One Olympian just followed in her father’s medal-winning footsteps.
Team USA swimmer Katharine Berkoff not only scored the bronze medal in the women’s 100-meter backstroke on Tuesday, July 30, but she also won the same prize that her father, David Berkoff, won 32 years ago.
During the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics, Katharine’s father, David, now 57, also placed third in the 100-meter backstroke. That same year, David also took home the gold during the 4 x 100-meter medley relay.
David also competed at the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, where he placed second in the 100-meter backstroke and won gold in the 4 x 100-meter medley relay.
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Berkoff, 23, finished third in 57.89 seconds in her own event final on Tuesday. She trailed her teammate Regan Smith, who finished second with 57.66 seconds. Smith broke the world record time at June’s U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials and completed the race in 57.13 seconds.
Defending Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown won gold again with a time of 57.33 seconds.
Meanwhile, Smith and Berkohoff’s wins brought Team USA to a combined total of 3,000 Olympic medals across all sports and the country’s 600th Olympic medal in swimming.
Berkoff celebrated the win on Instagram with a sweet message. “So happy that I got to earn another medal for Team USA last night. I’m feeling so grateful for my community of people,” Berkoff wrote. “Thank you to everyone supporting me along the way. ❤️.”
Regan Smith (left) and Katharine Berkoff show off their medals for the 100-meter women’s backstroke.
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Team USA’s Tuesday wins were then followed by Katie Ledecky placing first during the Wednesday, July 31 1500-meter freestyle race. Ledecky finished the race in 15:30.02, beating France’s Anastasiia Kirpichnikova, who earned silver with a 15:40.35.
This was Ledecky’s second win in the event, which was introduced during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Ledecky finished that race in 15:35.35.
Ledecky, 27, is now tied with fellow American Jenny Thompson for the most gold medals in Olympic history by a female swimmer with eight. The pair are also tied for the most Olympic medals by a female swimmer — 12. Ledecky now has eight gold medals, three silver medals and one bronze medal.
Katie Ledecky on July 31, 2024 in Paris, France.
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