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Clearwater’s Bobby Finke charged from behind in the men’s 800-meter freestyle swimming race to capture the gold medal July 29 at the Tokyo Olympics.
Finke was in fourth place after the final turn of the 16-lap race but in a furious burst of speed he overhauled the three competitors ahead of him to beat Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri to the wall by 0.24 seconds.
This race was added to the Olympic program for the first time. Finke’s winning time was 7 minutes, 41.87 seconds.
Finke, who swims for the University of Florida, also came from behind to win the 1,500-meter freestyle race Aug. 1.
– Joe Henderson, The Tampa Bay 100