Katie Ledecky had an extraordinary stint at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It was almost historic. When she touched the wall in 8:11.04 in the 800m finals, the swimmer completed a 4-peat with her fourth consecutive gold medal. Fun fact: the Olympian clinched her first during her debut stint on August 3 at London 2012.
With her 9th gold medal, the 27-year-old tied a 60-year-old record set by Larisa Latynina at the 1964 Tokyo Games. The two hold the title of female athlete with the most Olympic gold medals in any sport. But apart from the accolades, the swimmer received a shoutout from Lindsey Vonn. Speaking to Laureus, the most successful female alpine skier in history couldn’t help but sing her praises. “It is a sight to behold, and I hope that people appreciate how hard it is to achieve what Katie Ledecky has achieved.”
However, it doesn’t just end there. Vonn went on to compare Katie Ledecky to the Baltimore Bullet. “You know, she has dominated the sport in a way that is very seldom seen. I think Michael Phelps would be the only other person that has such a dominance, but she again showed us in Paris her level of athleticism,” the 3x Olympic medalist confessed. Game recognizes game. Even the 27-year-old has spoken up about her comparisons to the legendary swimmer in her book.
It almost felt like words fell short of explaining the 27-year-old’s excellence. “I mean, Katie is… it’s hard to even put into words because when you look at her records, it’s just her name. You can have a two-page printout of all the records, all the best times from all the different strokes, and it’s all her name.” The Olympian currently holds two world records: the women’s 1500m freestyle (15:20:48) and the women’s 800m freestyle (8:04:79).
Katie Ledecky has shattered the world record 14 times throughout her illustrious career. Here’s the kicker, though. A majority of them have been her own. Vonn reiterates, “She continued to come in every game and every World Championship with the same speed and gets better and better and breaks more and more records.” But it isn’t as easy as it looks.
“I think from an athlete’s perspective, if I can give a spectator a little bit of reference, to maintain that level of dominance for as many years as she has requires such a sacrifice and such a passion and such a will to continuously grind every single day,” Lindsey Vonn confessed. Lucky for us, Katie Ledecky recently opened up about the secret sauce that led her to success. What is it?