She arrived at the White House ahead of the 2 p.m. reception that welcomed that day’s honorees. If you know Katie Ledecky, you know she was early.
She was assigned a 'handler,' someone to help her navigate the scores of dignitaries and guide her through the logistics of becoming the first male or female swimmer in history to receive the nation’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, on May 3.
“She didn’t need a handler,” her former coach, Bruce Gemmell said. “She handled everybody in the room.”
Gemmell said the two biggest stars among the 19 recipients were recently retired Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Ledecky, the 27-year-old seven-time Olympic gold medalist who is poised to add to that total in Paris.
“(Katie) had complete control of the whole event, gliding from a Senator to the Secretary of State or whoever it was,” Gemmell said. “Everyone wanted their picture with either Nancy or Katie.”
And as at home as Ledecky was at the White House, Gemmell saw her in her true home, hours earlier. From 7 to 9 that morning at Westwood C.C. in Vienna, Va., Gimmell managed one of the seven swim workouts Ledecky went through during her four-day trip home to Bethesda, Md., around the ceremony. The outdoor, 50-meter pool was one of multiple pools she used to stay on track with her Olympic training. A trip to the White House does not mean a day off, even if you are the queen of your sport.
“(When I received the invitation) I immediately put together the workouts I would need to do and contacted people about pool availability,” Ledecky told TSN. “I am very lucky to have several great contacts in the DMV where pool time never seems to be a problem. It’s always wonderful to be able to visit my old high school and also to visit with my high school coach, Bob Walker.”
It is that drive, along with about 100 other things, that has pushed Ledecky to be on Sporting News’ all-time greatest US Summer Olympian list and one of the faces of Team USA for the upcoming 2024 Olympics.
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Ledecky was an underdog when she won her first gold medal in the 800m in 2012 at the age of 15, but she enters Paris 12 years later as the favorite in both the 800m and 1500m and a strong medal contender in the 400m. She will be a part of a strong 4x200m American relay. Her total of seven career Olympic gold medals will likely rise.
Should Ledecky win her fourth consecutive gold medal in the 800m, she will be just the second swimmer ever to win the same event four straight Olympics, joining Michael Phelps, who won the 200IM in '04, '08, '12 and '16. (The 1500m was only added to the women's events in 2020.) She won one gold in London, four in Rio in 2016, then two more in the 2020 Games that took place in Tokyo in 2021.
Her dominance in distance swimming is unparalleled, as she owns the 19 fastest times in history in the 1500m. She is also the world record holder in the 800m. But she has also succeeded in the 400m, the 200m and has medaled on the 4x100 relay at different times during her international career (including an Olympic silver in 2016).
“It would be like running the 400, the 800, the 1500 and the 5000 (in track),” said former gold medalist and long-time NBC Olympics announcer Rowdy Gaines. “Imagine someone running the 400 to the 5000.
“Training for a 200 is completely different than training for a 1500. Michael (Phelps) did not have this kind of dominance. Michael dominated in many ways, especially at the Olympic level, but he lost his best races. Katie hasn’t lost her best race in the 1500 in 13 years. I don’t think anybody in the history of our sport has ever gone that long without losing, certainly not in the modern era.”
Which brings the obvious question – How? How has she been able to stay on top for so long? Phelps used to say there were no shortcuts, that all the work had to be done. Ledecky’s recently published book ‘Just Add Water’ (No. 14 on the NYT best sellers list) reflects a similar philosophy, and outlines how much training goes into being elite. It is her full embrace of the details and the training and everything about the sport itself that have carried her to the top and kept her there.
“(Swimming) is not for the faint of heart,” Gaines says. “Not at that level. It will chew you up physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. It’s a tough sport to be successful in.”
Ledecky writes she’s never had an alcoholic drink and is rarely up past 9 p.m.
“But that’s not a hardship for her,” Gemmell said. “That’s what she wants to do. People talk about grind and sacrifice. It is not a grind or a sacrifice to her. It is in her DNA or something.”
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Ledecky’s DNA has a lot to do with her success, but not necessarily on the physical side. While Phelps famously had a body designed for swimming, Ledecky underwent physical-assessment tests at the USOC training center in Colorado Springs and the report came back that her body was ‘remarkably unremarkable.’
