Bobby Finke’s Finishing Kick Brings Home Silver This Time In The 800-Meter Freestyle
by Peggy Shinn
NANTERRE, France — When he swims distance freestyle races, Bobby Finke is known for coming from behind, a hunter catching his prey. But since he won a gold medal in the Olympic debut of the men’s 800-meter freestyle three years ago, the hunter has become the hunted.
At the Olympic Games Paris 2024, a brash bespectacled Irish swimmer held off the hunter. Daniel Wiffen took over the lead midway through the race and then held on, hoping he had enough of a lead on Finke to hold him off.
He did — by just over a half-second. Wiffen won Ireland’s first Olympic gold medal in the pool, while Finke’s kick put him in silver medal position. As he had done in Tokyo, Finke passed 2020 Olympic silver medalist Gregorio Paltrinieri (Italy) in the final 50 meters, but this time Finke took silver and the Italian bronze.
“I like winning,” said Finke with a smile. “So you know, it really sucks not to win. But I really did the best I could, and I’ve got to be proud of that even though if it's not a gold. But you know, it's over. It's nothing to be disappointed in.”
Finke’s time of 3:38.75 was more than three seconds faster than his winning time at the Tokyo Olympic Games. It would have broken the Olympic record had Finke not been swimming against Wiffen. The Irishman shaved more than three seconds off the old Olympic standard with his time of 7:38.19.
So how has Finke, 24, handled going from hunter at the 2020 Olympic Games to the hunted at the Paris Games?
“It’s fun,” he said after the 800. “It's not really a position I thought I'd be in one day.”
Three years ago, Finke made the U.S. Olympic Team as a relative unknown — a swimmer from the University of Florida who had won the mile at NCAA championships that year. At the Tokyo Games, he did not consider himself a medal contender until he qualified third in the inaugural men’s 800, making the final. Then in the final, he did not think he could win an Olympic gold medal until the last 10 meters of the race. In the final lap, he moved from fifth to first.
He repeated the feat a few days later in the 1,500 freestyle, bringing home another Olympic gold medal. Between Finke’s and Katie Ledecky’s many Olympic and world championship medals, distance freestyle was suddenly back on the radar.
After the Tokyo Games, Finke returned to Florida to finish his undergraduate degree in construction management. But now he realized that swimming was his job — a job that he had to balance with classes. His schedule was often so busy that he did not have time to go to the dining hall, instead packing himself lunches.
“I felt like I was in elementary school again,” he quipped earlier this year.
The work paid off. At 2022 world championships, Finke proved that his Olympic medals were no fluke. He won the 800 again and took silver in the 1,500. In 2023, as younger swimmers began to study the Finke Finish, he ceded the 800 title but still remained on the podium (third in the 800), and he lowered the American record to 7:38.67. In the 1,500, he won another silver.
Coming to Paris, Finke aimed to defend his Olympic gold in the 800 (and in the upcoming 1,500 too) but knew it would be tough. Wiffen, 23, is the reigning world champion in the 800 free and has won every distance freestyle he has entered this year. And Paltrinieri, 29, is a multiple Olympic medalist, including gold in the 1,500 at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Before the Olympic 800, coach Anthony Nesty (Olympic and Florida Gator coach) reminded Finke that the competition has been training to beat him since the last Olympic Games.
“I kind of took that to heart,” said Finke, but in a good way. “I was like, oh, that's kind of nice. It was something to take with me as I tried to build my confidence and feel good in this race.”
Finke started the 800 slowly, swimming in fifth place for the first half of the race. But Wiffen made it clear who he was watching.
“[In the last 150 meters], I was literally looking at Bobby Finke, that was all I was doing,” Wiffen said. “This guy comes back the fastest, well, not the fastest anymore. … I was dying the last 20 meters.”
The three medalists — Wiffen, Finke, and Paltrinieri — have in fact been watching each other for years. As a kid, Finke remembers watching the Italian compete in the 2012 London Olympic Games. And Wiffen watched both Finke and Paltrinieri at the Tokyo Games, where the Irish swimmer finished 14th in the 800 and 20th in the 1,500. Now Finke and Paltinieri watch Wiffen’s popular vlog.
“Sometimes I use it to motivate me in practice, just seeing what he's doing and how he's approaching training and the records he wants to break,” Finke said.
With the gold in the 800, Wiffen will be the hunted in the 1,500 (heats on August 3, final on August 4), and perhaps Finke can, well, out fink him.
“I'm personally looking forward to just racing these guys again in [the 1,500],” said Finke. “I think we can do some pretty incredible things. Just seeing how today was, I think we can maybe push the boundaries.”
An award-winning freelance writer based in Vermont, Peggy Shinn is in Paris covering her eighth Olympic Games. She has contributed to TeamUSA.org since its inception in 2008.