[83], Ledecky collected several end-of-decade honors. [58] Ledecky was also the 2nd most decorated Olympian at the 2016 games behind Michael Phelps (5 golds, 1 silver).[59]. She took silver in her first race of the Games, and then missed out on medaling in the 200 . [54], Ledecky won a second gold in the 200-meter freestyle with a personal best of 1:53.73, beating Sarah Sjstrm by 0.35 seconds. Its a remarkable combination, particularly for someone to be that dominant for so long, which takes so much commitment, while at the same time being so nice and polite and kind.. Swimming the anchor leg, Ledecky erased a 1.2-second deficit going into the final leg of the race, passing Australia's Melanie Schlanger with a 1:54.36 split over the final 200 meters. Genetics? Its a mindset that different to go out as fast as you can without being blatantly reckless.. Four years later, she left Rio de Janeiro as the most decorated female athlete of the 2016 Olympic Games, with four gold medals, one silver medal, and two world records. She doesnt have a central governor like most athletes do, that mind-to-muscle idea that I need to shut down right now. Theres nothing you can throw at her that she cant convince herself that she can do., Lee Sommers, an athletic trainer in Bethesda, Md., who helped prepare Ledecky for Rio. Dinner. Katie Ledecky heads to Tokyo Olympics - The Washington Post She met both. "[18], During the championships' closing ceremonies, Ledecky was named the female swimmer of the meet.[43]. [68] Later that evening, Ledecky swam the third leg of the 4100-meter freestyle. On the fifth day of competition, Ledecky, with Missy Franklin, Leah Smith, and Katie McLaughlin won gold in the 4200-meter freestyle relay. "I fought tooth and nail," Ledecky said. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Ledecky qualified to swim in the final of the 800-meter freestyle by placing third overall in the heats with a time of 8:23.84. Andrew Gemmell, the coachs son who competed at the London Olympics in the 1,500 freestyle, trained with Ledecky in the two years leading up to Rio. [82], For the seventh-straight year, Ledecky finished the year with the top times in the world in both the 800- and 1500-meter freestyle (8:10.70 and 15:35.98). Shes just doing it better than everybody else.. Katie Ledecky Biography, Olympic Medals, Records and Age Critics arent satisfied, Olympic snowboarders accuse USOPC, national federation of sex trafficking in lawsuit, Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier take pairs gold at U.S. [101][102][103], In the morning of day three, Ledecky swam a 1:57.58 in the 200 meter freestyle prelims, ranking second fastest of all heats. Ledecky accepted an athletic scholarship to Stanford University, where she swam for coach Greg Meehan's Stanford Cardinal women's swimming team. At the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis, Ledecky helped lead Stanford to its first team title since 1998. At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, Ledecky battled illness and withdrew from two events before winning her fourth-straight World Championship title in the 800-meter freestyle. Do not let it pass over you., Subscribers get early access to this story. Katie Ledecky's height is 6 feet tall and her body weight is 73 kilograms. When Ledecky isn't training, she doesn't stray much from her . Ledecky opened the Trials with a win and meet record in the 400-meter freestyle (3:58.98). Each month, she sends practice video to Russell Mark, a former rocket scientist who is USA Swimmings national team performance manager. The five-time Olympic gold medalist owns world records in the 400-, 800-, and 1,500-meter freestyles. She reset her American, NCAA, and U.S. Open records in the 800-yard freestyle relay, 500-yard freestyle, and 400-yard freestyle relay and won a meet-best five race titles overall. [112][113][114], Friday June 18, 2021, the sixth day of competition, Ledecky won with a time of 8:16.61 in the prelims heats of the 800-meter freestyle and advanced to the final. She has an unnatural sense of what will happen in the pool call it swimming intelligence thats as impressive to witness as it is difficult to quantify. ", "The graduate: What Katie Ledecky learned at Stanford and how it might make her faster", "2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials (swimming) Women's 800-metre freestyle (final)", "2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials (swimming) Women's 400-metre freestyle (final)", "2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials (swimming) Women's 200 metre freestyle (semifinals)", U.S. Olympic swimming trials: Katie Ledecky breaks Janet Evans's 400 freestyle age group record, "Swimming at the 2012 London Summer Games: Women's 800 