Santa Rosa swimmer Maya DiRado begins quest for Olympic gold

Maya DiRado's first, and perhaps best, chance at a gold medal comes Saturday at Olympic Aquatic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

DiRado, the Santa Rosa native and Mario Carrillo High School graduate, will swim a preliminary heat of the 400-meter individual medley sometime in the morning. If she is among the eight fastest women in the heats, she will claim a lane in the 400 IM final, which is scheduled for 6:49 p.m.

DiRado, 23, was the top American qualifier in three events, the 200 and 400 IMs and the 200-meter backstroke. According to a psych sheet posted by Swimming World Magazine, DiRado enters the Summer Games ranked second in the world in the 400 IM behind Hungarian champion Katinka Hosszu. DiRado's best time in the event this year was 4.31.71; Hosszu's was 4:29.89. The rivals know one another well. In addition to international competition, they swam against one another for two years in the Pac-12, when DiRado was at Stanford and Hosszu at USC.

Saturday's program begins a grueling week that has DiRado scheduled to compete on at least five of seven days. That could turn into six days if she swims the 4x200 freestyle relay Wednesday; she is currently an alternate.

This is DiRado's first Olympic appearance and, in all probability, her last. She has announced that she will retire after the Rio Games to work for a management consulting firm.