Katie Hoff is collecting Olympic medals — just not in the color she expected.
With five individual events on her Beijing schedule, Hoff was expected to be the female Michael Phelps and produce similarly golden results, as the star from Rodgers Forge is 2-for-2 in gold medal races.
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Hoff has medaled in her first two events, but neither were gold. She won a bronze in the 400-meter individual medley on Sunday, where she went in as the world recordholder, and added a silver in the 400 freestyle on Monday.
“If I keep climbing at this pace, I’ll be happy,” Hoff said.
Stephanie Rice of Australia beat her in the 400 individual medley with a time that was nearly two seconds faster than Hoff’s world record from the U.S. Olympic Trials.
“I was trying,” she said. “I didn’t have it at the end.”
Hoff was again denied Monday when Rebecca Adlington of Britain rallied during the final 50 meters for the win.
“I was a little disappointed — I was so close,” Hoff said. “I thought I had a shot all the way to the wall.”
Hoff’s schedule is packed, with three more individual events and a relay remaining. Hoff, however, has no room for error if she’s to match Amy Van Dyken’s record of four gold medals, set in 1996.
“It’s definitely tough, especially the last two days,” she said. “I had two races where I had to be in the top eight, where everybody was racing hard in the preliminaries. At this point, I take one race at a time. You can’t think about the next until you get there.”
But Hoff finished Monday by qualifying fourth for the 200-meter freestyle semifinals, touching in 1:57.20.
Earlier, Hoff was second-quickest in the 200 individual medley preliminaries in 2:11.58, trailing Alicia Coutts of Australia, who finished in 2:11.55.
“I feel good. I’m glad it’s over,” Hoff said. “Tomorrow is just semifinals and then I’m backing off.”
And maybe the relaxed approach will reap golden results.
“I feel like I have less pressure now,” she said. “I already have two medals.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
