Entering Sunday’s competition, the Florida Gators could be considered one of the top-15 countries at the 2024 Paris Olympics with seven total medals, three of which came after a strong Saturday.
That number on Sunday grew once again with two medals won by Gators.
Swimmer Bobby Finke (USA) not only won his second-straight gold medal in the 1500-meter freestyle, he did so in record-breaking fashion. With a time of 14:30.67, Finke set a new world record to win his second medal of this year’s games and third-career Olympic gold medal.
Finke previously won silver in the 800-meter freestyle. His gold medal won on Sunday is the third gold medal won by Gators this year.
Bobby does the unFINKEable!
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 4, 2024
Gold medal and WORLD RECORD in the 1500m freestyle!#ParisOlympics | NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/siCsTPEN8X
Meanwhile, Caeleb Dressel (USA) won his third medal of this year’s games and first-career non-gold medal (10th overall) in the Olympics as part of the silver medal-winning 4x100-meter medley relay.
Swimming the butterfly, Dressel’s individual swim time of 49.41 seconds was the fastest amongst butterfly swimmers in the finals and had shot the United States into a top-two position heading into the final swim.
Caeleb Dressel turning on the turbo for the team #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/8lnxhc3zlj
— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) August 4, 2024
China upset the U.S. for the gold medal with an overall swim time of 3:27.46, while the U.S. finished with a time of 3:28.01. The U.S. had previously won the gold medal in this event at every single Olympics it had participated in since its inception in 1960. Due to the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games, the U.S. did not medal in the event.
At the time of writing, the University of Florida had a total of nine medals won by current and former athletes, which would rank No. 12 worldwide.
Caeleb Dressel (USA): 4x100-meter freestyle relay (gold), mixed 4x100-meter medley relay (gold), 4x100-meter medley relay (silver)
Bobby Finke (USA): 800-meter freestyle (silver), 1500-meter freestyle (gold)
Josh Liendo (CAN): 100-meter butterfly (silver)
Jasmine Moore (USA): Triple jump (bronze)
Kieran Smith (USA): 4x200-meter freestyle relay (silver)
Emma Weyant (USA): 400-meter individual medley (bronze)
Rankings are by total medals won at the time of writing.
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