Ana Marcela Cunha held her calm despite pressure on the lead and jumping fish in Tokyo Bay to claim her third Olympic gold medal.
M. Cunha Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
On Wednesday, the Brazilian swam 10 kilometres in 1 hour, 59 minutes, 30.8 seconds to win the women’s marathon swimming event.
Nine-tenths of a second separated Cunha and the defending champion, the Dutchwoman Sharon van Rouwendaal. With a time of 1:59:31.7, Van Rouwendaal placed second.
With her time of 1:59:32.5, Kareena Lee won bronze, making Australia the first country to win a medal in the women’s marathon swimming event. One of the fish swam up and struck Lee in the chest.
She Remarked, “At first I was Confused and thought, ‘Whoa.'”
Cunha seemed unfazed by the sea life or the high temperatures. It’s been quite a while since her Olympic debut in Beijing, when she was just 16 years old.
She was wowed by the likes of American Michael Phelps and Kobe Bryant and Brazilian swimming superstar Cesar Cielo, but she still managed to place 10th in the first-ever marathon swimming competition. Cunha finished 10th in Rio de Janeiro five years ago, but he didn’t even make the cut in 2012.
We came here Wanting this Medal as Badly as you do,” She Replied.
I told my coach, ‘I want to win this race so much and I’m so well-prepared that my competitors will have a hard time beating me.’
Haley Anderson of the United States of America placed sixth, and Ashley Twichell of the same country placed seventh.
The first five laps saw Cunha and Twichell trade the lead, with the latter eventually falling to fourth and the former to third.
Twichell, after taking the helm for the first three laps, commented, “That’s where I’m most comfortable swimming.” As I put it, “I felt incredibly strong.”
When the top eight swimmers separated from the rest of the pack on Lap 6, German swimmer Leonie Beck passed Brazilian swimmer Adriana Cunha to take first place. The eight swimmers competed in two parallel groups of four, with the Brazilian quickly grabbing the lead and slapping the overhead timing device to secure victory.
Cunha explained,
“We are Latin people; we are hot, we are emotional people, therefore I had to be really cold psychologically throughout the race to remain focused. It was something for which I had mentally prepared myself.
After emerging from the water, Cunha, who was sporting green and yellow hair (two of the colours of the Brazilian flag), smiled and signalled No. 1.
Cunha placed the medal around her neck, placed the bouquet on the podium, and gave a right hand salute to the flag. At a later time, she cheekily nibbled on her medal.
Even before Van Rouwendaal made her move on Lap 5, she was in the top 10. In the end, she beat out Lee for the bronze medal by swimming faster than her in the final lap.
Since he was the crowd favourite, Van Rouwendaal knew he couldn’t risk swimming in the lead. I was trying to hold down third place when I spotted Ana. It’s easier if she stays in the lead, and then I may possibly return.
At 6:30 in the morning, the first lap of the seven-lap race got underway. in an effort to contend with the extreme heat that has hampered previous Olympic events. In some ways, the cloud cover helped the swimmers.
Anderson Acknowledged the Aided much by the Remark.
In the closing phases of the race, the air temperature was 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius), but the humidity level was 74%, making it feel like 95 degrees (35 C). The temperature of the water was about 84 degrees (29 C), which is below the maximum temperature of 88 degrees (31 degrees C).
Skyscrapers, the Rainbow Bridge, and the Olympic rings floated in the background of the Odaiba Marine Park course in Tokyo Bay.
Black British Olympian swimmer Alice Dearing placed 19th, more almost five and a half minutes behind the victor.
It’s Amazing to Compete at the Olympics, but I’m very Upset.
She proclaimed, “I have more to give than that.” To put it simply, the tempo was too fast for me. I did not anticipate this. Every day I felt like I was falling behind.
Before the Olympics, Dearing made headlines because she wanted to wear a special cap created for women with thick, curly hair.
Since there had never been a situation where swimmers required “caps of such size and shape,” FINA ruled against allowing the cap to be used.