metres freestyle round one", "Swimming at the 2012 London Summer Games: Women's 800 metres freestyle final", "Katie Ledecky wins 400 freestyle at world championships", "Katie Ledecky smashes 1500m freestyle world record for a golden double", "15th FINA World Championships Women's 4x200m Freestyle", "Bethesda's Katie Ledecky sets world record in 800-meter freestyle, wins fourth gold medal of world championships", "Driving test looming for Ledecky after Barcelona splash", Janet Evans sees parallels with Katie Ledecky, Katie Ledecky Sets World Record in 1,500-Meter Freestyle, Pan Pacific Championships, Results: Katie Ledecky Trounces Pan Pacs Record in 200 Free, Katie Ledecky Smashes 400 Free World Record, Nearly Clears 3:58! Ledecky, who has broken the 4-minute barrier in the distance 20 times, thought she had been faster. But Katie Ledecky would rather study it at Stanford once the Rio Games are in the past. In her first event, the 400-meter freestyle, Ledecky successfully defended her world title, finishing with a championship record time of 3:58.34. Shes kind of a freak athlete, said Lee Sommers, an athletic trainer in Bethesda, Md., who helped prepare Ledecky for Rio. "She's relatively short (at 5-foot-11) and she doesn't have an excessive wingspan." Nevertheless, Ledecky's arms are long enough to wrap around what could. [46], On the third day of competition during the morning session, Ledecky swam in the heats of the 200-meter freestyle and qualified first with a time of 1:55.82. Shes doing what everybody else does. Katie Ledecky Height, Weight, Measurements, Bra Size, Wiki, Biography 'Gallop' or a 'giddy-up' Once the swimmers emerge from below the surface and. Her strength-to-body mass ratio is probably in the top 98%.. An iron will? Her Czech-born paternal grandfather Jaromr Ledecky arrived in New York City on September 8, 1947, as a student,[10] later becoming an economist, and married an Ashkenazi Jewish woman named Berta Ruth Greenwald (Ledecky's paternal grandmother) in Brooklyn on December 30, 1956, and through her Ledecky has relatives who were killed in the Holocaust in Europe. (Charlie Neibergall / Associated Press) Michael Phelps, the 28-time. That night, Ledecky lowered the record again, setting the first world record ever at the new Gold Coast Aquatic Center with a time of 3:58.37. She also swam in the 100-meter freestyle heats. She was just doing what Jon was saying.. Some said it would never happen. Dwyer topped out at 40 inches. At the academic year's conclusion, the College Sports Information Directors of America named Ledecky the Division I Academic All-America Team Member of the Year for her athletic and academic achievements. Katie Ledecky isn't just an Olympian; she's one of the most gifted athletes in the world. The Untold Truth Of Katie Ledecky. Katie Ledecky owns her time - The Stanford Daily [69], On the third day of competition, Ledecky defended her 1500-meter freestyle title, winning with a time of 15:31.82. Were content to enjoy the gift. She won the 200-, 400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyle races. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. She set the record in the event nine months later in 8:13.36. She keeps logbooks chronicling most of her practices dating to 2011. We dont clamor for such answers while admiring a sopranos voice or an actors ability to make us weep. Competing in both events is rare enough. In between London and Rio, Ledecky quietly became the world's most dominant swimmer no longer just a distance specialist. Ledecky won freestyle golds as a 16-year-old in the 2013 World Championships in the 400m, 800m, 1,500m and the 4x200m, following her first place in the 800m in London 2012. She broke the existing mark by five seconds. Ledecky finished second in the 400-yard individual medley to Eastin, who lowered the record Ledecky set a month earlier at the Pac-12 Championships. Im know Im supposed to be doing this too. [55], Ledecky claimed her third gold in the 4200-meter freestyle relay, with Allison Schmitt, Leah Smith, and Maya DiRado. In the inaugural season of the International Swimming League, Ledecky represented DC Trident. Or perhaps the answer is more basic. Ledecky competes against herself (1:59) U.S. Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky talks to Hannah Storm about how she got started swimming, how she set goals for herself when she was young and how the . Some days she left him absolutely demolished and approached record paces in the middle of exhausting workouts. Katie Grimes, who at 15 finished second in the 1,500-meter freestyle during the swim trials, said, "Maybe I can be just like Katie [Ledecky] one day," after her trials performance. [90], On Thursday May 20, 2021, at the Longhorn Aquatics Elite Invite Ledecky won the long course 100 meter freestyle final by one one-hundredth of a second in a time of 53.82 with second place going to Simone Manuel. He good-naturedly described her competition-like intensity in practice as really annoying. Even years after the sessions, the words carry a mixture of awe and disbelief. This is really impressive. Ledecky concluded the championships with another gold medal in the 1500-meter freestyle, winning by a margin of 21.11-seconds (15:38.97). Ledecky leaves some of the most experienced people in swimming grasping for the secret to her dominance. Her gold was the first international medal of her career, earning her the 2012 Best Female Performance of the Year and Breakout Performer of the Year at the Golden Goggle Awards. However, elite swimmers focus on how to generate propulsion more efficiently.. Katie Ledecky hugs Erica Sullivan after winning the womens 1500 freestyle during the second wave of the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials on June 16 in Omaha, Neb. They swam identical workouts. Thats key to her success. [92] Because training facilities were closed during the pandemic, Ledecky and her colleague Simone Manuel trained for the Olympics in a 25-yard private pool in Atherton, in the backyard of masters swimmer Tod Spieker. In the 400-meter freestyle, Ledecky set her third world record of the year by breaking Federica Pellegrini's 2009 world record of 3:59.15 with a time of 3:58.86. "Katie Ledecky is the student that takes 20 credits a semester at Harvard and gets a 4.0 every semester -- and nobody likes that person," said Elizabeth Beisel, a 2012 Olympic silver and bronze . Katie Ledecky on the brink of Olympic history: How a backyard pool and With the victory, Ledecky became the first swimmer, male or female, to win five consecutive world championship titles in an individual event. [16] Her uncle Jon Ledecky is a businessman and a co-owner of the NHL team New York Islanders. Inside the 24-year-old Katie Ledecky's decision to leave Stanford and join elite training partners and a new coach in Anthony Nesty at the University of Florida, ahead of Paris 2024. You just watch the force that she pulls with and its way, way different., Laguna Beachs Nyjah Huston brings a fierce commitment to training to a rebellious sport, making the skateboarder a star to watch in the Tokyo Olympics. Years later, Gemmell read two items on Ledeckys goal card: break the world record in the 800 freestyle by the following summer and swim 8:10 in the event in Rio. Its a remarkable combination, particularly for someone to be that dominant for so long, which takes so much commitment, while at the same time being so nice and polite and kind., Matt Barbini, USA Swimmings national team performance director. [23], At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska (her first senior national competition), Ledecky made the Olympic team by placing first in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 8:19.78, which was over two seconds ahead of second-place finisher Kate Ziegler. Ledecky won easily in 4 minutes 1.27 seconds, the 43rd-fastest swim ever by a woman. [8], Ledecky was born in Washington, D.C.[1] and raised in the suburb of Bethesda, Maryland,[9] the daughter of Mary Gen (Hagan) and David Ledecky. The usual gap for a world record is as thin as an Olympic medal. Katie Ledecky was born on 17 March 1997 in Washington, DC, United States. But she shows gratitude and appreciation and keeps people coming back to get their heads kicked in.. Ledecky is a 10-time Olympic medalist with seven golds. This is a completely different kind of race, 30 laps of endurance that is part of the womens Olympic program in Tokyo for the first time. The traits, at least individually, arent uncommon in elite swimmers. On the seventh day of competition, Ledecky completed her World Championships run by winning gold in the 800-meter freestyle in a world record time of 8:07.39, breaking her own record by 3.61 seconds.[44]. Katie Ledecky reacts after winning her heat in the Womens 200 Freestyle during the second wave of the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials on June 15 in Omaha, Neb. [108] These two swims secured her spots on the US Olympic Team for the 2020 Summer Olympics in the 1500 meter freestyle and 200 meter freestyle individual events as well as the 4x200 meter freestyle relay. She is the daughter of David Ledecky and Mary Gen Ledecky. Katie just dives in headfirst and really forces you to get the most out of practice. Swimmer Katie Ledecky inspired to 'put a smile on someone's face' as After a year of uncertainty brought on by postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, top U.S. swimmers are ready for some familiarity at the U.S. swim trials. What stood