Perdue Adds to UVa's Olympic Gold Medal Count

Updated: Wed 10:31 PM, Aug 01, 2012

Lauren Perdue's journey back from back surgery has ended with an Olympic gold medal.

Perdue, a rising senior on the Virginia swimming and diving team, was a member of the US 4x200-meter freestyle relay team that won the gold medal on Wednesday. Perdue swam the lead leg of the American relay team that had the best time in Wednesday's prelims.

“What an unbelievable night," Perdue said afterward. "I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to contribute to a gold medal relay today. The relay tonight was phenomenal. It was so exciting being able to cheer them on tonight and sharing the ultimate prize, an Olympic gold medal, with all six girls! Each one of us has worked incredibly hard for this moment and I could not be more proud of my USA teammates.”

Perdue bounced back from back surgery in March to make the US Olympic team with a fourth-place finish in the 200-meter freestyle at the US Olympic trials last month.

Perdue and teammates Shannon Vreeland, Alyssa Anderson and Dana Vollmer won the prelims with a time of 7:50.75, exactly two seconds faster than Italy's time. The team of Missy Franklin, Vollmer, Vreeland, and Allison Schmitt set a new Olympic record in the finals, winning the event in a time of 7:42.92.

Perdue is the fourth Cavalier all-time to win an Olympic swimming gold medal, and the second in as many days. On Tuesday, former Virginia swimmer Matt McLean won gold as part of the US men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay team.

Taylor Promoted to Double-A Jackson

The comments sections of Newsplex.com are designed for thoughtful, intelligent conversation and debate. We want to hear from our viewers, but we only ask that you use your best judgment. E-mail is required, but will not be displayed with comment.

Comments cannot be profane or vulgar. We will not post comments that use profanity or cross the lines of good taste.

We will not post comments that use hate speech. Slurs, stereotypes and violent talk aren’t welcome on our website.

Comments should not attack other readers or people featured in our stories personally. Any accusations should be backed up with facts.

Any comment we post will be posted in its entirety. We do not edit any comment that we post.

Comments should contribute to the discussion. We will not post comments that don't advance the discussion. Flaming and/or trolling will not be tolerated.

Comments should not attack other posters. Let's keep the focus on the content of the story.

As a host Newsplex.com welcomes a wide spectrum of opinions. However this is a site that we host. We have a responsibility to all our readers to try to keep our comment section fair and decent. For that reason The Newsplex reserves the right to not post or to remove any comment.

If you have any ideas to improve the conversation or this section let us know. Send an e-mail to webmaster@newsplex.com.

Sports Video

Tweets by @CBS19Sports