The Stunning Transformation Of US Olympic Swimmer Katie Ledecky

When it comes to women's swimming, one name looms large: Olympic champion Katie Ledecky. Born in 1997, this native of Washington, D.C. has spent the past decade or so racking up Olympic gold medals and assorted world championships — and not just a few. In addition to breaking several world records, she's won 10 Olympic medals (so far), seven of them gold. She also holds 21 world championships (as of June 2024), a record number for a female swimmer, and broken 16 world records. 

Not surprisingly, her dominance in the sport has given her celebrity status, evident from the more than 600,000 folks who follow her on Instagram, and her TV appearances on such talk shows as "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon." While guesting on that show in 2021, she hilariously shot down an assumption that's been drilled into most of our heads since childhood. "I might have some parents coming after me for this," she revealed, "but I think we can debunk the myth. You can eat before you swim."

Not only is Ledecky set to compete in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, she's also celebrating the release of her memoir, "Just Add Water." And there's more about the journey of this fascinating athlete, and the stunning transformation of U.S. Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky.

Before delving into the life of Katie Ledecky, a lot can be learned about her from exploring her family tree. Going two generations back, in fact, offers a surprising degree of insight into how she developed her competitive nature, and her steely determination to be the best.

To see where those traits originated, a Sports Illustrated profile looked into her family's history. According to SI, it all started with her maternal grandfather, Edward "Bud" Hagan, a Navy doctor who survived the bloody Battle of Okinawa during World War II, returning home with a Bronze Star and Purple Heart in addition to a previous Silver Star and another Bronze Star. At the end of the war, Hagan said, "I looked around me, and all my friends were dead." Prior to his death in 2008 at age 91, Hagan had passed on both his passion for swimming and his competitive philosophy (described as "take the lead, keep the lead") to his granddaughter.

Meanwhile, the other side of Ledecky's family also experienced the horrors of that war, but from a different perspective than the battlefield. Her paternal grandmother, Berta Ledecky, is a Jewish immigrant from Europe who lost numerous relatives to Nazi death camps. During a family trip to the Czech Republic when Ledecky was just 10, her grandmother took her to a Prague cemetery to show her the graves of family members claimed by Holocaust. That experience, noted the profile, also proved to be a defining one in her young life. 

Swimming was a necessity in Katie Ledecky's family. When her mother's sister was just four, she almost drowned after slipping off a dock. After that, her grandfather, Bud Hagan, insisted that all his children learned how to swim. That tradition continued to the next generation, and Ledecky began swimming at an early age. 

She can trace her interest in swimming as a sport to when she joined a summer league swim team, an experience that quickly evolved from enjoyment to passion. "I remember learning how to breathe freestyle when I was six on that ladder," Ledecky told The Washington Post in 2014, when she returned to the pool where she'd spent her summers as a youngster. "There are so many memories at this pool, and it's something I never want to forget."

She was six, in fact, when she first began competing. As Sports Illustrated noted, her goal at the time was to make it from one end of the pool to the other without having to stop for a rest break. It was clear that she'd inherited her grandfather's competitive nature when she developed swimmer's ear, and stubbornly refused to take her pediatrician's advice to sit out a race. Since she insisted on swimming, he advised her mom to stuff cotton in her ears. As the years passed, Ledecky's skills continued to increase, as did her relentless drive to win.

Katie Ledecky continued swimming competitively, and by age 15 had set her sights on winning a spot on the U.S. Olympic swim team — and did it. "It's unreal," Ledecky told The Washington Post of becoming the youngest member of the team that would be heading to the 2012 Olympic games in London. Of course, making it onto the team was just the beginning; once Ledecky arrived in London, she made an impressive Olympic debut, winning the women's 800-metre freestyle and earning her first (but not last) gold medal. "It feels great," she said during a post-victory press conference. "Just being here is such an accomplishment and a great honor [...] to come out with the gold is great."

Despite all the success she's experienced since then, winning that first Olympic gold medal remains a hugely significant moment in her life. "When I touched the wall at the end, it was a pretty crazy, surreal moment," she recalled in an on-camera interview several years later, looking back at that race.

Based on what she wrote about that win in her 2024 memoir, "Just Add Water," Ledecky's competitive streak is tough to ignore. "I ended up missing the world record by about half a second," she wrote, focusing on what she didn't manage to achieve with her performance, versus what she actually did.

