Brody Malone takes 10th in all-around final
Former Cedartown resident wraps up Olympics debut
Summerville’s Brody Malone and U.S. teammate Sam Mikulak finished in 10th and 12th place, respectively, in the men’s individual all-around final at the Tokyo Olympics early Thursday.
“This experience definitely motivated me a lot,” Malone told the Los Angeles Times. “I want to be a contender for a medal in the next Games, and I want our team to be a contender for a medal.”
This was Malone’s first year in the Olympic Games. Malone, 21, has strong connections with Northwest Georgia and attended Westside Elementary School, Cedartown Middle School and Rockmart Middle School in Polk County until 2014 when he moved to the Trion area.
His father, J.D. Malone, was an agriculture teacher at Rockmart High School for many years and is returning as the new Rockmart Middle School agriculture teacher for the upcoming school year.
The 28-year-old Mikulak is competing in his third and final year. Mikulak finished seventh in the all-around in 2016 and fourth on high bar; as a member of the 2012 team, he finished fifth, as the U.S. men’s team also did this year, according to NBC Sports.
Malone scored a 14.400, down from his 14.533 in qualifications. Mikulak, in his final high bar routine ever, scored a 13.633. Malone will compete again in the high bar event final later this week.
Daiki Hashimoto of Japan won the gold medal. Ruoteng Xiao of China earned the silver medal, with Russian Nikita Nagornyy winning the bronze.
Katie Ledecky wins inaugural 1,500 freestyle
American swimmer Katie Ledecky fought off disappointment to make history Wednesday.
After finishing a stunning fifth in the 200-meter freestyle, Ledecky
returned to the pool 70 minutes later to win the gold medal in the first-ever women’s 1,500 freestyle in 15:37.34. She was 4.07 seconds ahead of fellow American Erica Sullivan and 5.57 seconds of Germany’s Sarah Kohler.
Ledecky, 24, won the silver medal on Monday in the women’s 400m. The 200m race was the first time she failed to medal when making the finals of an international event. Australian Ariarne Titmus set an Olympic record of 1:53.50 in winning the 200.
“It means a lot,” she said of the gold medal — the sixth of her Olympic career. “People maybe feel bad that I’m not winning everything, but I want people to be more concerned about other things in the world. People are truly suffering. I’m just proud to bring home a gold medal to Team USA.”