Katie Ledecky smashed the world record for the 1500m freestyle to take her second gold medal, after the 800m, at the world championships on Tuesday in Barcelona. Looking stronger at the end of the gruelling race than she did at the beginning, the 16-year-old obliterated the previous record by more than six seconds.
Katie Ledecky said “Female athletes are finding beauty in competing in the moment, but are also finding the beauty in enjoying those moments in a non-stressful manner, having fun with teammates in sharing common experiences and meeting goals, and then using their success to help others. Helping others is beautiful “.
Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky was born on17th of March 1997. She is an American distance swimmer, Olympic gold medallist, and world record holder. In her Olympic debut at the 2012 Summer Olympics as a 15-year old, Ledecky won the gold in the 800-meter freestyle with the second-fastest performance of all-time. She is the current world record holder in the 1500-meter freestyle (long course) and American record holder in the 400- and 800-meter freestyle (long course).
Ledecky was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of David and Mary Gen Ledecky. David Ledecky’s father came to the United States from the Czechoslovakia in 1947. Her mother swam for the University of New Mexico. Ledecky resides in Bethesda, Maryland, where she attends Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart. Ledecky began swimming at the age of six due to influence of her older brother, Michael. Through the summer of 2012, she trained with the Nation’s Capital Swim Club (formerly the Curl Burke Swim Club) under coach Yuri Suguiyama. She continues to train with the Nation’s Capital Swim Club under coach Bruce Gemmell. During the summers, she swims for Palisades Swim Team in Bethesda.
At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, her first major 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. In Omaha, Ledecky also placed third in the 400-meter freestyle (4:05.00) and ninth in the 200-meter freestyle (1:58.66). Her third-place finish in the 400-meter freestyle was the fastest time ever swum by a 15- to 16-year-old American, breaking the national age-group record previously held by Janet Evans. At 15 years, 4 months, and 10 days; she was the youngest American participant at the 2012 Olympic Games.
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. In the final, Ledecky shocked the field by winning the gold medal by over four seconds with a time of 8:14.63, the second-fastest effort of all time just behind Rebecca Adlington’s world record of 8:14.10 set in 2008. In addition, she broke Janet Evans’ American record of 8:16.22 that stood since 1989. In the final, Ledecky took it out hard and by the 200-meter mark, she had already established an almost body length lead. At the 400-meter mark, Ledecky split 4:04.34, a personal best for her in that distance, and would have placed fifth in the individual 400-meter freestyle. At the 750-meter mark, Ledecky was 3.42 seconds ahead of Mireia Belmonte García, and 0.31 seconds under world record pace. Ledecky ended up winning by a margin of 4.13 seconds and just missing the world record by 0.53 seconds. Her gold was the first international medal of her career, warranting her the 2012 Best Female Performance of the Year and Breakout Performer of the Year at the Golden Goggle Awards.
At the 2013 US National Championships, Ledecky qualified to swim in four individual events and the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, though she later dropped the 200-meter freestyle from her program. At the National Championships, she finished first in the 400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyle, and second in the 200-meter freestyle.
At the 2013 World Championships, Ledecky will compete in three individual events: the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle, as well as the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. In her first event in Barcelona, the 400-meter freestyle, Ledecky became a world champion for the first time by winning gold in a time of 3:59.82, setting a new American record and becoming the second-fastest performer of all-time in the event. In her second event, Ledecky won gold in the 1500-meter freestyle in a world record time of 15:36.53, breaking the previous record held by compatriot Kate Ziegler by six seconds. In what was a hard fought race with Dane Lotte Friis, Ledecky was able to overcome Friis in the final few hundred meters after losing the lead at the 300-meter mark, which included a final 50 split of 29.47.
Katie Ledecky became an overnight sensation at the Olympic Games in London this past summer. And it took the 15-year-old from Bethesda just 8 minutes, 14.63 seconds to do so. The young swimmer quickly became a media darling, doing dozens of interviews on TV and in major newspapers and magazines in the weeks following the race. Soon after returning home, she and two other local Olympians were honoured at a celebration in downtown Bethesda. She threw out the first pitch for the Sept. 3 Washington Nationals game at Nationals Park, and she visited the White House on Sept. 14 with dozens of other Olympians.
Now a sophomore at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, the 5-foot-11-inch teenager is happily immersed again in swimming practice, studies and spending time with friends. Although she takes a disciplined approach to training and schoolwork, Ledecky finds time to text her pals, manage her Twitter account (she created it after discovering that several fakes had popped up during the Olympics), and anticipate getting her learner’s permit when she qualifies to drive in December.
“Coming back has made it sink in a little more,” Ledecky says.
She broke Janet Evans’s U.S. record and beat out home crowd and 800-meter favourite Rebecca Adlington in the process. How special was Ledecky’s performance? When her mother, Mary Gen, realized with 200 meters to go that her daughter would win the gold, she looked around the aquatic centre and couldn’t believe what she witnessed.
“I saw so many British people cheering for her, and clapping for her,” says Mary Gen, a former swimmer at the University of New Mexico. “As much as they wanted their own girl to win that race, I think they all knew what the outcome would be.”
As the race winded down and Katie was chasing the world record, it was clear the only real drama was whether Katie would break the world record, so the Brits started to root for the American. Katie just missed that record, finishing the meet with in 8:14.63. But she beat her closest competitor by four seconds and set a U.S. record instead, besting Janet Evans’s 8:16.22 mark set 23 years ago.
“She shocked the world,” says her older brother Michael.
Indeed, she did. And her hometown was awaiting her arrival Monday night to celebrate her feat.
Most of the girls of Stone Ridge Sacred Heart school have only known Katie Ledecky for less than a year. Katie started her freshman year of high school last fall not as an Olympic hopeful, but more as an aspiring future Olympian.
She went to the Juniors last year and smoked the competition. She was only 14 years old, a new student at a new school, waking up at 3:45 a.m. twice a week to train in the mornings before school as well as each day after it, then coming home and doing homework before her routine rolled around to tomorrow.
“She’s one of the hardest working people I’ve ever been around,” says Michael.
Her classmates more than know it, and one of the reasons they took a bus to Dulles International Airport on Monday night to greet Katie. Connie Mitchell runs marketing for Stone Ridge and had organized a live-stream party on Friday at the school so everyone could watch Katie compete in real time. The high school has around 320 students enrolled, roughly 275 of them showed for the party. During their summer vacation.
“I think people are excited to have a local hero, a local Olympian and a gold medallist,” Mitchell says.
The girls made signs, brought balloon bouquets and nervously Tweeted, took photos and gathered as a cocoon just at the customs greeting area with local television stations and gawkers awaiting her arrival.
“It’s really exciting to have her come home,” says classmate Meghan Zorc.
An hour before Katie’s arrival an elderly woman approached me, asking “Is this for the swimmer?”
I nodded. The woman’s face lit up.
“That’s what I thought, I’m staying until I get a chance to see her,” she said. “How exciting.”
When Ledecky arrived, the girls’ high-pitched screams echoed down the terminals hallways, flashes popped, and tears streamed. Her father, David, held the gold medal in its black case, and Mary Gen clutched the bouquet Katie held on the podium a few days’ prior.
Strangers asked for photographs as Katie autographed little kids’ t-shirts and answered every question until there were none left. She was home.
Videos
