Olympic swimmer Michael Andrew has a major reason to be proud. All of his hard work and years of dedication to the sport have finally paid off. Michael won his first Olympic medal as part of the men’s 4×100 meter medley relay race representing Team USA. Digital Journal has the recap.
Men’s 4×100 meter medley relay lineup
For the medley relay final, Michael [Andrew] was joined by teammates Ryan Murphy on the backstroke, Caeleb Dressel on the butterfly, and Zach Apple on the freestyle legs. Mathematically and logically, this was the most promising lineup to help secure a medal for Team USA on the podium.
After many weak and questionable relay choices this week by the coaches for Team USA (ex: 4×100 mixed medley relay and the men’s 4×200 meter relay lineups for instance), it is safe to say that the coaches got the men’s 4×100 meter medley relay right this time. All four men (Murphy, Andrew, Dressel, and Apple) earned their spots in this competitive medley relay final.
Fortunately, that proved to be the case since this year Team USA was the underdog with Great Britain being the favorites, and Team USA had to swim from Lane 1. Team USA obliterated the world record with a time of 3:26.78, leaving Great Britain in second place with 3:27.51.
Michael Andrew is the American Record holder in the men’s 100 meter breaststroke
Most importantly, Michael proved that he deserved to be in that final lineup for the relay. First and foremost, Michael is the American Record holder in the men’s 100 meter breaststroke event, which he shattered twice at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, clocking times of 58.19 seconds and 58.14 seconds respectively.
Teammate Andrew Wilson was chosen to swim the 4×100 meter medley prelims with a time of 59.20 seconds, and rightfully so. As a result, Michael was the obvious choice (mathematically and logically) for the final leg.
Earlier in the week, Michael swam the 100 meter breaststroke heats faster than Andrew Wilson (58.62 seconds vs. 59.03 seconds), and the same holds true for the semifinals (58.99 seconds vs. 59.18 seconds) and the finals (58.84 seconds vs. Wilson’s 58.99 seconds). Michael was consistently under the 59 second-mark throughout the entire week and since the Olympic Trials in Omaha.
At the Tokyo Olympic Games, Michael finished in fourth place in the men’s 100 meter breaststroke final, whereas Andrew Wilson tied for sixth place with Chinese swimmer Yan Zibei.
First-time Olympian Nic Fink failed to make the men’s 100 meter breastroke race since he finished in third place at the Olympic Trials in Omaha behind Michael Andrew and Andrew Wilson, and even though he swam the 200 meter breaststroke, he came in fifth place in the 200 meter breaststroke final with a time of 2:07.93 behind Anton Chupkov (4th place), Matti Mattsson (3rd place), Arno Kamminga (2nd place), Zac Stubblety-Cook (1st place), all of which finished ahead of Fink.
Michael Andrew is one of the most diverse American Olympians that swims all strokes well
With a heavy schedule at the Tokyo Olympic Games, Andrew finished in fifth place in the men’s 200 meter individual medley (IM) event, in addition to his fourth place finishes in the men’s 50 meter freestyle final and the men’s 100 meter breaststroke final.
Prior to the 200 meter IM final race at the Olympics, Michael had the fastest time in the world this year (1:55.26), and he was consistently below the world record pace in the first 150 meters of the 200 meter final.
4×100 meter medley relay final
Michael proved everybody right, and he swam the breaststroke leg of the men’s 4×100 meter medley final with a split of 58.49 seconds. This was the fastest American breaststroke split in Olympic swimming history, which is very remarkable.
A few moments prior, Michael just finished in fourth place in the men’s 50 meter freestyle final, where his teammate Caeleb Dressel claimed the gold medal and Olympic record for Team USA. Both Dressel and Michael joked that it was a “good warmup” for the medley relay final.
Once again, congratulations to Michael Andrew and the entire Team USA men’s lineup for winning their well-deserved gold medal in the men’s 4×100 meter medley relay final. Michael truly is one of the hardest working, consistent, bold, brave, tenacious, and most resilient swimmers out there, and it is great that he finally got his Olympic due in the sport with a coveted gold medal to add to his mantel of awards and accolades.
Aside from Michael Andrew, Ryan Murphy, Caeleb Dressel, and Zach Apple, this gold medal lineup includes such Olympic swimmers as Hunter Armstrong, Andrew Wilson, Tom Shields, and Blake Pieroni, all of which swam in the preliminaries and helped secure Team USA a spot in the final (not to take anything away from them and their accomplishments).
To learn more about Olympic gold medalist swimmer Michael Andrew, follow him on Instagram.
