BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Three-time Olympic champion Katinka Hosszu of Hungary, one of the greatest all-around swimmers, has announced her retirement.
Known as the “Iron Lady” of swimming for her gruelling repertoire of events, the 35-year-old Hosszu competed at five Olympic Games. She was only 15 when she made her Olympic debut at the 2004 Athens Games.
Hosszu won her three individual gold medals in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, in the 100-meter backstroke, as well as her signature 200 and 400 individual medleys. She added a silver medal in the 200 backstroke.
She also won nine individual world titles in the long course pool dating to 2009 and still holds the long course 200 individual medley world record. She won 17 golds in the world short course championships.
“For thirty years, the water has been my home, a sanctuary where I found solace and strength,” she said in an Instagram post.
“From the moment I first stepped foot in the pool as a child, I knew I had discovered something magical. The cool embrace of the water was like coming home, a place where gravity ceased to exist, and each stroke brought me closer to my dreams.
“Now, as I look back on my career, I feel a sense of immense fulfillment. Medals and records are precious, but what remains most deeply is my undying love for swimming.”
AP swimming: https://apnews.com/tag/swimming
FILE - Hungary's Katinka Hosszu celebrates after winning the gold medal in the women's 400-meter individual medley final during the swimming competitions of the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, July 30, 2017. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)
FILE - Hungary's Katinka Hosszu waves after winning a semifinal of the women's 200-meter backstroke during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza's Health Ministry said Thursday, with no end in sight to the 15-month conflict.
The ministry said a total of 46,006 Palestinians have been killed and 109,378 wounded. It has said women and children make up more than half the fatalities, but does not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians.
The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. It says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants operate in residential areas. Israel has also repeatedly struck what it claims are militants hiding in shelters and hospitals, often killing women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza. Israeli authorities believe at least a third of them were killed in the initial attack or have died in captivity.
The war has flattened large areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its 2.3 million people, with many forced to flee multiple times. Hundreds of thousands are packed into sprawling tent camps along the coast with limited access to food and other essentials.
In recent weeks, Israel and Hamas have appeared to inch closer to an agreement for a ceasefire and the release of hostages. But the indirect talks mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt have repeatedly stalled over the past year, and major obstacles remain.
“What we are living is not a life. Nobody could bear the situation we’re experiencing for a single day,” Munawar al-Bik, a displaced woman, told The Associated Press in an interview this week.
“We wake up at night to the sounds of men crying, because of the bad situation,” she said. “The situation is unbearable. We have no energy left: we want it to end today.”
Al-Bik spoke on a dusty road in the southern city of Khan Younis next to a destroyed building. Behind her, a sea of makeshift tents filled with displaced families stretched into the distance.
On Thursday, dozens of people took part in funeral prayers outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah for people killed in Israeli strikes the day before.
In the hospital morgue, a man could be seen kneeling and bidding farewell to a relative before slamming a refrigerator door in an outburst of grief.
Palestinian health officials said Israeli airstrikes killed at least nine people in Gaza on Wednesday, including three infants — among them a 1-week-old — and two women.
Khaled reported from Cairo.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, as seen from Sderot, southern Israel, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
