Swimmer from Mt. Lebanon wins bronze medal in Olympics
Leah Smith of Mt. Lebanon captured the bronze medal in the women’s 400-meter freestyle on Aug. 7 at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The daughter of Margee and Dan Smith finished third in the event, behind American Katie Ledecky and Jazz Carlin of Great Britain. Ledecky broke the world record in 3:56.46. Carlin edged Smith for the silver with a 4:01.23 time. Smith finished in 4:01.92.
Smith is a rising senior at the University of Virginia, and becomes the sixth Cavalier swimmer to earn an Olympic medal and the third to earn an individual medal, joining Wendy Weinberg (bronze in the women’s 800-meter free in 1976) and Ed Moses (silver in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke in 2000).
For Virginia, Smith is a four-time NCAA Champion, winning the 500- and 1,650-yard freestyle events in both 2015 and 2016. She is an 11-time All-American and 10-time ACC Champion.
The Rio Olympics are not Smith’s first international experience. Smith was part of the gold-medal winning American 4-by-200-meter free relay at the 2015 FINA World Championships and 2014 Pan Pacific Championships. She was also part of the winning relay, and captured the 400-meter free at the 2015 World University Games.
An Oakland Catholic High School product, she dominated the scholastic scene earning All-America honors and setting distance standards at the district and state level. She was a multiple WPIAL and PIAA champion during her career.
For Smith, who is accompanied in Rio by her parents and three siblings – Aileen, a standout swimmer at Columbia, and Daniel and Neal – will continue her quest for Olympic gold this week. She is scheduled to compete with the American 4-by-200-meter freestyle relay on Aug. 10. She is also qualified individually in the 800-meter freestyle. Preliminaries for that race begin Aug. 11.