USA TODAY International Edition
LOOKING BACK
From Katie Ledecky and Michael Phelps in the pool to Usain Bolt on the track, a look at the 16 most memorable moments from Rio.
On to Tokyo. With the 2016 Olympics behind us, the Summer Games focus turns to Japan in 2020.
The last 16 days of competition have created story lines that will continue into the Tokyo Games — think Katie Ledecky’s dominance and the Russian track and field team’s exclusion from the Rio Olympics.
Here’s a look at 16 of the most memorable moments from the Rio Olympics: 1,000 GOLD AND COUNTING The USA has long been ahead in the all- time medal count, but the Americans set another milestone here. A win by the women’s 4x100 medley relay in swimming served as the 1,000th Summer Olympics gold medal for the USA.
The U. S. team entered the Games needing 23 to reach the milestone, and it got to the record on Day 8 of competition.
Kathleen Baker, Lilly King, Dana Vollmer and Simone Manuel combined to win the relay.
“Team USA, we’re all kind of bound by that same grit, that same effort, that same fighter spirit,” Vollmer said. “To get to go out that last relay to get that gold and to be fighting as true teammates, I think that’s what U. S. Olympics means to us.” LEYVA’S TWO MEDALS Danell Leyva won an all- around bronze medal in London, but the gymnast had one of the most unlikely paths to two medals in Rio. Leyva was a favorite to make the team until he was bitten in the leg and hand breaking up a fight between his dogs a month before the trials began.
Despite having to take weeks off from training, he improved throughout the two months before the Games but still did not make the team and was named as an alternate in late June. But John Orozco tore his anterior cruciate ligament, and Leyva was named to the team in July.
Leyva won silver medals on the parallel bars and the high bar less than two hours apart in Rio.
“Nobody has a perfect day, but I feel like this was as close to perfect as I possibly could have gotten, and I’m incredibly happy,” Leyva said. WOMEN’S ALL- AROUND The American women provided many bright spots in winning nine medals, but few were more memorable than Simone Biles’ and Aly Raisman’s 1- 2 finish in the gymnastics all- around.
Biles was expected to win gold after claiming the last three world titles, and she did so by more than two points. Raisman, meanwhile, won silver four years after she lost a tiebreak for third in London.
The teammates and friends were the last two to compete on floor exercise, and normally bubbly Biles burst into tears as she hugged Raisman and Aimee Boorman, Biles’ longtime coach, when the outcome was final.
“I think it’s really nice that we have each other, because we don’t feel like we need to compete against each other because I know I can’t beat her, so it’s nice that we don’t feel competitive with each other,” Raisman said. “We’re very close. We have a lot of fun together.” THE COLD WAR IN THE POOL King, a 20- year- old who swims for Indiana University, wasn’t supposed to say anything about racing against a reinstated Russian swimmer. But she couldn’t help herself, first wagging her finger after Yulia Efimova raised hers when she won her semifinal heat of the women’s 100- meter breaststroke.
When asked about the finger wag, King said she “wasn’t a fan” of Efimova, who had twice been suspended for the use of banned substances.
The war of gestures and words reached its boiling point in an exhilarating 100 breaststroke final in which King beat Efimova for gold. Afterward, King continued her fight as an anti- doping trail blazer — sounding excited about her medal, “knowing I did it clean,” she said. LEDECKY’S DOMINANT RUN Katie Ledecky is so supremely talented and so effortlessly dominant that her results are all but assured the moment she dives into the pool.
The 19- year- old freestyle phenom’s strokes and splashing take on the characteristics of a metronome, methodical and almost robotic in their exactness. Ledecky out of the pool usually seems similar. She’s focused on her goals, and she’s never surprised by her performance; she expects perfection.
But after she blew away the competition and broke her world record in the women’s 800- meter freestyle, she waited 11 seconds for the silver medalist to touch. And in that break, Ledecky finally broke down her walls. After winning her fourth gold medal and fifth overall of the Rio Games, Ledecky cried.
