American claims ninth individual gold medal with victory in the 800m to join gymnast Larisa Latynina as most decorated woman in Olympic history
American claims ninth individual gold medalKatie Ledecky lay flat on her back in the Olympic pool, pain still written on her face, trying to suck the air back into her lungs as fast as she could manage. The crowd were going wild on all four sides of the arena and yet for a few moments she simply stared at the roof, at the cameras and the scaffolding and the lights. For Ledecky, the pool has always been her freedom and her safety. It was as if she was enjoying one last moment of alone time.
This, perhaps, stands as a pretty good metaphor for their rivalry in this event. Titmus, who would set a new national record here, improved her time from Tokyo by 1.5 seconds. Bad news: so did Ledecky. Just when you think you have her in her grasp, she kicks and she strokes and is elusive again. You may as well try to catch time itself.
And then lights out. Game time. In went Ledecky, palm perfectly over palm, not so much hitting the water as folding into it, becoming it. She hit the front and turned fastest, but Titmus stayed with her. For the first four or five lengths, swum at below world-record pace, only a couple of feet separated them. Ledecky was breathing to her right, Titmus to her left, so on the return lengths they could look straight into each other’s eyes and see how close they were.
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