RIO DE JANEIRO - American Madeline Dirado won 200m backstroke Olympic gold in 2min 5.99sec on Friday to deny Hungary's Katinka Hosszu a slice of swimming history.

Hosszu took silver in 2:06.05 - falling just short of her attempt to equal the women's record of four individual swimming golds at a single Games.

East Germany's Kristin Otto remains the only swimmer to have accomplished that feat, winning four solo and two relay golds at the 1988 Seoul Games.

Canadian Hilary Caldwell won bronze in 2:07.54 at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.

Earlier this week, Hosszu won the 400m individual medley in world-record time, the 100m backstroke, and the 200m IM in a Games record time.

"I just tried to throw my body back to the wall," Dirado said of the finish, touching home 0.06sec ahead of Hosszu. "I actually found my nail popped out. I broke my nail on the finish, I hit the wall so hard. That's all you can do, I guess."