Also inside: One day before Luka Doncic’s debut with Slovenia, Mavericks guard Josh Green got playing time with Australia.
TOKYO — Natalie Hinds and Simone Manuel have at least three things in common.
They are graduates of Texas high schools — Hinds from Midland in 2012 and Manuel from Fort Bend Austin in 2017.
They endured daunting, unexpected hardships before reaching these postponed Olympics.
And as of Sunday morning in Tokyo, they’re bronze medalists in the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay.
The two Texans comprised half the U.S. squad that finished third in 3:32.81, behind Australia (3:29.69) and Canada (3:32.78). Their journeys to Tokyo were anything but conventional.
Hinds retired from swimming in 2016 after a 40th-place finish at the U.S. Olympic trials left her dejected and unmotivated.
Fast forward two years, and she felt inspired to start training again after watching the national championships. Fast forward another three, and 27-year-old Hinds, the third-oldest swimmer on the American team, anchored the preliminary relay heat and swam third in the final, finishing her finals leg in 53.15 seconds.
“I only got an hour’s sleep,” Hinds said of her preparation. “But I just told myself this is honestly such an honor to be on this relay and no matter how much sleep I get, I am going to put my best foot forward.”
Meanwhile, Manuel has been open about her recent bout of overtraining syndrome, which she said has caused her depression, anxiety, loss of appetite and insomnia. She missed qualifying for the 100-meter freestyle during the Olympic trials and didn’t swim in the preliminary relay heat Saturday.
But Manuel anchored the final Sunday to help the Americans finish 0.89 seconds ahead of fourth-place Netherlands.
She and Hinds shared the podium with relay mates Erika Brown and Abbey Weitzeil soon after to cap a day the U.S. won a record six medals at Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
“It doesn’t do me any justice to step up on the blocks and not be confident,” Manuel said. “Even though the last couple of months have not been the greatest for me, I’ve trained really hard the past four-and-a-half, five years. So eventually, that hard work will show up.”
Other Dallas-area results from Day 2
— Mavericks guard Josh Green made his Olympic debut with Australia in an 84-65 win over Nigeria to open pool play. The 20-year-old missed his only field-goal attempt but grabbed two rebounds and two steals in six minutes as a reserve.
Green’s first game in Tokyo served as a prelude to another Maverick’s appearance.
On Monday afternoon in Saitama (late Sunday night in Dallas), Luka Doncic will lead Slovenia against Argentina in the country’s first-ever Olympic basketball game.
While Doncic and Green have bantered about the Olympics on social media, they’re competing in different brackets, so there won’t be a Maverick-versus-Maverick matchup at Saitama Super Arena — about 10 miles north of Tokyo — at least until elimination rounds begin next week.
— The first day of skeet shooting finals included ample Metroplex representation. Keller resident Austen Smith — a 19-year-old first-time Olympian — finished in third place, while Fort Worth resident Vincent Hancock — the gold medalist in 2008 and 2012 — tied for first.
Men’s and women’s skeet shooting finals are scheduled for Monday afternoon at Asaka Shooting Range.
— Texas swimming recruit Lydia Jacoby advanced to the semifinals of the women’s 100 meter breaststroke — with a time just ahead of the event’s reigning Olympic champion. The 17-year-old Jacoby swam her qualifying heat in 1:05.52 seconds, 0.03 faster than American star Lilly King and less than a second behind South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker.
— Wings guard Allisha Gray and the U.S. women’s 3-on-3 basketball team continued to cruise in the sport’s Olympic debut. In their second day of pool play, the Americans dominated Romania and Russia, against which Gray scored a team-high eight points.
— The U.S. women’s volleyball team, which includes Coppell graduate Chiaka Ogbogu, opened Olympic pool play with a 3-0 win over Argentina. The Americans won each set by at least five points.
