From Inspiration to Teammate, Erin Gemmell and Katie Ledecky Add Olympic Chapter to Bond

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

From Inspiration to Teammate, Erin Gemmell and Katie Ledecky Add Olympic Chapter to Bond

The pictures went viral for the first time last summer, when the tenor of their relationship irrevocably changed. There was Erin Gemmell, 7 years old, dressed for Halloween like Katie Ledecky, still only 16 but already a gold medalist from the London Olympics.

The dynamic between them has shifted from idol and fan to something closer to mentor and mentee. But it’s also grown to include comfort for Gemmell, perhaps more than you’d expected when competing against your hero, when she’s in the pool alongside Ledecky.

“I’ve said to my dad a couple times over the course of this meet and over the years that I really enjoy swimming next to Katie in an individual 200 free,” Gemmell said this week. “I’m comfortable there. I know what she’s going to do, and I know what I’m going to do. Being on a relay with her, it just makes it feel a lot less daunting.”

The swimmers who hail from the same high school are also getting used to being on relays together. For the second straight summer, they’ll chase gold with the U.S. in a major international meet, in the 800 free relay at the Paris Olympics.

Ledecky won the 200 free at U.S. Olympic Trials this week, going 1:55.22. Fourth was Gemmell in 1:56.75. While Ledecky expects to drop the individual event for Paris, she and Gemmell will swim in the same relay, possibly with one another in the final.

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That’s how it played out at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Gemmell leading off in the final and handing off to Ledecky to swim a team-best 1:54.39. Gemmell’s 1:55.97 out front was third among the leadoff legs. The Americans won silver, nearly four seconds behind the indefatigable Australians.

The Aussies remain a favorite for gold in Paris, but Ledecky has retained a focus on the 200 mainly for this relay, though it falls at the lower end of her swimming range.

“It’s something that I’m always fired up for, and it’s why I keep swimming the 200,” said Ledecky, who has an unbroken decade on the American relays dating back to 2013. “I want to continue to be ready for that relay, push the other girls individually to try to get our team faster, and I know we want to really put up a great showing and we have such a great history in that relay that I think we’re really motivated to get the victory in that relay.”

Part of that is swimming with people like Gemmell. Gemmell is the younger brother of Andrew Gemmell, one of Ledecky’s former training partners and an Olympian. Ledecky swam at Nation’s Capital Aquatic Club for Bruce Gemmell, Erin’s father.

Erin Gemmell long idolized Ledecky upon moving to the Bethesda area.

“I definitely was terrified of her,” Gemmell said. “I just know that I was welcomed immediately as the coach’s cute little kid and everyone wanted me around, which I can’t believe they did. …

“I was definitely an annoying child. But I think she was just so welcoming to a little 7-year-old fan, and when I think about it, and she was only a sophomore in high school at the time. I think if someone had acted like that towards me when I was a sophomore in high school, I would have been really weirded out. But she was kind and welcoming with all of it.”

“It’s really special,” Ledecky said. “I’ve known Erin since she was seven years old, just starting out in the sport. To see how far she’s come was such a special moment and I think something I’ll never forget.”

Ledecky and Gemmell both attended Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda. They were separated by eight years, Ledecky in the class of 2015 and Gemmell in 2023. (In between was Tokyo Olympian Phoebe Bacon, a 2019 graduate).

Ledecky’s influence on Gemmell has been huge. But it’s also so tangible. And in Paris, it will remain so.

“I don’t think I would really be here if it weren’t for her,” Gemmell said. “I think it’s really special to be able to be that close to someone who is so inspirational, getting to see the day-to-day work that they put in. It makes it seem more achievable in a way being so close. It makes them seem a lot more human.

“It’s just really showed me that if I put my mind to it, I could eventually reach that point.”

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