PARIS — Kate Douglass, a low-key star at the University of Virginia, won gold in the 200-meter breaststroke here at the 2024 Olympics on Thursday.
Douglass, 22, outpaced South Africa’s Tatjana Smith for a record time of 2:19.24 to claim Team USA’s fourth swimming gold at the Games.
Fellow American Lilly King, silver medallist in this race at Tokyo 2021, finished eighth.
Douglass was a bronze medalist in the 200-meter individual medley three years ago.
Her gold was the culmination of a steady, unshowy, years-long rise to the top of swimming. The sport came naturally to her as a teenager, but it never made her a prodigy; it never, until now, made her a household name. “I was always pretty sure that my place wasn’t with the best,” Douglass said recently. “I was a pretty good swimmer, but not one of the best. And … I was happy with that.”
In 2021, she was one of the most outstanding Olympians. “The goal was to get on the team,” she recalls.
When he did that, and got on the podium, his approach to the sport began to change.
She had always been “very fluid and versatile,” as her coach at Virginia, Todd DeSorbo, said. But often, she was the last to realize her talent. “I didn’t know what I was capable of,” DeSorbo explained. As a result, when she hit an absurd time, “there was a little bit of shock,” DeSorbo said.
But over the past three years, her confidence has blossomed and she has continued to improve. She has gained muscle mass and contributed to four consecutive NCAA championships at Virginia.
And he never limited himself to one of the four swimming styles, nor to a variety of distances. He won many combined events. He won medals in freestyle and breaststroke, which require two completely different rhythms and skills. He won them in 200 meters, 100 meters and even 50.
She won her first world championship in 2023, in the 200 medley. She also learned to deal with the spotlight and pressure that came with the season. In 2021, at the Olympics, “I felt like I was going to throw up before (the 200 medley),” she said recently. “Since then, I’ve gotten better at calming my nerves.”
“Now,” she said this spring, “I’m excited to compete.”
She entered the U.S. trials with a strong start, winning all three of her events: the 200-meter medley, 200-meter breaststroke and 100-meter freestyle.
In the end he abandoned the 100 freestyle to focus on the two 200.
And on Thursday, here at the Paris La Défense Arena, he won the first of them.
