RIO de JANEIRO -- For the second straight night, incoming Stanford freshman Katie Ledecky and former Cardinal standout Maya DiRado '14 stood on the podium at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Brazil. On Wednesday, they stood together at the top as the duo helped lead the United States 800-meter freestyle relay team to a gold medal.
Ledecky ties a Stanford record with four medals at a single Olympics. Four other Stanford affiliates have also accomplished that feat and all were women's swimmers -- Jenny Thompson (2000), Summer Sanders (1992), Sharon Stouder Clark (1964) and Chris von Saltza Olmstead (1960). Earlier this week, Ledecky won gold in the 200 and 400 freestyle, and captured the silver as the anchor for the 400 freestyle relay.
DiRado has won three medals at these games. The Santa Rosa, Calif., native has a complete set as she garnered a silver in the 400-meter individual medley and a bronze in the 200 IM.
DiRado and Ledecky took the final two legs for the Americans. The duo helped make up a deficit. DiRado had the USA within 0.89 seconds when she touched the wall, and sent Ledecky into the water. The 19-year-old took over from there and vaulted into the lead. She stopped the clock at 7:43.03 for nearly a two-second victory over Australia (7:44.87).
#Gold
— Stanford W. Swimming (@stanfordwswim) August 11, 2016
Congrats, @MayaDiRado, @katieledecky and #TeamUSA pic.twitter.com/pZiAjiNf6w
Also on the fifth night of swimming in Rio, rising junior Simone Manuel qualified for the finals of the 100-meter freestyle. She was second overall in the prelims with a time of 53.32, and then finished first in the semifinals at 53.11.
In all, Stanford swimmers have accumulated nine medals in the first five days of the Rio Olympic Games, and have several chances to add to that total. Manuel will swim for the podium in the 100 free on Thursday night, Ledecky will compete in the 800-meter freestyle, DiRado has the 200-meter backstroke preliminaries on Thursday morning, and diving starts on Friday for Kassidy Cook.
For a complete schedule of Stanford Olympians, go to GoStanford.com/Rio.