Alyssa Anderson earns gold in London
Reporter: Jason Barr, Sports Director
TUCSON (Arizona Athletics) - Women’s swimmer Alyssa Anderson earned a gold medal Wednesday as part of the United States’ victorious 4x200-meter freestyle relay team.
Anderson, a native of Granite Bay, Calif., swam in the preliminary round, qualifying the U.S. for Wednesday evening’s final. She swam the third leg, posting a split time of 1:57.33 as the Americans won heat two in a time of 7:50.75.
The U.S. relay team – Missy Franklin, Dana Vollmer, Shannon Vreeland and Allison Schmitt – captured the gold medal by setting a new Olympic record of 7:42.92 to win by 1.49 seconds over Australia.
France earned a bronze medal with a time of 7:47.49.
A 16-time All-American during her collegiate career (2008-12), Anderson was a 2012 team captain and was the co-recipient of the Ruby Award, given annually to Arizona’s outstanding female athlete. Anderson will receive a gold medal due to her participation in the preliminaries. She joins men’s swimmer Nick Thoman as former Wildcats who have won medals at the 2012 London Olympics. Thoman claimed a silver medal in Monday’s 100-meter backstroke. It is the 24th gold medal claimed by Arizona athletes all-time in Olympic competition.
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