Former Gator Bobby Finke Wins Silver in Paris

The Florida Gators are doing themselves proud in the pool at the Paris Olympics.

Former Florida Gators swimmer Bobby Finke brings home Silver in the Paris Olympics / Grace Hollars-USA TODAY Sports

Make that three medals in three attempts for Florida Gator swimmers. 

Former Gator Bobby Finke (USA) on Tuesday joined Caeleb Dressel (USA) and Emma Weyant (USA) as the third Florida-affiliated swimmer to medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics after winning the silver medal in the 800-meter freestyle. 

Bobby Finke's valiant comeback comes up just short of gold, but he earns SILVER in the 800m free! 💪

📺 NBC & Peacock pic.twitter.com/WeKAUx0G0e

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 30, 2024

Finding himself down over a second behind Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen and Italy’s Gregorio Palitrinieri into the final turn, Finke showed signs of his 2021 performance with a tremendous final leg and passed Palitrinieri to earn silver.

Finke finished with a time of 7:38.75, a half-second behind Wiffen, who set a new Olympic record with a time of 7:38.19.

It’s his third Olympic medal overall and second-straight in this event after winning the gold medal during the 2020 Tokyo games. He also won gold in the 1500-meter freestyle in those games. 

Finke, who attended Florida from 2018-2022, initially advanced to the finals after a 2nd-place overall finish during heat swims, in which he recorded a time of 7:43.

Finke’s performance in Paris continues what has been a dominant career dating back to his time in Gainesville. He won three individual national championships over the course of his collegiate career and was an 11-time All-American. 

In international play, he’s a four-time medalist at the World Aquatics Championships with one gold (800-meter freestyle, 2022), two silvers (1,500-meter freestyle, 2022 and 2023) and one bronze (800-meter freestyle, 2023).

Finke will next compete in the 1,500-meter freestyle, an event he also won gold at in the last Olympics. Heats begin on Aug. 3 at 5:30 a.m. ET with finals for the event on Aug. 4 at 12:36 p.m. ET.