While Michael Phelps was wrapping up his record eight medals and the United States men's basketball team was proving it is no longer a world power, one of Madison's own, UW senior swimmer Carly Piper, helped lead the 800-meter free relay to a gold medal and world record.
\It still hasn't sunk in yet,"" Piper told The Capital Times. ""It's a great feeling, kind of unexplainable. I can't say I wasn't nervous, but I tried to turn that nervousness into excitement. I just wanted to swim a good race.""
The U.S. relay finished with a time of 7:53.42, defeating second place China by 2.55 and third place Germany by 3.93. Piper and teammates Natalie Coughlin, Dana Vollmer and Kaitlin Sandeno smashed the previous world record held by East Germany by over two seconds.
Piper made Badger history in becoming the first female UW swimmer to compete in the Olympics. She also became the first UW female athlete to win a medal since 1984.
The UW senior won a spot on the relay team after swimming well in the prelims with a time of 1:59.37. Later that same night she swam the second leg with a nearly identical time of 1:59.39 in helping propel the U.S. to its gold medal.
""I knew if I performed well in the morning, I had a chance to make the team at night,"" Piper said. ""Once that decision was made, I just wanted to race.""
Piper returns for her senior season this year on the UW campus and looks to repeat her success of last year. A captain last season, Piper was honored with three all-American selections and won her third-straight Big Ten title in the 1,650 meter freestyle and 500 meter freestyle.
