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All About Swimmer Katie Ledecky's Record-Breaking Performance at the Paris Olympics
The greatest female swimmer of all time joins Michael Phelps as one of the few athletes to win gold in the same event four times.
Katie Ledecky has officially cemented her place in Olympic history.
The 27-year-old swimmer has now won 14 Olympic medals, nine of which are gold. She's also able to claim the title as the most-decorated female Olympic swimmer of all time, as well as the most-decorated female American Olympic athlete across all sports, according to NBC News. In addition, she's the first female athlete to win gold in the same Olympic event four times.
The only other female athlete that can rival Ledecky's nine gold medals is Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, who also racked up nine gold medals in the '50s and '60s.
Throughout the Paris Olympics, Ledecky has won gold in the 400m and 1,500 freestyle, a silver in the 4x200 freestyle relay, and a bronze in the 400 freestyle.
RELATED: What Olympic Swimmer Michael Phelps Has Done Since Making History at the Summer Games
Katie Ledecky's Childhood
Born in 1997 in Washington, D.C., Katie Genevieve Ledecky fell in love with swimming when she was just 6 years old. Nurtured by her mother, who was a collegiate swimmer, as well as her brother Michael, who swam for Harvard, that love for the pool propelled Ledecky into shattering several high school records, earning her a scholarship to Stanford University in the process. Beginning in her early days on the Palisades Porpoises swim team, the growth she achieved through the support of her loving family cannot be overstated.
“I just always enjoyed swimming with him [Michael], and I think that’s how I really found my love of the sport,” Ledecky told WBUR in 2015. “I think if I didn’t have my brother swimming with me, I don’t know if I would have loved it as much as I did and still do.”
While repping red for the Cardinals, she compiled an immaculate career at the prestigious university, netting eight NCAA titles to go along with her 15 NCAA records.
Part of Ledecky’s near superhuman power has always been to find something worthwhile, even during the tough times, that she can focus on and learn from. According to the Olympics site, it’s that type of positivity that she uses to not only motivate and inspire herself, but also the future generations of Olympic swimmers.
“I hope that we will continue to pass that inspiration on to future swimmers,” Ledecky stated on the social media platform X, formerly called Twitter. “I think there are. A lot of champions out there that we can inspire to get into the sport.”
RELATED: Who's on Team USA? Here's a List of the Athletes Qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics
Katie Ledecky Olympic Medals and Achievements
In addition to her plethora of college accolades, which also includes two consecutive Pac-12 Conference Team Championships, and her 21 World Championship titles, freestyle swimmer Katie Ledecky is an Olympic champion at every distance from the 200m, to the 1500m, to the team relays. In total, she has 14 Olympic medals: nine gold, four silver, and a bronze. (A full list of Olympic achievements can be found on the Olympics site.)
Though her 13-year unbeaten streak in the 800m freestyle event – one that planted her atop the podium, per The Guardian, 29 times – was recently broken by 17-year-old Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh, according to Swimming World Magazine, Ledecky’s record of 8:04:79 during the 2016 Games is still nearly seven seconds faster than McIntosh’s 8:11:39. And while Ledecky’s pace may be slowing incrementally, her internal fire to compete still burns as bright as ever.
“I really feed off [my teammates’] energy, and I try to bring my best every day so that I can give them as much as a push as I can,” Ledecky said at the Golden Goggle Awards, per Swimming World Magazine. “Some days, it’s more than others. It’s a great environment, and we’re all working toward similar goals. We work really hard, but we’re having a lot of fun doing it.”
How old was Katie Ledecky in her first Olympics?
Inspired as a child by her mother Mary Gen — who swam at the University of New Mexico and qualified for nationals three times — a 15-year-old Ledecky was on the precipice of making history at her first Olympics, during the 2012 Games in London, England. Ledecky made her first and perhaps biggest splash in the pool after she unexpectedly defeated the reigning world champion Kate Ziegler in the 800m free. With a time of 8:14:63, Ledecky eclipsed the field by nearly four seconds, breaking Janet Evan’s American record of 8:16:22 in the process of capturing her first international and Olympic gold medal in the event. Just a few years into being a teenager, Ledecky’s sensational effort earned her the 2012 Best Female Performance of the Year and Breakout Performer of the Year at the Golden Goggle Awards.
Where is Katie Ledecky now?
The record-smashing Katie Ledecky has joined Michael Phelps in the exclusive club of Olympians who have won four golds in the same event.
Three-time Olympic champion and NBC swimming broadcaster Rowdy Gaines, who has covered Ledecky’s international career since it began more than a decade ago, put her talent and legacy into perspective.
“She is the greatest female swimmer of all-time,” revealed Gaines, per Swimming World Magazine. “When you look at all she has done, it’s unbelievable. No one has shown that kind of dominance. In the longer events, it’s like she’s racing in a different pool. And she’s done it all with such professionalism.”
Originally published Apr 23, 2024.
