Smith, U.S. take gold in 4x200 freestyle relay

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Leah Smith of Mt. Lebanon and the United States won the Olympic gold medal in the women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay Wednesday night at the Aquatics Stadium, thanks to a stirring anchor leg by Katie Ledecky, who dived into the pool with .89-second deficit but somehow parlayed that into a 1.84-second advantage over second-place Australia.

The relay team's winning time was 7:43.03. Smith's 1:56.69 on the second leg was the slowest of the four swimmers. Allison Schmitt, who was born in Hampton but left the Pittsburgh area at age 2, opened with a 1:56.21. Maya Dirado swam the third leg in 1:56.39. Ledecky then altered the entire field with her 1:53.74, by far the best individual time of the event.

For Smith, it was her second medal of these Games, along with her bronze in the 400-meter freestyle race that was won by Ledecky in world-record time.



For Ledecky, the precocious 19-year-old some are calling the next Michael Phelps of the sport, it was her third gold here, fourth overall. Only Jenny Thompson (eight) and Amy Van Dyken (six) have more for their careers.

Canada took bronze.

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