Olympic Marathon Swimming: America’s Haley Anderson Wins Silver in Women's Marathon Swim London 2012
USA's Haley Anderson came in second at the women's open water marathon on Aug. 9 with 1:57:38.6, barely behind gold medalist, Hungary's Eva Risztov, who clocked in with 1:57:38.2.
She came in strong in first place in the second lap but then fell behind to third place in laps 3-5 before she managed to finish all-around in second place. Italy's Martina Grimaldi came in third.
Risztov won with just the stretch of her hand, reaching the timing pad right before Anderson could. While in London, Risztov will compete in the women's 400-meter freestyle, 800-meter freestyle and 4x100-meter freestyle.
Anderson, 20, is the only U.S women's representative in the 10-kilometer open water competition, swimming for nearly two hours in London's The Serpentine lake. London residents were sad to see British swimmer Keri-Anne Payne come in fourth, unable to give Britain its first swimming gold for the London Olympics.
America holds the most Olympic swimming medals - 489 medals, 214 of which are gold. This year they also received more Olympics medals than any other country competing in the London Games. In the swimming category, from Team USA, Missy Franklin and Allison Schmitt are tied with 5 London Olympics medals each, though Franklin got 4 gold while Schmitt only got 3.
To watch a replay of the swimming marathon, click here.
