NANTERRE – Less than an hour after American swimmer Alex Walsh was disqualified and lost a bronze medal, her younger sister Gretchen won gold and helped the U.S. relay team set a world record.
Talk about the highest of highs and lowest of lows on the Olympic stage for the tight-knit family from Nashville, Tennessee.
“I’m just devastated,” Gretchen Walsh said. “I think that Alex deserves so much, she’s worked so hard and I don’t really know how to put that into words it’s really sad, but I know that she’ll be back and better than ever.”
Alex Walsh finished third in the women’s 200-meter individual medley, in position for bronze before a review canceled out her result.
She was disqualified for not completing the backstroke leg of her race on her back and turning too soon, according to World Aquatics. Alex walked through the mixed zone after her event at La Defense Arena on the second-to-last night of swimming without speaking to reporters.
Not long after, Gretchen was part of U.S. 4×100 mixed relay team. They won gold and broke the world record in an event that debuted at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
She clasped hands with Torri Huske on her left and Nic Fink on her right and joined backstroke star Ryan Murphy on the same medal stand that Alex had missed out on earlier.
They finished in 3 minutes, 37.43 seconds, .12 ahead of China. That finish also went under review before becoming official. When it did, Murphy threw both arms into the air to celebrate.
The Walshes have accomplished so much together. Just this past spring, they led the University of Virginia to its fourth straight NCAA swimming and diving championship.
Gretchen Walsh had watched her sister’s race then decided to swim one more 50-meter to warm down ahead of her own event.
“I was really happy for her when I saw she touched third. I was thrilled that she was on the podium, and then I did one more 50 of warm down and then it was a DQ,” she said. “So I was just stopped in the middle of the pool like so upset, I don’t really know how to describe it. But yeah I knew that I was going to have to move on from that quickly in the moment, give her a big hug, tell her that I’m here for her and then go out and do this in her honor.”
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