out to me was nothing stood out physically, he said. In the 1650-yard freestyle, Ledecky re-set her NCAA record in the 1000-yard free with a split of 9:05.89 en route to winning by more than 28 seconds. Swimming the anchor leg, Ledecky recorded a split of 1:54.02, and the Americans finished with an aggregate time of 7:43.39. Ledecky recorded a split of 52.64 in the heats. But she acknowledged having the same nerves as any other competitor at the trials and, in all sincerity, said she didnt take making the Tokyo Games for granted. [97][98][99][100] This accomplishment was highlighted by various news outlets including NBC Sports, Newsweek, and USA Today. [93], On the second day, June 14, 2021, Ledecky competed in the prelims of the 400 meter freestyle in the morning, swimming a 4:03.07, ranking 1st out of all prelims heats, and advancing to the final in the evening. The history-making has become so common, so many would-be competitors left so far behind, that expectations, just like the pictures, are larger than life. General swimmers tend to think that if they can just get their arms around faster and kick their legs faster, they can swim faster. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest Olympians and the greatest female swimmer of all time.[5][6]. All of this feeds Ledeckys ability to do things in the pool that arent normal. Coaches, teammates and competitors point to her powerful stroke, legendary training sessions, unusual blend of speed and endurance, and tenacity that is otherworldly. The Untold Truth Of Katie Ledecky - TheList [53], Her first individual event was the 400-meter freestyle. Coming Sunday: Home subscribers will receive the Los Angeles Times 24-page Olympic preview section, your guide to the upcoming Games. Ledecky's final 50-meter split of 29.33 was the second-fastest in the field behind Pellegrini's 29.23.[49]. Ledecky's swim was the seventh-fastest performance in history. Then the windmilling to the other side resumed. [19], In December 2016, Ledecky was chosen as one of the sponsors of the US Navy aircraft carrier USSEnterprise alongside gymnast Simone Biles. Turned out a bigger foe lurked behind him: the pace clock. As a freestyle swimmer, Katie possesses fifteen World gold medals, five Olympic golds, and 14 Pan Pacifics. Nathan Fenno is a sports enterprise reporter for the Los Angeles Times focused on investigations, features and in-depth stories. What makes Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky so remarkable? Notably, in the semifinals the day prior, Ledecky recorded the top time in the semifinals with a time of 1:54.69. One key is obsessive attention to detail. Shes not doing some special strength program that nobody else knows about. The top 11 times. Shes not afraid to fail. Ledecky began the World Championships by winning gold in the 400-meter freestyle in a time of 3:59.13, a new championship record and almost four seconds ahead of her closest competitor. Shes really activating her core and that allows her upper body to connect to her lower body and when you put those two together, it gives her really great timing and great catch, said Elizabeth Nagle, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh who studies aquatic physiology. On the first day of the meet, Ledecky anchored the 800-yard freestyle relay with a 1:40.28 split to break the NCAA, American, and U.S. Open record in the 800-yard freestyle relay with Lia Neal, Katie Drabot, and Ella Eastin. At the 2013 World Championships, Ledecky won gold in the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle, and in the 4200-meter freestyle relay, and set two world records. She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events. It was two big kicks and bilateral breathing. [85] She finished third in the Associated Press's Female Athlete of the Decade voting, behind Serena Williams and Simone Biles. She had a smile that seemed bigger than her diminutive frame, swim cap pulled over her ears and enthusiastic post-race analyses captured on home movies. With three individual titles, Ledecky became the first swimmer to win the 200, 400 and 800 m freestyle at the same Olympics since Debbie Meyer did so in 1968 in Mexico City. Instead, Ledecky has a gift that defies measurement. She became the first swimmer to win a distance event three times in a row, as well as the youngest and oldest person to win the 800 free (at age 15 in 2012 and age 24 in 2021). The girl couldnt make it across the pool. She certainly is.. National Team Director Frank Busch described Ledecky's 1500 performance as "the most impressive race I have ever seen, and I've been in the sport for 50 years. She's blazing a completely different trail than anyone who has come before.
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