Floridian Finke took down Sun Yang's 12-year 1,500m world record as he retained the gold medal in the lung-busting event before the American women smashed their previous world mark for gold in the medley relay. The golds saw the Americans finish with eight at the top of the swimming medal table, one more than second-placed Australia whose ambitions of ruling the Olympic pool for the first time since Melbourne 1956 were quashed. It was by no means an American shutout, though, with the US men's medley relay team suffering their first defeat ever at Olympics meets dating back to the 1960 Rome Games in a febrile atmosphere at La Defense Arena. “I feel like for a team USA, the expectation is gold,” said Dressel who swam the third butterfly leg of the relay. “That's traditionally what we strive for and I don't think that changes any Olympic cycle.
