Katie Ledecky, Caeleb Dressel join exclusive Olympic clubs

TOKYO >> Katie Ledecky has spent most of her swimming career body lengths ahead of the rest of the world as she churned toward another gold medal, another record.

At the end of a historic Saturday morning at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, Ledecky found herself all alone once again.

Ledecky won her Olympic Games third 800-meter freestyle title by a wide margin to become the first female swimmer in Olympic history to win six individual gold medals.

“In the 800-meters Katie is in a class of her own,” said Australia’s Ariarne Titmus, the silver medalist.

Ledecky’s 8-minute, 12.57 second victory moved her ahead of Hungary’s Kristina Egerszegi. Titmus finished in an Oceania record 8:13.83.

So the Games that began with Ledecky being knocked off by Australia’s Ariarne Titmus in the 400 freestyle, an event the American won four years earlier in Rio de Janeiro, and finishing fifth in the 200 free, another event she won in Rio, also ended with her joining one of the sport’s most exclusive clubs.

Ledecky became only the fourth swimmer to win an individual event in three consecutive Olympics, joining Australia’s Dawn Fraser (100 freestyle 1956-1964), Egerszegi (200 backstroke 1988-1996) and Michael Phelps who won three golds in the 100 and 200 butterfly and four in the 200 individual medley.

“It feels great,” said Ledecky, who also clinched a silver for the U.S. in the 4×200 freestyle relay with a blazing anchor leg. “I’m so happy to be bringing home two golds and two silvers to the States.”

Ledecky’s six Olympic gold medals is second only to Jenny Thompson of the U.S. who won all of her eight golds on relays.

Caeleb Dressel also joined another exclusive club Saturday.

Caeleb Dressel, of United States, celebrates wining the gold medal in the men’s 100-meter butterfly final at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 31, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Dressel won the 100 butterfly with a world record 49.45 clocking to follow up on his 100 freestyle victory earlier in the week and become only the second man to sweep the 100 free and 100 fly in the same Games, joining Mark Spitz who did it on the way to winning seven gold medals at the 1972 Games in Munich.

Hungary’s Kristof Milak was second in 49.68, under the Olympic record of 49.71 that Dressel set a day earlier.

“I am happy that Caeleb (needed a world record to beat me,” Milak said.

Dressel, who also picked up a gold medal as part of the 4×100 freestyle relay, is favored to win a fourth gold in Sunday’s 50 freestyle final. He had the fastest qualifying time in Saturday’s semifinals, clocking 21.42, a mark that suggests the Olympic record of 21.30 by Cesar Cielo in 2008 will be in jeopardy.

The 800 was Ledecky’s last chance to beat Titmus, known as the Terminator, in an individual event after the Australian swept the 400 and 200 freestyles, the latter with a new Olympic record.

Ledecky has owned the 800 for most of the past decade, winning four world titles and setting five world records between August 2013 and the Rio Olympics where she set the current world record of 8:04.79.

“I knew how to swim this race,” Ledecky said. “I just had trust my instincts.”

“I had to fight for every meter of that race,” Ledecky said. “Ariarne had a tremendous time and a great swim and I knew she was going to be there the whole way.”

Titmus hung with her early, trailing by less than a second 200 meters in. But Ledecky slowly began to open a gap, especially between 500 and 600 meters,, wide enough that while the Australian finished stronger over the final 100, it wasn’t enough.

At the final wall, her last touch of these Olympics, Ledecky was all alone once again.