Page 43 - JPGS Magazine

Katie Ledecky – “Female Phelps”

An unforgettable highlight was the

performance of Katie Ledecky, 19, in

the swimming events of the Rio
2016. Ledecky's first event was the

4×1 00-meter freestyle relay,

alongside teammates Simone
Manuel, Abbey Weitzeil, and Dana

Vollmer; they earned the silver

medal behind Australia. Ledecky’s

first individual event was the 400-
meter freestyle. She qualified in the

heats with a time of 3:58:71 – an

Olympic Record.

She won the gold medal by breaking her own record from 2014 by nearly
two seconds. Ledecky won her second gold medal in the 200-meter

freestyle with a personal best time of 1:53:73. Ledecky claimed her third

gold in the 4x200-meter freestyle alongside teammates Allison Schmitt,
Leah Smith, and Maya DiRado. Finally she won her fourth gold in the

individual 800-meter freestyle. She qualified in the heats with an Olympic

record of 8:12:86, and broke her own world record in the final with a time of

8:04:79, over 11 seconds faster than the silver medalist, Jazmin Carlin. "I’m
just so happy," Ledecky said after the race. "I’ve just had a lot of fun this

week not only in the pool but just with my teammates. The memories mean

more than the medals to me here. I’m just so proud of my teammates and

what we all have accomplished this last week.”
With three individual titles, Ledecky became the first swimmer to win the

200, 400 and 800m freestyle at the same Olympics since Debbie Meyer

(1968 in Mexico City). Ledecky’s medal totals (4 golds and 1 silver) is the
most decorated single-Olympics performance by a US female athlete.

Ledecky was also the second most decorated Olympian of the 2016 games

behind Michael Phelps (5 golds and 1 silver).

Haya faisal