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U.S. Notebook: Ending Couldn’t Have Been Written Any Better For Maya DiRado
- Updated: August 17, 2016
A few days have passed since the pool at the Rio Aquatic Centre last saw ripples at the Olympic Games, the most stunning from the United States. Team USA – as has been an historic expectation – dominated the competition, 33 medals and 16 gold medals the final numbers registered. Here is the first of what will be a series of looks at what the Americans pulled off.
Waving Goodbye With Flair: Maya DiRado’s Exit
Going out on top is a difficult chore in the sporting world. Athletes have a tendency to hang on for too long, the last performances of their career not in line with the excellence they’ve achieved in the years prior. Simply, saying goodbye to something that has forever been a regular part of life is not easy to do.
Maya DiRado is leaving the pool in style.
While Michael Phelps put the bow on his illustrious career with a six-medal haul at the Rio Games, DiRado bid farewell in her own fashionable way. The Stanford product not only mined four medals in her Olympic debut, she punctuated her career with a gold medal in the 200 backstroke, an upset of Hungarian Katinka Hosszu landing DiRado on the top step of the podium.
Before the summer, DiRado had already established an end date for her days in the water. With a job in Atlanta with McKinsey & Co. secured, the 23-year-old knew either the United States Olympic Trials or Olympic Games would be her final competition. She extended her run as far as it could go, and got the most out of her last meet.
After opening the meet with a silver medal in the 400 individual medley, DiRado mixed in a bronze medal in the 200 medley, and earned gold as a member of the United States’ victorious 800 freestyle relay. But it was her swan song that was resonated greatest. A big underdog to Hosszu, DiRado put together the finest effort of her career to prevail in 2:05.99, .06 ahead of Hosszu.
At her peak, DiRado could easily continue on for another quadrennial, and have the opportunity to add to her medal collection in Tokyo in 2020. Instead, she’s perfectly at peace with moving on, and is anxious to begin the next chapter of her life.
“They’ve actually been so supportive of my Olympic …
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