New Olympic Record: Katie Ledecky Breaks Olympic records. Who is Katie Ledecky, What is her Journey?

Here comes another proud sportsperson with another Olympic record broken!

Katie Ledecky stands as one of the all-time greats in the field of swimming, and now, she proudly breaks another record in Olympics. the lady holds seven prestigious Olympic gold medals along with 21 World Championship titles.

The swimmer received fame by winning 800m freestle gold at London 2012 when she was only 15 years old. The American swimmer has become an Olympic champion at every distance from 200m to 1500m. Here, we try to peep into the journey of the overachiever!

Early Life

Katie Ledecky was born in the year 1997 in Washington, D.C. When she was only six years old, she started to hold a strong passion for swimming. Her mother was a college-level swimmer and thus she got inspired by her. Ledecky Jr successfully broke numerous American records when she was in her high school. She then achieved an athletic scholarship to attend the Stanford University.

Even at Stanford, the young girl did not stop and became a popular name at the national level. Katie Ledecky win a total of eight National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) titles. She further set an outstanding 15 NCAA records. She won NCAA Team Championships back-to-back. She also won two consecutive Pac-12 Conference Team Championships for the team.

Journey in Olympics

It was in the year 2012 when Katie Ledecky made he debut at the Olympics. At this time, Ledecky was just 15 years old. She then achieved her very first gold in the 800m freestyle, in a battle where she defeated world champion Kate Ziegler. This proved to be a remarkable start at her journey in Olympics.

Additionally, she also won world titles in 200 and 400 free at the Rio 2016. She received the most individual titles in the pool with victories in the 200, 400, and 800 free. Additionally, Katie Ledecky also set world records in the 400 and the 800.

She becemae the second most decorated athlete after Michael Phelps following her gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay.

World championships vs the Paris Games- What did she choose?

Ledecky chose to skip the 2024 world champisonships. The reason was that she wanted to prepare for the Paris Games. At the Olympics, Ledecky earned a bronze medal in the very first event, which was the 400-meter freestyle. Next, she compted in the signature event. The young lady effortlessly won this 1,500-meter freestyle. The same vuctory made her tie the record by Jenny Thompson for the most Olympic gold medals won by a woman from America.

Later, Ledecky earned a silver in the relay of 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay. This made Ledecky the very first American female athlete to secure 13 caeer Olympic medals.

Not to miss, Ledecky also earned the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom from Pres. Joe Biden in the current year, i.e. 2024. She also brought forward a memoir titled "Just Add Water: My Swimming Life".

The new Olympic record

On Wednesday, Katie Ledecky won her very first gold medal at the Paris Olympics in teh 1,500-meter freestyle. This made her claim a record-tying 12th Olympic medal.

Katie Ledecky completed the rae in an Olympic record 15:30.02, thereby topping the Olympic mark of 15:35.35 established in Tokyo.

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