The American swimmer Katie Ledecky became only the second swimmer – and the only woman – to win an event at four straight Summer Games when she took gold in the 800m freestyle in 8:11.04 on Saturday night. This was Ledecky’s second gold medal in Paris and the ninth of her career. 

Australia’s Ariarne Titmus took silver in 8:12.29 with Ledecky’s team-mate Paige Madden securing bronze in 8:13.00. The only other swimmer with four Olympic golds in the same event is Michael Phelps.

Thanks to the win, Ledecky is now only the sixth Olympian to reach nine gold medals, joining swimmer Mark Spitz, track star Carl Lewis, Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, and Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi in a tie for second place in the history books. Phelps has the most medals of any Olympian with 28, including 23 golds.

THE QUEEN OF THE 800M FREESTYLE ??

Katie Ledecky wins her fourth consecutive gold medal in the event ?? pic.twitter.com/h6ZWOeZacu

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 3, 2024

In an earlier event, the teenager Summer McIntosh became the first Canadian athlete to take three golds from a single Olympics when she won the 200m individual medley. She also set a new Olympic record time of 2:06.56 to complete a medley double after winning the 400m on Monday.

The American Kate Douglass took silver, with Australian Kaylee McKeown taking the third place on the podium after US simmer Alex Walsh was disqualified for an illegal turn at the end of the backstroke leg.

McIntosh now has four medals from Paris after also winning the 200m butterfly on Thursday and taking silver in the 400m freestyle on the opening Saturday.

OFM Sport/Ilse Smalberger cg