By Chrös McDougall
TOYKO — Here’s the thing about
gators. They might look like they’re just chillin’ there, hanging out. When
they decide to make a move, though, you’d better not blink.
It’s a technique called ambush
hunting.
And of course the Gator we’re talking
about here is Bobby Finke, of the University of Florida variety.
The Florida-born, Florida-raised and
now Florida-educated swimmer unleashed his breakneck closing speed for the
second time in four days on Sunday to claim his second gold medal at the
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. This time it was in the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle,
making him the first U.S. man to win that event since 1984. It came after Finke
put in a near identical performance to win the Olympic debut of the men’s
800-meter freestyle event on Thursday.
“Honestly, it doesn’t really seem
real,” said Finke, a 21-year-old from Clearwater, Florida. “I came in not
really expecting to medal. I was just going to try my best to make the finals.
So to come out of it with two golds, it means the world to me, especially for
my family and teammates.”
A relative unknown coming into Tokyo,
at least outside of hardcore swimming circles, Finke has in some ways been
preparing a lifetime for this moment. The son of a former collegiate swimmer in
mom Jeanne and swim coach in dad Joe, Finke followed his older sisters Autumn
and Ariel into the sport. All three Finke kids went on to compete D1, and in
2016 all three qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
“I kind of just followed in their
footsteps,” Finke said.
Over the course of a few days in
Tokyo, Finke not only set the new family standard but also a new national
standard for American men’s distance swimming.
“I don’t think we necessarily saw the
performance in the 800 going the way that it went, but we certainly saw it
coming in the mile,” U.S. coach Dave Durden said. “I think everybody in the
building knew what was coming down that last 100 of the mile.”
The 1,500 is the longest race in the
pool, almost double the length of the other distance event, the 800. When they
dive in, swimmers must be prepared to windmill through the water for about 15
minutes.
Finke did that with remarkable
consistency Sunday. In covering 30 lengths of the pool, he swam 27 in a row
within .58 of a second — between 29.25 and 29.83. That kept him in third place
for much of the race.
Then, on the last lap, he sped up,
dropping down to 28.60 seconds on the outbound length.
He came back in in 25.78. Talk about
an ambush hunter.
“I was trying to gain confidence
through that last 300 just try to hold on and sprint my butt off at the end,”
he said.
Mission accomplished.
Sunday’s race was remarkably similar
to the 800. Having two NCAA titles to his name, but no major international
success, Finke began as a relative unknown behind Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri,
the sport’s dominant distance swimmer in recent years and the defending 800
world champion, as well as Mykhailo Romanchuk of Ukraine.
Finke spent most of the race in fifth
place, within eyesight of Paltrinieri, the leader for the first 14 laps. At the
midway point of the final lap, Finke touched the far wall still in fourth
place. Then his blazing 26.39 split — 1.65 seconds faster than Paltrinieri —
shot him into first place.
For comparison, Paltrinieri, who won
the silver medal, closed with his second-fastest 50-meter split at 28.04 — or
1.65 seconds slower than Finke.
The result stunned even Finke.
“I honestly did not expect to win at
all,” Finke said afterward, “not even a medal to be honest with you.”
Finke’s time of 7:41.87 in the 800
broke the U.S. record he had already set in prelims, while also continuing a
rapid drop of more than six seconds from his time at the Olympic trials in June.
And the 800, he’s said, was his
weaker race.
Cheered on Sunday, the final day of
swimming, by a thunder-stick wielding contingent of fellow U.S. swimmers, by
far the biggest delegation on hand at the Tokyo Aquatics Center, Finke again
swam his race in the 1,500. From the 550-meter mark, he remained steady in
third place, just behind Florian Wellbrock of Germany and Romanchuk, with
Paltrinieri rounding out the lead pack.
Two thirds through the race, the
in-arena announcer reminded the few hundred people in attendance of Finke’s
finishing speed. A few minutes later Finke showed them himself.
His final time of 14:39.65 again
marked a six-second drop from the trials, and was 1.01 ahead of Romanchuk, who
took silver. Wellbrock, in the bronze position, was a quarter-second behind
Romanchuk. Paltrinieri, the defending Olympic champion who came back after a
mononucleosis diagnosis in June, was fourth.
In that final lap, all they could do
was watch.
“I don’t like guys who swim just the
last 50 so fast,” Romanchuk joked.
The U.S. is by far the most dominant
country in Olympic swimming, with more than twice as many medals as the
second-best country, Australia. One of the rare droughts in that success was in
the longtime lone men’s distance event, the 1,500. Although Americans have won
medals in recent Olympics, the last to win gold was Mike O’Brien in 1984.
“It was something I was aware of
going into trials,” Finke said.
The Tokyo Games brought another
distance opportunity with the addition of the 800 free. It was added to these
Games in conjunction with the women’s 1,500 to even out the program; although
the men’s 800 is contested at the world championships, the only time Olympic
men’s swimmers previously swam a comparable distance was in 1904, when an
880-yard event was held.
After Finke’s performance here, the
U.S. now has a bona fide men’s distance star.
“I hope a lot of younger kids get
inspired and come up here and kick some butt too,” he said.
Following the whirlwind week of
racing in Tokyo, the U.S. swimmers are now quickly heading home, owing to the
strict requirements intended to limit the spread of COVID-19. Some peace and
quiet will be a welcome change for Finke, after months of intense prep for
these Olympics.
“I’m just looking forward to taking
my dog Brewster to a park and walking around,” he said of the family’s beloved
German Shepard-Golden Retriever mix. “I haven’t been able to do that since
Christmas break. So I’m just really looking forward to that.”
Chrös McDougall
Chrös McDougall has covered the Olympic
and Paralympic Movement for TeamUSA.org since 2009 on behalf of Red Line
Editorial, Inc. He is based in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Peggy Shinn contributed to
this report.
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