Cody Miller finally achieved his Olympic dream, winning a bronze medal for Team USA in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke.
The IU alum and first-time Olympian swam a time of 58.87, besting his semifinal time of 59.05 by 0.18 seconds and the previous American record for the event by 0.07 seconds.
He's the first Hoosier swimmer to medal for Team USA in 40 years.
“So happy,” Miller said in a post-race interview with NBC. “I have been dreaming about this since I was a little kid. You never really think it could happen until it happens.”
Miller beat out fellow American Kevin Cordes for the bronze, and finished behind South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh, who won silver with a time of 58.69, and Great Britain’s Adam Peaty, who swam a world record time of 57.13 to win gold.
Peaty told NBC post-race that Miller was one of the reasons he pushed so hard to win the race.
On the women’s side, Lilly King, who will be a sophomore at IU this fall, set herself up well for a run at a medal Monday night.
King won the second semifinal heat in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:05.70 to qualify first for the final, besting Russia’s Yulia Efimova’s time in the first heat by 0.02 seconds.
King’s response to Efimova competing in Rio will add intrigue come race time. King wagged her finger at a monitor showing Efimova celebrating her semifinal time, and after finishing her own swim was asked to explain the action.
“You’re shaking your finger No. 1,” King said, referencing what she watched Efimova do in the pool after Efimova finished her race, “and you’ve been caught for drug cheating. I’m just not a fan.”
King went on to say she was going to go and swim hard for Team USA in the final, where she’ll be accompanied by fellow American Katie Meili, who qualified fifth.
Blake Pieroni, who will be a junior this fall at IU, also swam for Team USA today. Pieroni swam the third leg of the 4x100 freestyle relay team that qualified Team USA for the final. Although he did not swim in the final, he will also receive a gold medal after the Phelps-led group out-paced France and others to win the race.
Jordan Guskey