Tears of joy for an accomplishment that ranks right up there with any in Olympic history. PHELPS’ SWEET FINISH It’s hard to pick just one moment of Michael Phelps’ history- making Olympics to highlight, so we’ll go with the race he says stands out as one of his favorites — the 200 butterfly, the same race he’d lost to South Africa’s Chad le Clos in London.
He not only avenged that loss, taking gold here in Rio, but it also became Part 1 of a double- goldmedal night for 31- year- old Phelps, who ultimately won five gold medals and one silver here.
“I went through obstacles maybe I didn’t want to go through before, but I was open to it because I wanted to be able to be back to where I am now,” Phelps said. “Getting out of the pool now might take a little more energy. It might be a little bit harder. But it’s just as sweet standing on top of the podium listening to your national anthem play.” JORGENSEN TAKES OFF Try as Nicola Spirig did to put some distance between herself and Gwen Jorgensen, she could not. Every breakaway attempt was met with a surge by Jorgensen, who finally overtook the 2012 Olympic triathlon champion with two laps to go on the bike portion of the race. The gold seemed like a formality at that point, with Jorgensen’s speed in the run so much of an advantage that if she’s anywhere close to the lead, the race is over.
“To watch Gwen in full flight, usually from behind, is quite something,” bronze medalist Vicky Holland said.
But it would not be quite so easy. For three laps, Spirig hung on Jorgensen’s right shoulder. Any time Jorgensen would try to drop back or move away, Spirig would follow.
The two could be seen exchanging words, a rare display of gamesmanship.
“Neither of us wanted to lead,” Jorgensen said. “She said, ‘ I already have a ( gold) medal,’ which is fair enough.”
Jorgensen got the last word, however. As they began the final lap of the race, she put the hammer down and Spirig quickly faded from view.
The gold medal was the culmination of a four- year, single- minded focus. Since a disappointing 38th- place finish in London after a flat tire, Jorgensen had made it clear she was chasing gold in Rio and nothing less would do.
“Thinking about the four years and it all came down to one day,” Jorgensen said. “To be able to actually execute on the day is pretty amazing.” WATSON HAS A BALL Bubba Watson couldn’t wait to get to Rio. Then he didn’t want to leave.
The two- time Masters champion never thought about joining some of the biggest names in golf who opted not to play in the Olympics. Instead, he was the king of the selfie and a boisterous ambassador for the Games. His favorite spot was the athletes village, and he went to as many sporting events as he could squeeze in.
“This is a dream come true, and to be a part of it, it’s the greatest event I’ve ever been a part of,” Watson said. “It is an absolutely amazing place, and I feel sorry for the guys that didn’t make the team and I feel sorry for the guys around the world that didn’t come here or couldn’t come here. ...
“I met Greg Louganis. The guy is a legend. The field hockey team loves me now. Matt Kuchar got a medal. I’m an Olympian. You want me to keep going? I ran into some track and field people. ... It’s a thrill of a lifetime.” CENTROWITZ GOES FOR IT With every stride in his run to gold, Matthew Centrowitz kept thinking someone would try to come get him. He knew what the competition was going to do, when they liked to time their moves.
But as he entered the last lap of the 1,500 meters, Centrowitz had been in the lead for so long — practically from the start — that everything in his game plan pretty much went out the window.
“I’m like, ‘ All right, now we’re getting to the later stages in the race, and I can’t give this lead up,’ ” he said. “We’re going into the last lap, so might as well wind up from here. I just kind of went for it.”
Went for it, he did. And as a series of challengers engaged him over the final 400 meters — including the two previous Olympic champs — Centrowitz kept finding enough to brush them back and won America’s first gold medal in this event in 108 years. SWEEP OF MEDALS Olympic history lurks around the corner of every track and field event. A sprinter might shatter record times. A distance runner might find an extra kick to reach the tape, turn his or her head to the timing clock and let out a celebratory scream before collapsing in exhaustion.
Individual records fell in Rio. Then there was the team that achieved an Olympic first.
It was a clean sweep: Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin finished 1- 2- 3 in the women’s 100meter hurdles, marking the first time a country had owned the medal podium in the discipline.
