Katie Hoff will not win a gold medal.
The promising swimmer from Towson entered the Olympics with the hopes of winning six medals. Instead, she’ll return stateside with one silver and a pair of bronze.
“I feel like I handled it at trials pretty well,” she told reporters after finishing second in the 400-meter freestyle Monday. “You never know what your limits are until you go over them.”
Hoff, 19, failed to advance out of the 800-meter freestyle preliminaries Thursday, after placing third in her heat, but just 11th overall. Hoff touched the wall in a time of 8 minutes, 27.78 seconds, or 8.08 seconds off her personal best time, which she recorded in April. Hoff was considered a gold medal contender in the event, but only the top eight qualifiers advance.
Hoff declined interviews with reporters after the race.
Hoff wasn’t the only American to come up short Thursday. Kate Ziegler failed to come out of the qualifying round of the 800 free as well, finishing tenth, and leaving the two medal hopefuls to watch the final.
“I don’t think many people bet on that,” Ziegler said.
Hoff seemed awestruck as she stared at the scoreboard after the 800 free. And it was almost as if she didn’t want to give in to the idea of going home without gold. She was the last swimmer to exit the pool, after she seemed to struggle in catching her breath after the grueling race.
She has said before she plans to swim in two more Olympics after this year.
Hoff doesn’t return home completely empty-handed. She took silver in the 400-meter freestyle and claimed bronze in the 400-meter individual medley and the 800-meter freestyle relay. She also took fourth in the 200-meter individual medley and the 200-meter freestyle.
“The 400 IM used to be that big thing in my life. Now I feel like with my freestyles and my other events, I’ve spread out what I really focus on,” Hoff said. “The 400 IM has just become another one of my events.”
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
