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.
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