Fans of Team USA now know what fans of the University of Virginia swimming team have known for years: Kate Douglass is a bona-fide star.
The 15-time NCAA champion with the Cavaliers can now add Olympic gold medalist to her résumé after winning the women’s 200m breaststroke at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Douglass touched in 2:19.24, lowering her own American record and beating Tokyo gold medalist Tatjana Smith (née Schoenmaker) by 0.36 seconds. Tes Schouten of the Netherlands took bronze, while five-time Olympic medalist Lilly King finished 8th in the final individual event of her storied Olympic career.
Douglass Achieves a Longtime Goal
“I feel like this was a long time coming,” Douglass, 23, told NBC’s Melissa Stark after the race. “I feel like I was physically ready for this race. Just what I’ve done in practice these last few months leading up to this week, I knew if I executed that race well, I would win it.”
It’s a first career Olympic gold for the Pelham, New York native, and her third medal overall. Douglass took bronze in the 200m IM in her Olympic debut in Tokyo, then added silver earlier in Paris as part of the U.S. women’s 4x100m freestyle relay.
Douglass will attempt to double her gold medal tally Saturday when she swims the final of the 200m IM, her last individual event of the Paris Games.
The Race
South Africa’s star swimmer Tatjana Smith moved right behind Douglass in the final lap to finish with silver in 2:19.60. The Netherlands’ Tes Schouten earned bronze with a time of 2:21.05.
Douglass had a strong start and found an early advantage over Smith with strong turns. Going into the third lap, Smith gained on Douglass, but Douglass quickly retook the lead on the final lap, holding off Smith to win Olympic gold.
A Big Win For Team USA
This marks a first Olympic gold for Douglass to add to the silver she earned earlier at these Games in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay. Douglass has one more individual event to come, the 200m individual medley, the event for which she earned a bronze medal at Tokyo 2020.
Douglass shared her plan going into Thursday's competition. “I knew if I went a best time and went the American record, that would probably win the race. So that was the plan,” she said. “I could see on the turn where I was, so I kicked it into high gear. I couldn't tell if she was going to catch me.
“I was trying to say calm and collected. The [200m] breast, I pretty easily can stay relaxed before it, because I have a specific race plan and I know that if I stick to that I know it is probably going to go pretty well.”
Douglass said of her gold medal win:, “I'm really excited. For a while I wasn't sure if Olympic champion was going to be possible for me to say. And now it's really exciting to see it happen.”
Tatjana Smith’s Retirement
Smith, who picked up her second Games medal after clinching gold in the 100m breaststroke, confirmed her retirement following the competition.
“I think I'm a very fortunate athlete. I think a lot of people dream and hope to get what I have but, for me, it was never about the medals,” she said. “It’s always just trying to challenge myself, push myself, and that race was exactly that. It’s pushing and that fight and that competitiveness.
“That was an amazing race, so to end it off with a silver, but with a fight. That’s the best way to end it.”
Smith finished sharing that she hasn't given up on the Olympic spirit. “You'll probably see me at the next Olympics, but on the staff,” she said. “I would love to just experience that as a spectator.”
Schouten Wins First Olympic Medal
Schouten is only the second swimmer from The Netherlands to make an Olympic final in the 200m breaststroke. She was rewarded with her first Olympic medal.
Schouten was still in shock as she spoke to reporters following the competition, saying, “It feels a bit unreal. I don't really know how to explain it. I am happy and I am really shocked. I don't think it has really kicked in as yet. I feel a little weird, I can't wait for the ceremony, and then I think everything will kick in. I will see my parents and coach, and then it will start to feel real. I am like, did this really happen or is it a dream?”
Lilly King's Last Individual Event
This also marks the final individual event for three-time Team USA Olympian Lilly King, who finished in eighth and had previously announced that she won't be making an Olympic bid for LA 2028.
Douglass’ Gold Medal a Relief for Team USA
The 22-year-old Douglass won Thursday's race with a time of 2:19.24 — less than a half-second faster than silver medalist Tatjana Smith, of South Africa. Smith had been the reigning Olympic champion in the event
Douglass now has medals of every color: She was part of the 4x100 freestyle relay for Team USA that finished second earlier in the week, and she also has a bronze from the 200m individual medley from the Tokyo Olympics.
Team USA teammate Lilly King also competed in the event, but finished eighth.
Douglass swam for the Chelsea Piers Athletic Club in Stamford, Connecticut, from 2017 to 2019.
Douglass will once again be racing in the 200m individual medley, looking to once again grab a medal like she did in Tokyo. Her first heat for that event is scheduled for 5:30 a.m. Friday and the semifinals after 3 p.m., should she advance.
