Out swimmer wins Olympic gold in swimming marathon

Ana Marcela Cunha has won a gold medal in the women’s 10km marathon swimming event at the Tokyo Olympics. Cunha competes for Team Brazil.

Cunha posted a time of 1:59:30.8 in taking the gold medal.

She previously won world championships at the 25km distance in 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2019. She had never won a world title or Olympic gold at the 10km distance.

She beat Netherlands swimmer Sharon van Rouwendaal by 0.9 seconds, which over the course of an almost two-hour race is infinitesimally small. She was only 4 seconds out of losing out on a medal all together.

This is the seventh gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics for Team LGBTQ, and essentially guarantees that Team LGBTQ will have a top-12 finish in the medal count, if not top-10.

In 2019, Cunha announced her engagement to Brazilian water polo player Diana Abla, who has earned a bronze medal in the Pan American Games.