What to Know About Katie Ledecky, the Most Decorated Female Swimmer

Ledecky is so exceptional that she sometimes only has herself to compete against. Freestyle has become her signature stroke, and she currently holds the world record in both the women’s 800-meter freestyle and the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle.

Ledecky completed the 800-meter freestyle in 8 minutes, 4.79 seconds, and the 1,500-meter freestyle in 15-minutes, 20.48-seconds.

Paris will mark her fourth time competing in the Olympic Games, but she has said it might not be her last. If she competes in Los Angeles in 2028, she will join the list of just 861 athletes who have competed in at least five Olympics.

Here’s what else to know about Ledecky ahead of this year’s Summer Games.

Ledecky’s early life and career

Ledecky was born in Washington, DC, and her parents raised her in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb about two miles outside the nation’s capital.

Ledecky started swimming at age six — following in the footsteps of her brother, Michael, who was a competitive swimmer through high school.

Ledecky was also inspired to swim by her mother, Mary, who was a collegiate swimmer at the University of New Mexico. Her father, David, is an attorney.

She attended Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic prep school in Bethesda, and continued her education and swimming career at Stanford University, where studied psychology and political science and also won eight NCAA titles.

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After graduating from Stanford in 2021, she left California. Ledecky now lives in Gainesville, Florida, and trains with Anthony Nesty, the head coach of the US Men’s Olympic Swimming team.

Nesty also coaches the men’s and women’s swim teams at the University of Florida, and Ledecky is volunteering as a coach.

Ledecky has also been dominant outside the three Summer Games.

In the biennial World Aquatics Championships, Ledecky is the second-most decorated swimmer, trailing only Michael Phelps.

Since her first championships in 2013, Ledecky has racked up 26 medals — 21 golds and five silvers — compared to Phelps’ 33.

Sixteen of the golds were individual titles. With those 16 titles, also known as world championship titles, Ledecky has actually bested Phelps, who has 15.

Ledecky’s Olympic journey

At 15, when Ledecky competed in the 2012 London Olympics, she won her first gold medal in the 800-meter freestyle.

During her next Olympics — in Rio, in 2016 — she racked up an impressive five medals, four of them gold.

She stood at the top of the podium in the 200-, 400-, and 800-meter freestyle events and the 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay. She also won silver in the 4 x 100-meter freestyle relay.

In Tokyo, she added to her Olympic-medal total with two golds and two silvers.

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Ledecky is only one Olympic gold away from tying American Jenny Thompson’s record for the winningest female swimmer of all time.

Thompson, with 12 total medals over the course of her career, also holds the record for most Olympic medals by an American woman. Ledecky could break that record at the Paris Games, too.

There’s more: Ledecky is only two gold medals away from the all-time record for gold medals won by a female Olympian in any sport.

We’ll be watching to see how many medals Ledecky adds to her collection in Paris.