Indiana Alumna Lilly King Earns Her Third Olympic Gold Medal

A look at how Hoosiers fared in the Olympics over the weekend

Aug 4, 2024; Nanterre, France; Regan Smith (USA) Lilly King (USA), Gretchen Walsh (USA) and Torri Huske (USA) in the women’s 4 x 100-meter medley relay medal ceremony during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Paris La Défense Arena. Mandatory Credit: Grace Hollars-USA TODAY Sports / Grace Hollars-USA TODAY Sports

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – From the time she made her Olympic debut in 2016 to her final Olympic Games appearance in 2024, Indiana alumna Lilly King has been a consistent presence on the medal stand in swimming.

On Sunday, she wowed her fans again.

King was part of the gold medal-winning women’s 4x100 medley relay team at La Défense Arena in Paris. The relay team turned in a world-record time of 3 minutes, 49.63 seconds.

King’s leg of 1:04.90 helped the effort as she swam in the first half of the relay.

King, who competed at Indiana from 2015-19, is a three-time gold medalist and six-time overall medalist in the Olympics. King’s other gold medals came in 2016 when she won gold in the 100 breaststroke and was part of the 4x100 medley relay team.

The gold medal won by the 4x100 medley relay team helped the United States edge Australia 8-7 in swimming gold medals.

King has said that this will be her last Olympic Games.

The Evansville native was a four-time NCAA champion in the 100 breaststroke at Indiana, the first woman in Big Ten history to win four-straight titles in any NCAA swimming event. She won eight NCAA title overall with the Hoosiers.

Here is a further look at how current or former Indiana athletes did at the Olympics over the weekend:

Swimming

- Kai van Westering was part of the Dutch 4x100 men’s medley relay team that finished eighth on Sunday. The Indiana senior-to-be swam the first leg for the Netherlands in the event. China won the gold with the United States earning a silver medal.

He was also part of the mixed 4x100 medley relay team, though not in the final. He swam the first leg in the qualifying heat as van Westering helped the Dutch finish fourth.

- Junior Indiana swimmer Zalan Sárkány finished 11th in the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle on Saturday. Representing Hungary, he also placed 14th in the 400 free and 800 free earlier in the Olympics. Sárkány is transferring to Indiana from Arizona State and will compete for the Hoosiers next season.

- Ching Hwee Gan, a senior next season at Indiana, finished 11th in the women’s 800 freestyle on Friday. Her time of 8:32.37 set the Singapore national record. She was also part of the Singaporean 4x100 medley relay team that was unable to advance on Saturday.

- Tomer Frankel, representing Israel, finished 21st in the 100 butterfly on Friday. His time of 51.94 seconds was not enough to advance to the semifinals. Frankel was a first-team All-American for Indiana in six events in 2023.

- Marwan Elkamash, who competed at Indiana in 2017, was entered, but did not start for Egypt in the men’s 1,500 freestyle on Saturday.

Track and field

- Former Indiana sprinter Rikkoi Brathwaite was unable to advance from his 100-meter semifinal on Sunday. Brathwaite’s 10.15-second performance placed him eighth in his nine-man heat. The top two in each heat and the two fastest additional times advanced to the finals.

Brathwaite, who represents the British Virgin Islands, had advanced on Saturday from the first round after he was top three in his heat with a time of 10.13.

Brathwaite competed at Indiana from 2016-22.

Water polo

- Shae La Roche had two goals and an assist for Canada in a 20-11 loss to the Netherlands in a Group A women’s match on Sunday. Jessica Gaudreault had saves in the match.

On Friday, Gaudreault had 10 saves in a 10-7 loss to Australia.

Gaudreault completed her Indiana career in 2018. La Roche graduated from Indiana in 2014.

Canada next plays Spain in a quarterfinal on Tuesday.