University of Georgia Athletics
Bentz Sets School History With Olympic Gold
August 09, 2016 | Swimming & Diving
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil --- Gunnar Bentz made Georgia history as he earned a gold medal as a member of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay at the Olympics on Tuesday.
Bentz became the first Georgia male swimmer ever to win an Olympic gold medal on Tuesday. Bentz is just the second male swimming medalist in school history, joining Chase Kalisz, who earned a silver in the 400-meter individual medley on Sunday.
Georgia swimming now boasts 11 gold medalists all-time at the Games. As a school, Georgia has 14 athletes with 23 gold medals in swimming, track and basketball.
Bentz, a rising junior for the Bulldogs, swam in the preliminaries Tuesday afternoon. And while he did not compete in the finals Tuesday evening, he earned the gold by virtue of that foursome’s effort.
Bentz swam the third leg of the relay, which also included Clark Smith, John Conger and Ryan Lochte, during prelims. The quintet touched in 7:04.75 for the second-fastest time in prelims, trailing only Great Britain’s 7:06.31.
In the evening session, Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas, Lochte and Michael Phelps won in 7:00.66, easily outdistancing Great Britain’s 7:03.13.
The Americans have won gold in the relay in four straight Olympics.
Melanie Margalis of the United States just missed out an Olympic medal as she took fourth in the 200-meter individual medley. Margalis, whose Georgia career ended in 2014, got to the wall in 2:09.21. Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu was first in an Olympic record 2:06.58, followed by Siobhan-Marie O’Connor of Great Britain (2:06.88) and Maya DiRado of the United States (2:08.79).
In the women’s 200-meter butterfly, Hali Flickinger qualified for Wednesday’s final with the sixth-best time of 2:07.02. Flickinger capped her Georgia career in 2016 by helping the Lady Bulldogs win the NCAA title for the third time in four seasons.
Players Mentioned
