Gretchen Walsh Keeps Brave Face While Gold Snatched Away by Torri Huske

The drum rolled around Paris LA Defense Arena again and went louder as the American swimmers hunted in pairs! This time, the women’s 100m butterfly event came under attack as Torri Huske and Gretchen Walsh claimed the gold and silver medals in the final of the Paris Olympics. Again, the final front in the distance stood to be the difference, as Huske’s final 10m blitz found no answer from Gretchen Walsh. 

Ultimately, she took 55.59 seconds to keep Gretchen Walsh from getting the gold medal. The latter just stopped 0.04 seconds behind. Notably, last night the UVA swimmer set the Olympic record in the event while confirming her place in the final. She also boasts of having the world record in the same event. However, in the post-race conversation, the 21-year-old cheered the achievement of her and Torri Huske in the same breath. She noted, “I am just happy that we’re both going to be 1-2 USA on the podium today.”

The radiant faces continued to amaze as, on the podium, both Torri and Gretchen were seen hugging each other with the medals around their necks. This bonding between them helped the pair win an Olympic medal just one night ago. 

Yesterday, in the women’s 4x100m free relay event, Gretchen Walsh joined her UVA mate Kate Douglass to give the American squad a taste of the Olympic medal in Paris. Meanwhile, Torri Huske played a similarly important role in that relay team by recording the fastest split. Ultimately, the squad clinched the silver medal, defeating the Zhang Yufei-starring Chinese relay squad. Today, the 26-year-old Chinese swimmer appeared against the American duo again in the 100m butterfly event. But she had to satisfy herself with the bronze medal. Notably, Zhang Yufei won the silver medal at the same event three years ago, in Tokyo. She did her best to keep Torri Huske out of the medal run on that occasion. 

Meanwhile, Torri missed the podium by a whisker (in fact, 0.01 second) in Tokyo. She left the arena with a promise to stand again. Now, after three years, she has the smile with two Olympic medals in two days, while Gretchen Walsh has appeared in the scene, being the perfect accomplice. 

In the US Olympic trials last month, she broke the world record, replacing Sarah Sjostrom’s timing. Now, her rank behind Torri equals the duo’s feat in the 1984 Olympics, when last time the 1-2 ranks went in the American grab in the women’s 100m butterfly event. Today, Torri Huske and Gretchen Walsh replaced the names Mary T. Meagher and Jenna Leigh Johnson. The achievement felt special for the junior Walsh sister, as she mentioned in the post-match conversation, “It’s really, really cool. I mean, I feel like just the crowd has been amazing.” But today her defeat to Torri has come as sweet revenge after the US Olympic trials. 

Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske complete a full circle with their achievements  

Just 40 days ago, both Torri Huske and Gretchen Walsh had to face each other in the 100m butterfly final in the US Olympic swimming trials. The fight seemed to be a mammoth challenge for the former, as Gretchen had entered the final, claiming the world record in the semifinal. However, she could register 55.52 seconds in front of the UVA swimmer’s 55.31, claiming the second rank. Yet Torri’s entry into the final berth couldn’t take firm ground despite being the runner-up because of several conditions. But her mindset remained defiant. 

In proving her stand after the trials final, the 21-year-old said, “I had a talk with my confidence coach today, and we were just saying, all I have to do is execute. And that’s what I was and have been telling myself this entire time. And it’s really, we say, nothing more, nothing less, just execute.” Eventually, the mindful execution kept her in the fight that evening at Lucas Oil Stadium. Today as well, the execution has done the job for her. Gretchen Walsh feels contained by this achievement of her teammate. Let’s cheer this bonding and expect it to give a few more such memorable neck-to-neck contests in the pool.