There was no question that Rollins and Ali finished 1- 2. For Castlin, however, there were moments of doubt. Did she beat Britain’s Cindy Ofili across the line?
She did, by two- hundredths of a second. The relief brought Castlin to her knees.
Then she raced to join her teammates, who were posing for photographers with American flags draped around their shoulders. Then it was three: Rollins, Ali and Castlin, the best American team in track and field. ACT OF SELFLESSNESS You probably hadn’t heard of Abbey D’Agostino before these Games, and it’s possible you won’t hear a ton about her after them.
She didn’t win a gold or get near the podium. She ran once, in the heats of the 5,000 meters.
That was where she produced a moment of selflessness. In stopping midrace to help fallen rival Nikki Hamblin of New Zealand to her feet, D’Agostino unintentionally gave the event what should have been its most memorable moment.
“I’m never going to forget that moment,” Hamblin said. “When someone asks me what happened in Rio in 20 years’ time, that’s my story ... that girl shaking my shoulder, ( saying) ‘ Come on, get up.’ ” BASKETBALL GOLD The most dominant U. S. team sport in the Olympics remains basketball. The men won their third consecutive gold medal and the women won their sixth con- secutive gold.
The women won their 49th Olympic game in a row. Brittney Griner clutched her first gold medal during her postgame news conference. Tamika Catchings shed tears of joy.
Catchings wrapped up an amazing run, winning four consecutive gold medals along with Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi.
“There’s a lot of entitlement out there in sports today, and you’ve got three Hall of Famers that don’t really think they’re entitled to anything and they feel they have to work hard every day and have to earn it,” U. S. coach Geno Auriemma said. CELEBRATING DIVERSITY It was a powerful image as they entered the interview line at Carioca Arena, four fencers locked with arms over each other’s shoulders, bronze medals around their necks. One of them had purple dyed hair; another was a blonde. And then there was Ibtihaj Muhammad, and you couldn’t see her hair because of the hajib she wears to honor her Muslim faith.
At this particular moment in U. S. history, with a presidential election embroiled in rhetoric that has fanned flames of discord toward immigrants and the MuslimAmerican community, the Americans winning a medal in the team sabre competition was a profound reminder of how sports can be a vehicle to celebrate the best parts of a diverse country.
Muhammad received significant publicity before the Games just by her presence on the team and her enthusiasm for shattering stereotypes. Leaving with a medal and celebrating with a team that looked like America was a fitting way for her to make Olympic history. GIRL POWER Just as they did in London, women led the way for the USA. Four years ago, they made up more of the U. S. team than the men did.
The USA announced a 555member team coming into the Games, of which 292 were women. That’s a record for any country.
The American women won 61 of the 121 total medals, with 27 of them gold. The USA had 46 gold medals as a team.
Four years ago, the U. S. women won 58 medals — 29 of them gold — to the men’s 45, of which 17 were gold. MEDAL COUNT Team USA had its best showing in more than three decades, finishing with 121 medals to better its total of 110 from Beijing.
It’s the third- highest mark for the USA, behind 236 in 1904 and 174 in 1984. Both of those Games come with a caveat, though.
The 1904 Olympics were held in St. Louis over several months in conjunction with the world’s fair. It was not quite the international event we know today, with fewer than a dozen countries competing.
In 1984, the Soviet Union and much of the Eastern Bloc boycotted in response to the 1980 boycott of the Moscow Games by the USA and many of its allies.
Of course, many will come to view these Games with an asterisk as well.
After revelations of state- sponsored doping in Russia, the country’s track and field team was banned from competing here save for one athlete. GOODBYE, AND THANK YOU If we have to say goodbye to two legends of sport, this was the way to do it.
After the week was over, after he’d collected his 23rd Olympic gold medal and 28th overall, Phelps insisted that he’s retiring for good this time, excited about the life — and family — that awaits him out of the pool.
Usain Bolt, meanwhile, completed his historic three- peat in his final Games. The Jamaican sprinter won the 100, 200 and 4x100 relay for the third consecutive Olympics.
The fastest man ever did not break world records in Rio, as he had hoped, but he hardly needed them to wrap up a remarkable Olympic career.