RIO DE JANEIRO — The United States won a silver medal in the women’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay on Saturday night with an unexpected anchor.
Katie Ledecky did not have to wait long to get her second Olympics started. Four years ago, she sat for six days watching her teammates compete at the London Games as she waited for her turn on swimming’s grandest stage. Her first, and only, event, the 800-meter freestyle, was contested on the seventh day of the eight-day competition. Ledecky showed up at every session to cheer on her teammates so she could, in her words, “feel like I was making an impact.