For athletes from Maryland, Rio was golden.
It began the first week with swimming, where locals won 12 golds, led by Michael Phelps’ five golds and Katie Ledecky’s four. Allison Schmitt (trained at North Baltimore Aquatic Club), Cierra Runge (trained at NBAC) and Jack Conger (Rockville) added one gold each in relays. Phelps was born in Baltimore and grew up in Rodgers Forge; Ledecky is from Bethesda.
Bel Air’s Chase Kalisz, Phelps, Ledecky and Schmitt also added silver medals the first week.
At 31, Phelps added to his legacy by extending his Olympic career records in most medals won overall (28) and most gold medals (23). He even broke the 2,168-year-old record of Leonidas of Rhodes when he captured his 13th individual Olympic title in the 200 IM.
In the second week, Helen Maroulis of Rockville became the first U.S. women’s wrestler to ever win gold. That was followed by Baltimore’s Angel McCoughtry winning her second career gold Saturday as a member of the women’s basketball team and Broadneck High’s Matt Centrowitz becoming the first American in 108 years to win the 1,500 meters, also on Saturday.
Carmelo Anthony, who was raised in Baltimore, closed out the Olympics Sunday by becoming the first American men’s basketball player to win three gold medals in his career. He was joined on the team by Suitland’s Kevin Durant. Anthony and Durant are now the top leading scorers in U.S. team history.
Woodbine wrestler Kyle Snyder, whose Olympic career is just getting started at age 20, won his first gold medal Sunday in the 97 kg weight class. Team USA volleyball player Aaron Russell of Ellicott City won a bronze medal earlier Sunday morning.
From start to finish in Rio, Maryland athletes dominated their sports, winning 18 golds, four silver medals and one bronze. Including the U.S., which dominated these Olympics, only four countries won as many golds as Maryland. (Sure, state athletes on the same team or relay are double-counted in that stat, but Maryland’s our “country,” so we can have some fun with the numbers.)
