Katie Ledecky consolidated her status as one of the most excellent swimmers ever. She secured her second Olympic gold medal in the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics and eight Olympic Gold overall.
Katie Ledecky has become the first female swimmer to win gold medals at four different Olympics after retaining her title in the women’s 1500m freestyle with another commanding performance on Wednesday night.
The 27-year-old American, widely regarded as the greatest female distance swimmer of all time, touched first in 15min and 30.02sec, breaking her Olympic record, before a boisterous crowd in the Paris suburbs. France’s Anastasiya Kirpichnikova claimed the silver (15:40.35), while third place went to Germany’s Isabel Gose (15:41.16). The only other swimmer to break 16 minutes was Simona Quadarella of Italy (15:44.05), who faded in a hard-fought duel for the bronze.
Coach’s Role:
American swimming icon Katie Ledecky is one of the most decorated swimming athletes in the world, with ten Olympic medals and 26 world championship titles. The Washington, D.C., native added one more Olympic medal to her kitty at the ongoing Paris Olympics, where she bagged a bronze in the women’s 400m freestyle on Sunday. The 27-year-old is also a heavy favorite for golds in her marquee 800m and 1500m freestyle events.
In a pro career spanning over 12 years, Katie Ledecky worked with many legendary coaching figures like Greg Meehan during her stint at Stanford University before shifting to the University of Florida for Paris Olympics preparations, where Anthony Nesty took over the charge of her coach in 2021, and the two have been working together for three years now.
Reflecting on her performance, Ledecky expressed satisfaction with her time. “I was just thrilled with the time, honestly. In my three swims before this, I kept feeling that the time was a lot slower than it felt. That was the first one that felt like it showed at the time. “I’m really happy. I just wanted to swim a time I could be really happy with, and that was the one. It’s never easy to win a gold medal. Just trying to soak in every moment of it,”
Her eighth career Olympic title moves her level with American Jenny Thompson’s record for most women’s swimming golds. Ledecky has more chances for medals in the 4x200m freestyle relay on Thursday and in the 800m freestyle at the weekend. Wednesday’s gold was also her 12th Olympic medal of any color, tying her with Thompson, Dara Torres, and Natalie Coughlin for the most ever by a female swimmer from any country. She had already held the mark for most individual medals by a woman.
