia 94-91 when Bogdan Bogdanovic missed a 3-pointer from the left wing with 2 seconds left that would have tied it.
Kevin Durant grabbed the rebound to keep the Americans unbeaten 48 hours after they barely escaped against Australia.
Seeking their third straight gold medal, the Americans built an early 18-point lead but couldn’t put away the Serbs, who lost by 29 to the U.S. in the 2014 Basketball World Cup final.
Even as another round of rain made for a steamy day once the skies cleared in Rio, South America’s first Olympics lingered under clouds of grief, doping and disrespect.
Brazil’s government declared a day of official mourning for a Rio Olympics police officer who died after being shot in the head making a wrong turn into one of the city’s slums.
A Chinese swimmer, Polish weightlifter and Bulgarian steeplechaser have been sanctioned for doping offenses , which are being handled by the Court of Arbitration for Sport for the first time.
And in a serious breach of judo etiquette with political overtones, an Egyptian judoka refused to shake the hand of his Israeli opponent after his loss.
Day 7 of the Rio Games features a heavy slate of medal action in swimming, track and field, track cycling, fencing, judo and more.
Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia set a world record in the women’s 10,000 meters with a stunning solo run to win the first gold medal in track. Alexi Pappas, a Dartmouth College graduate running for Greece, finihed 17th.
Rafael Nadal, the singles champion at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and Spain teammate Marc Lopez won the men’s doubles title. Nadal also reached the semifinals in his bid for a second Olympic singles gold, overcoming his Brazilian opponent and a racous, flag-waving home crowd.
Other highlights from Day 7:
Bronze Boxer: Nico Hernandez’s chance for a gold medal ended Friday when he lost to Uzbekistan’s Hasanboy Dusmatov. With a gnarly gash over his left eye, Hernandez had blurred vision and needed stitches. His consolation: his bronze medal in the light flyweight division ends a medal drought for the American boxers that stretched to 2008.
Puig’s Push: Tennis player Monica Puig is one victory from Puerto Rico’s first gold medal in Olympic history. Puig continued her surprising run by reaching the women’s singles final, eliminating two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Puig is ranked 34th and unseeded but is assured of no worse than a silver medal.
Auto Accident: A German Olympic canoe coach is fighting for his life after a car accident left him with serious head injuries. Stefan Henze, a canoe slalom silver medalist at the 2004 Games, underwent emergency surgery in a Rio de Janeiro hospital. He and a team official were heading to the athletes village when their taxi was in a wreck.
Tthe Swamp: In another embarrassment for the Maria Lenk Aquatics Center, a planned practice session had to be called off to give officials more time to clean the green-tinged water — a four-days-and-counting scenario that prompted American diver Abby Johnson to dub it “the Swamp.”