How America’s Fastest Swimmers Use Math to Win Gold | Quanta Magazine
Number theorist Ken Ono is teaching Olympians to swim more efficiently.
Hasnain says:
This certainly started with a compelling hook.
“So how successful has your program been?
The results speak for themselves. A bunch of our people went to the Olympics in 2021. At the most recent world championships, every female American gold medalist in individual events was a UVA athlete. Kate Douglass showed up here at UVA a few years ago, swimming the 200-meter breaststroke in two minutes and 30 seconds. Now she’s the American record holder, with a time of two minutes, 19.30 seconds. She just broke the U.S. Olympic trials’ all-time record, and she’s a favorite to win the Olympics this year.
Nine UVA athletes, including Kate, just became U.S. Olympians — one-fifth of the U.S. team! Gretchen Walsh won the 100-meter butterfly, setting the world record. Paige Madden got second in the 400-meter freestyle, right after Katie Ledecky; Paige is now a two-time Olympian.”
Posted on 2024-07-14T05:36:11+0000