Caldwell comes through with Olympic backstroke bronze in Rio
On the penultimate night of swimming at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Hilary Caldwell made sure Canada found its way to the podium, bringing bronze in the women’s 200 metre backstroke.
RELATED: Canada’s medals at Rio 2016
Canada’s Hilary Caldwell with her bronze medal from winning the bronze medal in the women’s 200-meter backstroke final during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 12, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (COC Photo/Mark Blinch)
In a race that included three-time Rio 2016 Olympic champion Katinka Hosszu of Hungary, Caldwell put Canada in double digits in the medal count, including the sixth Canadian podium in the pool. The winner was Maya Dirado of the U.S., who clocked two minutes and 5.99 seconds to upset Hosszu by 0.06 seconds. Caldwell’s time was 2:07.54.
Canada now stands at two gold, two silver and six bronze over seven days of the Olympic Games. On Friday alone the country received a medal of each colour, with a rowing silver; a trampoline gold and Caldwell’s bronze.
Hilary Caldwell swims the semifinal in Olympic 200m backstroke on August 12, 2016.
There was a time when Canada would win medals regularly in Olympic 200m women’s backstroke, but Caldwell’s is the first in four decades. Last one came via Nancy Garapick‘s bronze medal at Montreal 1976. Prior to that Donna-Marie Gurr (bronze) and Elaine Tanner (silver), each stood on the 200m Olympic backstroke podiums in Munich and Mexico City respectively.
Canada’s six swimming medals in Rio ranks third all time in that sport for the nation at the Olympic Games. Only the boycotted Los Angeles 1984 (10 medals) and the home waters of Montreal 1976, where Canada found eight podiums, saw a more decorated Olympic Canadian swimming squad.
