Her dominance in swimming’s distance events is astounding. Twelve years after she qualified for her first Olympic Games and won her first gold medal, Ledecky, 27, is now going to her fourth Olympics, becoming only the ninth American swimmer to qualify for that many.
She swam one event at those Games in London as a 15-year-old, the 800 freestyle. She will swim four in Paris: the 400, 800 and 1,500 freestyle, and the 4×200 freestyle relay. She is favored to win gold in the 800 and 1,500, perhaps bronze in the 400, and likely silver with the U.S. team in the relay.
Some might ask why Ledecky, a seven-time Olympic gold medalist, is still swimming, why she goes through the grueling workouts day after day, week after week, month after month, her head in the water, her eyes mostly looking at the bottom of the pool.
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The answer is simple: She can’t get enough of it.
“Really, I think if there were no competitions I would love the sport just as much, because I really do love going to the pool every day, being with my teammates, joking with them, pushing myself, the lessons that I’ve learned through the sport, through the water, of getting through the hard days,” she said in a recent interview.
“Swimming is 50-51 weeks out of the year, there really are very few breaks, it does take a level of dedication to do this sport and to get to that level that I’ve been able to get to. I feel like I love it almost more and more every year, probably for different reasons, in different environments, and I see myself swimming for many, many years, even beyond my competitive days. It’s such a great form of exercise, it’s a great life skill, I love it.”
And swimming loves her back. She makes her sport so much better: she is a revered role model, a coveted pitch-woman for all sorts of products, a staunch anti-doping advocate and a New York Times bestselling author for her recently published memoir, “Just Add Water.”
While she prefers to talk about her teammates and opponents rather than herself, the spotlight always finds her: She still can be the only person in the picture on the TV screen as she plows through the water in her especially long races, the 800 and 1,500 freestyle. Those screenshots went viral at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games as Ledecky lapped the field. It happened again at the 2024 U.S. Olympic trials in Indianapolis. It’s not likely to occur in Paris, but one never knows.
Through it all, there is a matter-of-factness in her words and actions that is refreshing and reassuring.
“I know my competition,” she said as the U.S. trials ended. “I know where I’m at. I know what I need to do. I have a pretty good feel for what I’m capable of doing. I’m just going to stay focused on that, stay focused on my process and I am just as excited going into these Games as I have been the past three and that’s the most important thing and that’s what I think always brings out the performances within me.”
If Ledecky wins the 800 freestyle in Paris, she will be the first woman ever to four-peat in a swimming event at the Olympics, winning in 2012, 2016, 2021 and 2024. Michael Phelps is the only other person to do it, in the men’s 200 individual medley from 2004-2016.
Her reaction to this possibility was vintage Ledecky.
“I was like, wait, I would? These things kind of go in one ear and out the other. I had thought that there were maybe a few others, but I think I’m getting it confused with the three-peat in Tokyo with a few others,” she said with a smile and a shrug.
“These things, I hear them, I see them — but I don’t really focus on them. I just stay focused on my own goals, my goals are very time focused and splits focused and technically focused. The rest is what it is and you guys (journalists) can write about it, and you guys can focus on it, but personally I’m just going to stay focused on my own goals.”
It’s always rather bizarre when some people question why a veteran athlete who is on top of her game is still competing rather than retiring to do who knows what, but it happens, especially in Olympic sports, and Ledecky has heard those questions. Her answer back has been loud and clear for years: She’s not going anywhere. No matter what happens in Paris, she plans to keep swimming toward the next Olympics, a ‘home game’ in Los Angeles in 2028.
The early mornings, the excruciating practices, the monotony of going back and forth, the head-under-the-water part — Ledecky is all in for all of it, still.
“This is always my favorite time,” she said as the U.S. trials ended and Paris beckoned, “just trying to learn from the trials meet and get better, and I love when we come together as a team and train together and get the best out of each other.”
It’s hard to imagine what more Ledecky can get out of her incredible talent and drive, but we’re about to find out.