Katie Ledecky: The Most Decorated Female American Olympian of All Time

The following is an article that I wrote, which appeared in the October-November 2024 edition of Montgomery Magazine:

Katie Ledecky 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. Courtesy of Katie Ledecky.

For Katie Ledecky, Montgomery County will always be considered home.

The journey for Ledecky, who is among the greatest Olympic champions of all time with nine gold medals and 14 total Olympic medals, began in Bethesda, Maryland.

She started in Metropolitan Nursery School, went to Little Flower School from pre-K through eighth grade and attended Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart for high school. Her parents still live in the same Bethesda home she grew up in. “I loved growing up in Montgomery County,” Ledecky says.

Ledecky’s first foray into the world of competitive swimming came when she swam for the Palisades Porpoises Swim Team in the Montgomery County Swim League. “Those were my first memories in the sport of swimming … it was my first time being on a swim team.”

“We joined the Palisades Pool when I was six years old. My brother was nine, and we really didn’t know anyone at that pool, and so we joined the team to meet a lot of people, and by the end of the summer we had 100 new friends ages six to 18,” Ledecky says.

“We have a joke in the family that everything always comes back to MCSL … We seem to meet people all over that either swam MCSL or had a friend that was in the MCSL. So, it always comes back to Montgomery County,” she adds.

Ledecky credits her parents for her success, whether it be in the pool or in life.

“My parents have played a huge role in my journey. My mom swam in college growing up and was probably the first one to get me into the water, but she never pushed me into the sport. She never made me join the swim team—that always came from me. And then both my mom and my dad were just tremendous all the way through high school, driving me to and from practice, getting me to school — there were lots of early mornings.”

Katie Ledecky at 6 years old after her first swim race.
Courtesy of Katie Ledecky.

Ledecky recalls having to wake up at around 4 a.m. to get ready for swim practice at 5 a.m. and how her parents developed a routine to get both her and her brother to their respective swim practices. “They did a great job managing it all and supporting both of us in our goals,” she says.

Ledecky’s Olympic experience began in London in 2012 when she shocked the world by winning a gold medal in the 800-meter freestyle at the age of 15. She has not looked back since.

She competed in her fourth Olympic Games this summer in Paris where she became the most decorated female American Olympian of all time, winning a bronze in the 400-meter freestyle, silver in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay and gold in both the 800-meter freestyle and 1,500-meter freestyle.

Despite her incredible success, Ledecky is quick to credit those around her for the pivotal roles they have played in her swimming career.

“I think it’s a testament to all the people around me throughout this journey, not just the people I’m currently training with or being coached by, but everyone that played a role and supported me,” she says. “You don’t achieve something like that without doing it over many, many years. So that also involves many, many places and people that you’ve gotten to know and that have been a part of the journey. So, to me, it’s more about the journey than the end result or the records or where I stand in history. It’s about the process. It’s about working toward goals that excite me and drive me.”

“At the end of the day, I never imagined I would make it to one Olympics, so to have competed at four now, and to have found a sport that I just truly love and have enjoyed all these years, it’s a great, great feeling,” she says. “So, any of the medals and experiences that I’ve had on top of that, it’s just kind of icing on the cake. It’s amazing to get to represent your country on that big of a stage.”

There was not a particular point in time when Ledecky said, ‘I love this sport and I’m good at it, and I want to take my swimming to the next level.’ It was a process that happened organically, although a broken arm while she was in elementary school may have played a role.

“There wasn’t a single moment where I made some sort of decision that set me on that course. I think I just kept qualifying for bigger and bigger meets. I recognized that I was qualifying for some of these big meets at a younger age or earlier than some of my teammates or peers,” she says.

Ledecky was not exclusively swimming when she was younger—she was also playing basketball and soccer and taking piano lessons.

