Four years ago, Ridgefield's Kieran Smith won a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle in Tokyo. Yesterday Smith (on the right) and his teammates won silver medals in the 4x200m freestyle relay. They swam to a second-place finish behind Great Britain on Tuesday night. Australia took the bronze.
Kieran Smith learned to swim competitively at Ridgefield Aquatic Center (RAC) and went on to swim at the University of Florida . . . and the Olympics!
Kieran Smith's 1:44.80 anchor leg was the fastest of any of the American swimmers in the final.
Kieran Smith is a hero in Ridgefield and at RAC. My granddaughters both swim three days a week at RAC and look up to Smith. He visits fairly regularly, swims laps, and talks to the young swimmers. The town was already abuzz about having an Olympian from here. The excitement is higher now.
(The store photo is mine. The others are from the television or internet.)
How exciting to have a local Olympic medal winner. There must be a huge town celebration when he returns to Ridgefield.
ReplyDeleteCongrats. Two hours from now Sarah Sjöström will try to win another Olympic gold. I have met her a couple of times. A great athlete.
ReplyDeleteI think I left a comnent here yesterday but maybe it didn't take. Congrats to Kieran. I watched Sarah Sjöström win a gold yesterday, she is now Swedens best swimmer ever.
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