No, the DNA that has been so critical for her has been her family environment. Her parents, Mary Gen and David, and brother Michael have had an enormous influence on her life. They have been there through the ups and downs and nurtured her love and talent along the way.
Mary Gen and Michael were in the stands in Atlanta in May for a sparsely attended pre-Trials tuneup. They organized all of Katie’s transportation and meal needs, a personal support team of two now that the Stanford swim team no longer takes care of all the logistical details.
Ledecky has had four different coaches prepare her for her four Olympics, and she has been in the swimming spotlight from her early teens to her mid-20s. Four years of high school, two years (and two NCAA titles) at Stanford and two Olympic cycles as a professional have come and gone. For most athletes that crave routine, that’s a lot of transition to maintain a high level of performance.
“She’s done very well and she’s been very happy,” Mary Gen told TSN. “As a parent, that’s what we want. We want her to be happy with what she wanted to do. She’s accomplished a lot along the way, not just in the pool. She’s finished her degree and I think she’s learned a lot. That adaptability will serve her well.”
Figuring out a way to keep training during the COVID-19 shutdown was difficult for athletes and non-athletes alike, but especially for Ledecky and her teammates. She eventually found a private pool in California where she and fellow Olympian Simone Manuel continued to train, but all the restrictions were certainly challenging.
“I used that time period to work hard to finish my degree requirements, and my studies kept me mentally engaged and focused as well,” Katie said. “I think staying in close touch with family over Zoom/FaceTime also helped a lot. A lot of my ability to adapt is centered around staying level-headed but also maintaining a good sense of humor about challenges that come up in life. And also recognizing all the things I have in my life that are so wonderful.”
Phelps, Caleb Dressell and Simone Biles are Olympic champions who have acknowledged mental health challenges that they’ve had to overcome during their careers. Ledecky has not experienced that, and observers credit her family as an important part of her good fortune.
“As great of a swimmer as she is in the water, the person outside the pool is what exemplifies greatness. And she is that person,” Gaines said. “She’s so bloody nice and humble and gracious and giving. She’s done so much and still maintains that sense of humility. And their family is that. They are the first family of swimming, and they are just like Katie – gracious and humble.”
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When Ledecky was preparing for her first Olympic final in London, she entered the holding area for swimmers waiting to race. Phelps was already in the ready room, hood up, focusing on his 100m butterfly. When his race was called, as he was exiting the room, Phelps gave Ledecky a high-five and said, ‘Good luck, and have fun out there.’ Six years earlier, Ledecky had gotten an autograph from Phelps. Now, they were teamates.
Phelps went out and won his 17th Olympic gold medal, then Ledecky won her first in the following race.
Fast forward 12 years, and it is Ledecky who is the active American legend, still piling up gold medals and signing autographs. She is the co-star with Biles across the 592-member U.S. Olympic team. With the swimming competition taking place the opening week, she will not participate in the Opening Ceremonies, as swimmers generally avoid the four-plus hours of being on your feet required to do so. But she will be all over NBC and media outlets before, during and after the Games as one of the few crossover superstars.
Gemmell was at the swim team’s training complex in Cary, N.C., prior to the team leaving for Europe, and he said Ledecky has that alpha vibe on the practice deck, where the swimmers and coaches are very aware of her presence.
“My daughter (Erin Gemmell, who also is on the Olympic swim team) went out to dinner with her with a small group of the swimmers, and said it is kind of a pain going out to dinner with Katie, because everybody wants to stop and take a picture or talk to her,” Gemmell said. “(Katie) embraces that part now. It's who she is.”
Ledecky knows the added responsibilities she has to the team and her sport, and she doesn’t carry them as a burden.
“I feel like these “demands” are really honors, rather than obligations or responsibilities,” she told TSN. “I try to be kind to others, and I want to inspire young swimmers and young people in general. When I was younger, many swimmers and other professional athletes always took the time either to give me an autograph, take a picture with me or just simply say a kind word to me. I try to remember that when youngsters come up to me and ask me for the same. While there are demands on me as a professional athlete, I try to keep things in perspective.”