“I think around fourth grade was probably the turning point for me. I broke my arm in gym class playing basketball. So, basketball kind of took a backseat, because I realized during that time that I really loved swimming. I would put a plastic bag over my arm to be able to swim for those six weeks. I wanted to protect my swimming and put more into it,” Ledecky says. “I never went to my parents and said, ‘Hey, I’m going to quit basketball. I’m going to quit soccer.’ I just naturally found myself choosing swim practice over the other sports. And I think probably by age 12 or 13, I was focused on swimming as my sport and qualified for sectionals and junior nationals, senior nationals and ultimately Olympic trials. And once I qualified for Olympic trials, then I started to try to work my way up into the rankings to get into a position where I could believe that I could be an Olympian.”

Even though Ledecky is an Olympic veteran and one of the most successful Olympic athletes in history, each experience is unique and memorable. For Ledecky, having a medal hung around her neck on the Olympic podium, hearing The Star-Spangled Banner and seeing the American flag being raised is exhilarating every time.

“It does not get old,” she says, referring to the Olympic experience and winning a medal. “I think each time it’s pretty emotional, pretty exciting and it feels like the first time … I remember when I was a young kid watching those medal ceremonies, and whenever an American athlete won, we would stand and sing the national anthem at home. So, I always think back to those moments and think that there are probably some kids doing that back in the U.S. So that’s pretty special and it’s an honor to be in that position.”

Ledecky won a gold medal in the 800-meter freestyle at age 15.
Courtesy of Katie Ledecky.

Ledecky has cemented her legacy as one of the premier long-distance swimmers of all time. She won her fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal in the 800-meter freestyle in Paris, becoming just the seventh Olympic athlete to win four successive gold medals in the same event. The only other swimmer to have achieved that feat is the legendary Michael Phelps.

Watching Ledecky compete in the 1,500-meter freestyle, which is 30 lengths of the pool, is a thing of beauty. She makes the grueling race look virtually effortless. In Paris, she set a new Olympic record with a time of 15:30.02, finishing the race more than ten seconds ahead of the silver medalist.

“I enjoyed trying the longer events from a young age … whenever my coach wanted me to try a new event, I would try a new event. And when I tried the distance events, I enjoyed them, and I recognized that that was different from some of my teammates who didn’t enjoy them. So, I kept doing them. I realized that that was my thing, that I was stronger at those events than the shorter events. I enjoyed putting in the work for those events,” she says.

“I’m able to come down to the 400 and the 200, but the 800 and the 1,500 are definitely my strongest events. And I’ve swum them a lot now, so I feel confident in my race strategy. I feel like I have a lot of experiences and tricks in my back pocket that I can rely on when the race gets tough … I use my experience as my advantage and I feel confident in those races, and I continue to enjoy putting in the work for those longer swims.”

At the age of 27, Ledecky often finds herself competing against and alongside younger swimmers, some of whom looked up to her before they began swimming at an elite level in pursuit of their Olympic dreams.

“I think at the end of the day we’re all competitors, and whether the person next to me is 15 years old or 35, I need to bring my best and compete against them, and I think my competitors do the same with me … It’s a sport that some swimmers come onto the scene from a young age and stick around a while … It’s been special for me to be on some relay teams with some people that I’ve known since they were seven years old. So, things like that are really special moments,” she says.

For Ledecky, spreading messages about positivity and perseverance are paramount, and she uses her platform as a swimming icon to try to inspire others, particularly young folks.

“Try to find something that you really love and you enjoy doing, whether that’s a sport, whether that’s a subject in school, whether that’s another activity, and try to be the best you can be at it and set some goals for yourself,” she says. “That’s how I started in the sport, and I’ve continued to love it and enjoy it. You just never know where things might take you. Swimming has taken me around the world and has given me opportunities I never imagined I would have. So, you just never know. You’ve got to just keep setting goals in the areas that you enjoy, and some special things can happen.”

The most decorated female American Olympian of all time is not done yet and looks forward to continuing her journey in the world of swimming.

“I would love to swim in LA [in the 2028 Olympic Games] … I’ll be training, doing a little bit of travel this fall, and then I’ll get down to business, get my work in and start the process to work on some new goals. So, I’m excited for what’s to come.”