Olympic Mini Feature: Katie Ledecky Chasing More History; Medals Record Within Reach
When Katie Ledecky was 15 years old, she earned a surprising win in the 800 freestyle at the U.S. Olympic Trials. One month later, she became an Olympic champion for the first time, upsetting defending champion Rebecca Adlington in the 800 free in London. The following year, she scored her first three world titles and first two world records in the 800 and 1500 free, adding the 400-meter global standard to her collection one year after that. The greatest performance of her career came at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, when she became only the second swimmer to sweep the 200, 400 and 800 free at a single Olympics while setting stunning world records in the 400 and 800.
During the latter half of her career, Ledecky has no longer been unbeatable in the shorter distances, with Australia’s Ariarne Titmus and Canada’s Summer McIntosh both surpassing her in the 400 free. Ledecky no longer competes in the 200 free at international competitions, although she consistently provides the fastest split in the U.S. women’s 800 free relay. She has captured 16 individual world titles, with her win in the 800 free last year, making her the first ever to win six consecutive world titles in one event.
At last month’s U.S. Olympic Trials, Ledecky earned another hard-fought title—four-time Olympian—with victories in the 200, 400, 800 and 1500 free. She is only the fifth U.S. female swimmer to secure that honor, joining Jill Sterkel, Dara Torres, Jenny Thompson, Amanda Beard and Allison Schmitt.
Next up is Paris, where Ledecky is a medal favorite in the 400 free (although gold would be a huge challenge, considering the presence of Titmus and McIntosh) as well as the 800 and 1500 free. Australia is favored in the 800 free relay, but Ledecky and her teammates should be able to win a medal. Achievement of the expected results would bring Ledecky higher on the all-time medal and gold-medal lists.
No U.S. woman has won more than 12 Olympic medals in her career, with Thompson, Torres and Natalie Coughlin all sitting at that threshold. Ledecky currently has 10 and is poised to blast ahead in Paris. Her seven gold medals sit one behind Thompson’s eight for most by an American woman in any sport. Michael Phelps is the all-time leader for Olympic gold with 23, but the second-place total is nine, shared by Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis, Larisa Latynina and Paavo Nurmi. Two more gold medals will allow Ledecky to equal those Olympic legends.
And she will pursue a fourth consecutive gold medal in the 800 free, unprecedented for a female swimmer. There are only three women ever to complete the three-peat: Dawn Fraser in the 100 freestyle (1956, 1960 and 1964), Krisztina Egerszegi in the 200 backstroke (1998, 1992 and 1996) and Ledecky in the 800 free (2012, 2016 and 2021). Phelps is the only male to do so—in the 200 IM (2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016) and 100 butterfly (2004, 2008 and 2012). If Ledecky can hold off the field in the 800 free, she will join Phelps as the only swimmers overall to win four.
However, Ledecky insisted that the pursuit of history and bolstering her already-secured status of greatest female swimmer ever is not the source of her motivation. Instead, she focuses on times, splits and technical improvements, even if those specific goals will likely yield the historic medal counts.
The reason Ledecky is in position to reach such impressive medal totals in Paris is her continuous effort to make small improvements over years, even after years of swimming at the sport’s highest level without any true down periods. Between the Olympics, World Championships and Pan Pacific Championships, Ledecky has competed at 11 major international competitions and finished with at least one gold medal at every single one.
“I think it’s a testament to the people that I have around me, the people that I’ve had around me my whole career in Bethesda, Md., out at Stanford and now in Florida—just really great communities that keep me excited about the sport, great teammates that push me every day, great coaches that believe in me and push me to continue to reach for bigger and bigger goals,” Ledecky said.
“That’s why I’ve been able to be consistent, and I pride myself on that consistency. I challenge myself to stay consistent. Sometimes it can be tough feeling like you’re not having a breakthrough, but to be really consistent is something that I’m really happy with.
“I’ve learned to enjoy each day of training, take in every moment and just appreciate the fact that I’ve been able to have this long of a career, stay injury-free, stay healthy, be able to do this this many years.”