Arizona swimmer Alyssa Anderson, competing for Team USA in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay team won a gold medal today at the London Olympics.
Anderson swam in the preliminary round last night, which qualified Team USA for the final. The U.S. relay team made up of Missy Franklin, Dana Vollmer, Shannon Vreeland and Allison Schmitt set an Olympic record of 7:42.92 to beat Australia. Because Anderson participated in the preliminary round, she was eligible to receive the medal.
She and men’s swimmer Nick Thoman are both former Wildcats that have won medals at the UA, raising Arizona’s all time medal count to 24.
In today’s other Olympic action, Darian Townsend, competing for South Africa did not advance to the finals in the 200-meter Individual Medley after posting a time of 2:00.67 in heat three of the preliminaries.
Clark Burckle, in the U.S. 200-Meter Breaststroke Olympic Final finished sixth posting a time of 2:09.25. He finished less than two seconds behind Daniel Gyurta of Hungary, the gold-medal-winner.