Jul. 26—It’s a good thing Bowe Becker decided to come out of retirement. Less than a year after hopping back into the pool for good, the 24-year-old Becker is an Olympic champion.
On Sunday night (or Monday afternoon in Tokyo), Becker won a gold medal as a part of the 4×100-meter freestyle relay team. He swam the third leg of the race alongside Team USA star Caeleb Dressel, Blake Pieroni and Zach Apple, who anchored the race.
Though it was Dressel who got the relay team out to a fast start, and Pieroni who helped keep things close, it was Becker who put the U.S. in position win. He finished his leg of the race in 47.44 seconds, giving Apple some open water to pull away from the rest of the field.
LIVE: Watch the #TokyoOlympics 4x100m freestyle relay final right here on Twitter! https://t.co/jNmHInfaiJ
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) July 26, 2021
This has been a long time coming for Becker. He had a stellar collegiate career with the Gophers, most notably finishing as the runner-up in the 100-yard freestyle at the 2019 NCAA Championships. He was also a three-time Big Ten champion in freestyle sprint events.
“We could not be happier for Bowe and his teammates,” Gophers swimming and diving coach Kelly Kremer said in a release. “That was a huge swim for him, for the U.S., and certainly for Minnesota and our program!”
Asked last week about making the Team USA roster, Becker responded, “It’s awesome. It’s a feeling I can’t really express with words alone.”
It’s safe to assume he’s still speechless.