Pernille Blume, who quit swimming after being told she was too short, on Saturday gave Denmark its first gold in the Olympic pool in 68 years with a surprise win in the 50m freestyle.
Despite going into the final as the fastest qualifier, the 22-year-old was not considered the favorite, because she had primarily been a relay swimmer.
However, she won her first individual title — Denmark’s first gold in Rio — in grand style, getting her hands on the wall first after a blanket finish.
She made a flying start off the blocks and held on grimly in the final few meters to win the single-lap sprint in a time of 24.07 seconds.
Blume became just the third Danish woman to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming and the first since Greta Andersen won the 100m freestyle and Karen Harup took the 100m backstroke at London in 1948.
Standing 1.71m tall, Blume briefly gave up the sport after being told she was not tall enough to succeed in her favorite event.
“I enjoy swimming the 50m free, it’s so much fun, but I’d always been told I’m too small to be a 50m free swimmer and I should probably be a 200m swimmer,” Blume said.
“So I had to take a break from all this and just figure out how I wanted things to go. If I was going to spend so much time doing this, I was going to enjoy it so that’s why I came back,” she added.
The US’ Simone Manuel, who dead-heated for gold in Thursday’s 100m final and won a second gold in the medley relay, collected the silver, just 0.02 seconds behind Blume.
“The 50m free is a work in progress for me, but just coming off the 100m I was pretty confident that hopefully I can get a medal,” Manuel said. “I was super excited with second pace and a best time, I couldn’t really have asked for any better.”
Bronze went to Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belarus, who was swimming from the outside lane. A silver medalist in both the 50m and 100m in London four years ago, she was just a further 0.02 seconds behind Manuel.
“I wanted the gold. It was so close. It wasn’t even about who was faster or stronger, but who had more luck,” Herasimenia said
Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands, who won the sprint double in London, came sixth, while Australia’s Campbell sisters both missed out.
Cate Campbell, favorite for the 50m and 100m, finished fifth, while her sister, Bronte Campbell, the world champion over both distances, was seventh.
“It wasn’t my dream night, but that’s OK,” Bronte said. “This has been a good learning experience.”
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