If Douglass reaches the finals, that will take place on Saturday at 3 p.m.
The first heat will be streaming on Peacock and will also be available at the link here.
Douglass’ Victory the Result of Hard Work and Dedication
PARIS — Team Silver needed a golden girl, and here came Kate the Great Douglass to the rescue.
Understated in temperament, underrated in toughness, impeccable in technique, Douglass was the hero America wanted and needed in the pool at these Paris Olympics. Her long-gliding breaststroke is so gorgeous that it looks effortless and might even feel that way at times—“It’s kind of just relaxing sometimes,” she said—but winning the 200-meter breaststroke Thursday was hardly soft stuff.
Douglass walked clear-eyed into an alley fight with South African Tatjana Smith, the reigning gold medalist in the event and the winner in the 100 breast earlier this week. She walked away with a victory by .36 seconds, breaking her own American record and giving Team USA a jolt of adrenaline.
The top step of the medal podium has been a difficult place for the traditionally dominant U.S. swimmers to reach in Paris, with just three gold medals through the first five days of swimming competition. A fistful of silver (10 of them in swimming at the moment) is a fine accomplishment, but the U.S. is accustomed to doing a little better than fine. The bar has been set extremely high by previous generations.
The men’s 400 freestyle relay cleared the bar on the first night. Torri Huske surprisingly sailed over it in the 100 butterfly. Katie Ledecky soared past it for the eighth time in her legendary career in the 1,500 freestyle. But that was it.
A number of close races went the wrong way, and the Greatness Roadblock created by Frenchman Léon Marchand, Canadian Summer McIntosh and a whole host of Aussie women kept the “Star Spangled Banner” out of heavy rotation at La Défense Arena. They were keeping the cowbell quiet, to the delight of Aussie trash talker Cate Campbell.
Very few of the results were particularly shocking to people who were paying attention before the Olympics. This was always going to be a tough battle against an improving world. But America’s inability to hit some of the customary high notes created angst at home.
This was angst that Douglass and her teammates have tried to tune out.
“That’s sort of all the outside noise,” she said. “The mood is great, the vibes are great. We’re very proud of ourselves and proud of how we’ve done.”
Whether Douglass felt it or not, a lot of pent-up American enthusiasm was riding on her in this event. But she’s been handling increasing expectations with poise all year, since first breaking the American record in the 200 breast in January.
USA Swimming put her larger-than-life face on the side of Lucas Oil Stadium for Olympic Trials—not Ledecky, not Caeleb Dressel, but the 22-year-old with a single Olympic bronze medal to her name. That was a lot to live up to. Douglass handled that with aplomb, winning three events in Indianapolis to back up the billing.
The ultra-versatile Douglass chose to drop the 100 freestyle from her program here—in part because she wanted to pour her focus into the 200 breast and 200 individual medley (which starts Friday), plus a full relay load.
“That’s part of the reason why I dropped the 100 free, because winning the 200 breaststroke has been a goal for a few months now,” she said.
She tends to achieve her goals. Douglass’ career ascension has been extraordinary but orderly, a steady build that took her to college stardom and a breakthrough Olympic bid to Tokyo and then eventually to this big role.
She’s “definitely a numbers person,” with a degree in statistics from Virginia, and her approach to excelling at the 200 breaststroke has been numbers-based. She routinely counts her strokes per lap in practice (“kind of subconsciously”) and has found with coach Todd DeSorbo that when she can swim a 200 breaststroke in 2:19, the stroke count is the same.
She hit the stroke count Thursday night, edging away from Smith in the final 50 meters and then holding on through the final strokes. The result was a new best time (and new American record) of 2:19.24.
And clearly, swimming best times has been a difficult trick here in Paris. The Slow Pool discussion has sucked up a lot of oxygen as some big names have crashed and burned. But Douglass was impervious to all of that here, an outlier in performance.
If she can roll another best time in the 200 IM—or even come close to it—she will be in the medal mix again. Winning will be difficult with McIntosh and Australia’s Kaylee McKeown in play, not to mention American teammate Alex Walsh. But Douglass’ quiet strength is dangerous to underestimate.
She kept a stoic face on the medal stand during the national anthem but did allow herself plenty of smiles on the medal walk around the arena. That included a big embrace with her parents, Allison and William, and two younger siblings, Abby and Will. And then there were the gangs of friends from the family’s hometown of Pelham, N.Y., and Virginia. Douglass got to see a lot of them briefly on her way out to the arena before her race.
“I had probably 50-plus people in the stands cheering for me, [it] was just a great comfort, and I wanted to give them a show,” she said.
Kate the Great Douglass delivered the show. And delivered a gold medal the U.S. very much needed.
