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Olympic swimming results 2016: Madeline Dirado wins gold in women’s 200m backstroke

The US star swam past Katinka Hosszú from Hungary in the race’s final moments.

Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports

Madeline Dirado pulled off a miracle. Trailing until the final stroke of the race, she overcame gold-medal favorite Katinka Hosszú of Hungary to win the women’s 200-meter backstroke in shocking fashion. Dirado dove with her last stroke in the final moment to finish in 2:05.99, just 0.06 seconds ahead of Hosszú.

Hosszú took second to win her fourth medal -- the first three were gold. Hilary Caldwell of Canada won Bronze.

The gold was Dirado’s fourth medal of the games -- she already had one of each color. She had won gold in the women’s 4x200m relay with Katie Ledecky, and silver and bronze in the 400m and 200m individual medleys, respectively. With this latest win, Dirado added yet again to the already impressive medal haul of the US swim team -- the women have been especially impressive in the pool.

Hosszú had already won the 100m backstroke, and the 400m and 200m individual medleys. However, she didn’t have enough to win gold one last time thanks to a heroic swim from Dirado.

* * *

Simone Manuel wins historic gold medal

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