Lochte passed in final leg, United States takes silver in 4×100 Meter Freestyle Relay

By Adam Silverstein
July 29, 2012

One day after taking home his, the Florida Gators’ and the United States’ first gold medal of the 2012 London Olympics, Ryan Lochte was back in the pool as the anchor of the Men’s 4×100 Meter Freestyle Relay team trying to earn a second. Unfortunately for Gators fans and the Americans, Lochte was caught from behind in the final 50 meters of the race and the United States lost the gold medal to France.

The Americans (3:10.38) took home silver in the event, finishing the relay 0.45 seconds behind the French) partially due to Lochte’s final 100 meters. He swam his leg in 47.74 seconds, the second-slowest on his team and more than a half-second behind Michael Phelps, who swam the second leg of the race.

Lochte, who competed hours earlier in the semifinals of the Men’s 200 Meter Freestyle and qualified for the finals on Monday with a fifth-place finish (1:46.31, +0.70), did not swim in the preliminaries of the relay in the morning session but was added to the team for the afternoon’s final. Phelps did not swim at all in the morning session.

The silver is the second of Lochte’s Olympic career as well as his eighth overall medal in the Games. He has also won four gold and two bronze medals.

No other Florida swimmers competed in medal events on Sunday though Gemma Spofforth (Great Britain) qualified for the finals of the Women’s 100 Meter Backstroke after finishing sixth overall in the semifinals (59.70, +0.58). She will join Lochte in competing for an individual medal on Monday.

Be sure to check out OGGOA’s Live Coverage of the 2012 London Olympics for a full schedule, live stream links and a Gator Nation vs. The World medal count.

One Comment

  1. SaraGator says:

    Excellent job, Adam – Love the reporting and updates of our Gators in the Olympics. Wish you NBC would say something about our Band. I think it’s an honor that our Gators were chosen among all the college bands.

    Go Gators!

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