NANTERRE, France — The U.S. women closed out their Olympic Games emphatically with a gold medal and a new world record in the women’s 4×100-meter medley relay on Sunday night.
Regan Smith, Lilly King, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske finished in 3:49.63 and beat the rest of the field by more than three seconds.
Australia (3:53.11) took silver and China (3:53.23) earned bronze.
TEAM USA CLOSES IT OUT WITH A GOLD. 🥇👏
In the final swim of the #ParisOlympics, the United States DOMINATES the women’s 4x100m medley relay! pic.twitter.com/ISAvsNwyef
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 4, 2024
Their gold was the eighth for Team USA, which pushed the Americans past the Australians, who tallied seven in the pool. The U.S. has won more swimming gold medals than its peers in every Olympics since 1988. Walsh admitted afterwards that she knew going into the relay that they could get Team USA to the top of the gold medal count. Neither King or Smith said they had any idea. King was asked how much it meant to beat the Aussies.
“It matters because we like to win,” King said. “But we’re just here to race and do what we do best.”
Earlier Sunday, the U.S. men earned silver in the men’s medley relay — the first time in the history of the event that the Americans…
