4 Long-Standing Olympic Records/Streaks Broken By Marylanders
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio are over, but it looks like more than a few Maryland natives came home with the golds and a few new records. Let's take a look at some of the long-standing records and streaks that athletes from Maryland broke during the games.
Katie Ledecky
Prior to the Summer Olympics, Ledecky held the world record of 8:06.68, she broke her own recird by just about two seconds,8:04.79. Ledecky won the gold medal in the women's 800-meter freestyle in the second fastest performance ever. At 15, she narrowly missed the world record on the final lap to recapture the Olympic title for the Americans since Brooke Bennett topped the podium in 2000.
Michael Phelps
As you well know by now, Michael Phelps broke the 2,168 year record held by Leonidas of Rhodes back in 152 BC. After Phelps won the 200-meter individual medley, his thirteenth individual gold, he smashed the ancient record. One thing Leonidas still has over Phelps is that when he won the last three when he was 36, Phelps was 31. By the way, that was Phelps' fourth straight win of the event. He's now only the third American to win an individual event four times, along with track and field stars Carl Lewis and Al Oerter.
Matthew Centrowitz Jr.
Annapolis native Matt Centrowitz became the first American in more than 100 years to win gold in the 1,500 meters at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He ran a 50.6 second final 400m, becoming the first U.S. runner to win the event since 1908.
Helen Maroulis
Helen Maroulis is an American freestyle wrestler who competes in the women's 55-kg and 53-kg categories. She was a gold medalist at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada and a gold medalist at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, she became the first ever American to win a gold medal in women's freestyle wrestling at the Olympic games.
