With the Tokyo Olympics officially concluded, a new clock starts, counting down the minutes until Paris 2024. That doesn’t mean we can’t look back at some of our favorite moments from the past few weeks.
This year’s Olympics had no shortage of memorable events, from Naomi Osaka lighting the cauldron on Day 1 to Canada winning their first gold medal in soccer on the final weekend. Here are five that stood out to us from the pool.
17-year-old Lydia Jacoby wins gold in the 100-meter breaststroke
Five years after Lilly King rose to stardom with her 100-meter breaststroke win in Rio, U.S. teammate Lydia Jacoby was relatively unknown heading into these Games. She was a surprise qualifier in Omaha, becoming the first Alaskan Olympian in swimming.
Then, in Tokyo, Jacoby shocked the world. King wasn’t considered a lock to defend her Olympic title in the 100m breaststroke. Most were looking to South African Tatjana Schoenmaker as her main competition after she’d won both the preliminary and semifinal rounds. In the final, Schoenmaker took the lead early and held onto it with 15 meters to go. Jacoby turned it on from there, using a late kick to overtake both King and…
