Japan’s golden girl Rikako Ikee stormed to a record sixth Asian Games swimming title on Friday, marking a handful of other firsts for good measure.
Japan and China finished with 19 swimming gold medals each after a titanic struggle over six days, with the Japanese shading the overall medal count by 52 to 50.
But Ikee stole the show by edging the 50m freestyle sprint by a fingertip from China’s Liu Xiang, clocking 24.53 seconds to become the first woman in any sport to scoop six gold medals at a single Games.
The 18-year-old allowed herself a rare display of emotion, raising a fist as she soaked up the applause of her besotted Japanese fans before shedding a few tears as the enormity of her achievement sank in.
“I really hate losing, I probably won that more through sheer willpower,” said Ikee, who had already snaffled gold in the 50m fly, 100m fly, 100m free, 4x100m free and the 4x100m medley.
“The last few minutes hurt but I was just focusing on the touch and luckily I hung on. I used pretty much every last drop of energy.”
Ikee, who is poised to be the face of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in her home city, finished with eight medals in total – also a joint record.
North Korea shooter So Gin Man pocketed seven gold medals and eight overall in 1982.
“I’ve felt physically broken at times here,” confessed Ikee. “But I told myself it’s a state of mind and I was happy to finish strong.
“I’m very proud of that,” she added. “The key will be how to convert this performance into more gold medals at the world championships and the Tokyo Olympics.”
With AFP inputs