Advertisement

Rio Roundup: Men, women add to U.S. gold medal haul with big swimming wins

Michael Phelps won gold in his last Olympic race, while Simone Manuel helped the women win the United States' 1000th gold medal in the Summer Olympics.

By Stephen Feller
Michael Phelps of the United States holds his gold medal after the Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay Final at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on August 13, 2016. Michael Phelps wins his 23rd all time Olympic gold medal. Photo by Matthew Healey/UPI
1 of 41 | Michael Phelps of the United States holds his gold medal after the Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay Final at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on August 13, 2016. Michael Phelps wins his 23rd all time Olympic gold medal. Photo by Matthew Healey/UPI | License Photo

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- The United States won its 1,000th gold medal Saturday night -- the first nation to do so -- when Simone Manuel solidly won the women's 4x100 swimming relay, and the U.S. men's 4x100 meter swimming relay team set a new Olympic record to help Michael Phelps grab another gold medal before retiring.

After becoming the greatest Olympian in history two nights ago, Phelps claimed one more gold in what is expected to be his final Olympic race -- which he and his teammates made sure was not much of a contest.

Advertisement

Ryan Murphy gave the U.S. an early half-second lead in the 4x100 meter relay, setting a world record as Cody Miller jumped in. Miller kept the U.S. in contention despite their lead narrowing before Phelps took his turn in the pool. Phelps got a small lead, which Nathan Adrian turned into a huge lead -- and helping the team set a new Olympic record for the race.

Advertisement

The only challenge to the Americans came from Great Britain, who lost by more than a full second to take the silver. Australia won the bronze medal just behind Great Britain.

Women's 4x100 relay

Kathleen Baker, Lilly King, Dana Vollmer, Simone Manuel pose during the medal ceremony after winning the gold medal in the Women's 4 x 100m Medley Relay. Photo by Matthew Healey/UPI
U.S. swimmer Simone Manuel won her second gold medal Saturday night in the 4x100 meter relay, helping the American team win the race for the second straight Olympics. The win gives Manuel two golds and two silvers at the Rio Olympics.

Kathleen Baker led the Americans with the backstroke, with Lilly King keeping the race close while swimming the breaststroke. But the team did not take the lead until Dana Vollmer swam the fly. Manuel dominated the last stretch of the race after inheriting a solid lead from Vollmer, helping the team finish two seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Australia and Denmark, who took the silver and bronze medals, were separated by one one-hundredth of a second in the race's finish.

Advertisement

Women's 100 meter dash

Elaine Thompson of Jamaica celebrates after winning gold in the Women's 100m final. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI
Jamaica retained the gold medal in the Olympic 100 meter spring in Rio de Janeiro Saturday night, but Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce did not repeat -- her teammate Elaine Thompson took the race.

Thompson was never challenged in the race, winning by one-tenth of a second as her lead widened before she crossed the finish lane. Fraser-Pryce, who has won gold in the race at the last two Summer Olympics, was seeking to become the first woman in track to win three gold medals in a row.

Fraser-Pryce wound up taking bronze after American runner Tori Bowie lunged at the finish line to narrowly snatch the silver medal.

Women's beach volleyball

The quarterfinals are set for women's beach volleyball after Russia beat Spain 2 to 0 and Brazil beat China 2 to 0 in the day's late matches.

Sunday's quarterfinals matches include two Brazilian teams, one facing Switzerland and the other facing Russia, while Germany faces Canada in the second match of the day and the United States will play Australia in the day's last match.

Advertisement

Women's heptathlon

Jessica Ennis-Hill of Great Britain celebrates after winning a silver medal in the Women's Heptathlon. Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI
The two-day, seven-event heptathlon wrapped up Saturday night, with Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium taking gold on points, despite losing the 800 meter race. Known as a weak runner, Thiam won big on throwing events and set a personal best in the long jump.

Great Britain's Jessica Ennis-Hill won the silver medal in the event, after handily winning the 800 meter and finishing in the top three in the 100 meter hurdles, high jump and 200 meter race. Although she'd entered the day with a 72-point lead in the heptathlon, Ennis-Hill ended up losing the overall event by 35 points because of weak performances in the throwing events.

Brianne Theisen-Eaton of Canada took third in the heptathlon, finishing more than 100 points behind Ennis-Hill.

Latest Headlines