Team USA | Bobby Finke’s Finishing Kick Brings Home Silver This Time In The 800-Meter Freestyle

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 14^th in the 800 and 20^th 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.