Rio Olympics 2016: Katie Ledecky
This year’s Olympics have been quite a show already, with the United States in the lead having the most medals won so far. One sport everyone seems to be particularly interested in is swimming. Many would say it is because it includes watching gold medalist Michael Phelps, but I disagree. I think someone that deserves more recognition for her dominating abilities in the pool is nineteen year old, Katie Ledecky. Ledecky was born in Maryland in 1997, and started swimming competitively when she was only six years old. Swimming ran in her family’s blood, and she decided to start taking it seriously. In 2011 her Coach Yuri Suguiyama, began to see her potential and taught her a new technique that is usually only seen in men’s training. This technique of kicking aggressively led her to conquer her competition the summer before her freshman year of high school at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart. She was able to successfully triumph in the 400-, 800-, and 1,500- meter freestyle events, with seemingly no sweat at all.
The following year, 2012, she celebrated her first huge appearance by attending the London Olympics. This is where she went on to win her first gold medal at the young age of fifteen. The youngest member of the U.S. swim team seemed unchallenged, and surprised many when she won the 800 meter. Her drive only seemed to get stronger in those 2012 games and she went on to beat the twenty-three year old record of Janet Evan finishing with a time of 8:14.63. This is what earned her the gold medal that year, and gave her a name to look out for. Ledecky even stated in an interview afterwards, “I knew if I put my mind to it, I could do it. I wasn’t intimidated at all.”
Four years later, Ledecky is back in the water in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio proving she is still the one to be beat. She started off by individually winning gold in the women’s 400m freestyle, even beating her own personal record by two seconds. She started with a bang once again and even helped lead her team to victory in the women’s 4x100 meter freestyle relay. After winning gold against Swedish swimmer Sarah Sjostrom, Ledecky was shaky. She spoke of how she felt right before she touched the wall, claiming she did not even know she had won. Ledecky’s comments were, “I did come pretty close to throwing up during the last 50. I knew I just needed to get my hand on the wall and be done. Everything was hurting, I just had to dig deep and do my own thing, I had no idea whether I touched first, I was done when I touched the wall. I knew I’d given it everything I had to.”
This year in the 2016 Rio Olympics, she has racked up three gold medals in the 400 meter freestyle, 200 meter freestyle, and the 4x200 meter freestyle relay. Ledecky also received silver in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay with her teammates. She continues to shatter world records and personal records in all major competitions even internationally. Many make comments about her style of swimming and embrace her uniqueness. Ledecky is said to swim with a “gallop” which is the technique her old coach taught her at that young age. She has developed these tools to her own personal style even with the way she breathes. Ledecky only comes up for air on her right side and then hooks with her strong left arm. This style has brought her very far, and she has seemingly perfected it.
The surprising fact she always says is that she swims not to beat her competition, but to better her own records and just improve overall. She once said, ““People always ask, ‘Don’t you feel the pressure?’ And I really don’t feel it. I’ve just always set goals. When I was a kid, I would write them down, and I would work toward them, and that’s still pretty much what I do.” Her new coach, Bruce Gemmell also sees her outstanding attitude towards the sport and has nothing but nice words for her. Gemmell even stated, “She likes to race. She enjoys it. She enjoys getting up at 4 a.m. to practice. It’s the whole package.” Ledecky has really made a name for herself in and out of the pool in the last few years. I believe she will continue to surprise everyone in future competitions and be a positive role model not only athletes, but young girls all over the world. She has proven time and time again, records are meant to be broken and she will be there to celebrate when they are.