Great Britain Wins Men’s 4 X 200 Relay; U.S. Fails to Medal

In the 1908, Great Britain won the 4 X 200m Men’s Freestyle Relay in the Olympic Games held in London that year. It was a long wait for the next British victory in the event, but finally, they took the Gold for the second time in these Tokyo Games, 113 years later. No British relay squad had won a relay gold since their women’s team won the 4 X 100m in the 1912 games.

The British didn’t come out of nowhere, however. They won silver in the Rio Games in 2016, losing to the U.S. And that brings us to an equally surprising statistic. The U.S. finished 5th in this event, which is the first time ever that an American relay team failed to win a medal of some kind ever in any relay they entered in the Olympics, ending a 94 event winning streak.

On a happier note for the U.S., Katie Ladecky won the gold in the Women’s 1500m Freestyle. It’s the first time the event has been a part of the Olympics. Teammate Erica Sullivan won the silver.