Simone Manuel's race delayed because the bus driver got lost
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Simone Manuel’s encore performance to her 100-meter freestyle victory Thursday night was a fourth-place finish in her 50-meter freestyle semifinal, earning her a spot in the final on Saturday. But a lost driver made fans and swimmers wait until almost midnight local time for the race to happen.
The bus taking swimmers from the athletes’ village to the pool was lost for more than an hour, forcing the pair of semifinal races to be pushed back about an half hour. The Olympic Aquatics Stadium is just about a half-mile away from the athletes village, but the confused bus driver instead took the swimmers to the track and field stadium, according to one of the riders on the bus.
[Slideshow: Meet Team USA’s Simone Manuel]
Traffic has been a consistent complaint for those who traveled to Brazil for the Olympics. When Manuel finally dove in the pool on Friday, it was 11:49 p.m. in Rio de Janeiro.
It wasn’t the greatest follow-up to Manuel’s thrilling victory on Thursday, but her 24.44-second sprint was enough to get through to the final on Saturday where she’ll race for another medal.
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