Katie Ledecky may have dazzled when she won a gold medal during her first Olympics, but that was just a warmup for her stunning performance at the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro. This time, Ledecky brought home five medals, four gold and one silver. And while she may have regretted not breaking the record when she won gold in the 800-meter freestyle in London, she wound up obliterating that record in Rio, making it to the finish more than 11 seconds before the second-place winner.

During a press conference, Ledecky made it abundantly clear that despite all those gold medals hanging around her neck, she had no intention of resting on her laurels. "Sitting in this position now, I think I still do want more, I still do want to continue to succeed in this sport," she declared. "I still want to have the opportunities to compete on this level." She predicted that once she returned home and began training, she would be just as motivated for the new Olympic games as she had been for Rio. 

That amazing showing at the Rio games led her to be named the Female Athlete of the Olympics. 

When Katie Ledecky prepares for a race, she makes it a point to check in with the Almighty. "I do say a prayer — or two — before any race," Ledecky revealed during an interview with Catholic Standard (via Christian Times). "The Hail Mary is a beautiful prayer and I find that it calms me."

While her grandmother's Jewish heritage played an important role in her personal and spiritual growth, Ledecky is actually a devout Catholic. "I've counted on my faith to give me strength through both training and competition — but also in school, with my family and everyday life," she explained while discussing her faith with the National Catholic Register. Saying a Hail Mary before each race, she told the outlet, has served as a way to focus her energy while remaining calm during what is assuredly a tense few seconds. "More than anything, praying just helps me to concentrate and let go of things that don't matter in that moment," she said. "It gives me peace knowing I'm in good hands."

According to Ledecky, her faith has played a large role in ensuring she's stayed grounded in the midst of her emergence as a sports superstar. "So while my goals in the pool have changed," she added, "my faith remains something that's consistent and something I can always rely on."

In 2017, Katie Ledecky and fellow Olympian Simone Biles were among those selected to be sponsors of a new aircraft carrier being constructed for the U.S. Navy, to be named the U.S.S. Enterprise. According to a press release, the swimmer and the gymnast attended a special ceremony — hosted by Huntington Ingalls Industries, the company commissioned to build the vessel — in which they gave the order to commence construction with the cutting of a 35-ton steel plate. "We really, truly would not be able to compete at the level that we do without the freedom that we have, and that's something we promise we will never take for granted," Ledecky said in a statement. "We're excited to cut this steel today and start this process."

Ledecky also attended a keel-laying ceremony for the Enterprise, where she delivered some remarks praising the shipbuilders for the extraordinary effort required for such a mammoth project. "While I'm no expert, I can imagine that your work can be challenging at times, and this can feel like a long process," she said, comparing the teamwork in building an aircraft carrier to her own experience as part of Team USA. "Everyone here today is part of the 'Big E' family, the team," she added. "Keep the end goal in mind, while celebrating the small victories of your teammates along the way."

After graduating from Stone Ridge of The Sacred Heart High School in 2015, Katie Ledecky accepted an athletic scholarship to Stanford University. "I am thrilled to announce that upon completion of my high school education, I am committed to pursue my college education at Stanford and very much look forward to the opportunity to swim for the Stanford Cardinal women's team in NCAA competition," she said in a statement, via Swim Swam.

After two seasons with the Stanford swim team, Ledecky announced that it was time to take her athletic career to the next level by turning pro. She made the announcement while appearing at the National Press Club. "I am forgoing the remaining two years of my collegiate eligibility, and will be focusing on my training, and accepting professional endorsements and sponsorships," she told journalists (those endorsement deals, by the way, have apparently gone a long way in boosting Ledecky's net worth).

As she said in an email to The New York Times, joining the ranks of the world's professional swimmers was a logical move, in that it would allow her "to set myself up to try to achieve my best performance leading to the 2020 Olympic Trials."

When Katie Ledecky decided on Stanford, her primary focus was the college's phenomenal swimming team and its training program. On a secondary level, however, there were other factors at play, since she had good friends who were also going to Stanford — including fellow swimmer Lia Neal, who was Ledecky's roommate when they both competed at the London Olympics. While she tried to keep that out of her decision-making process, it nevertheless weighed on her. "But that was always in the back of my mind," she said, as reported by Reach for the Wall. "It's a bonus I get to go with some of my best friends."

When the world shut down in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she decided to use the time she unexpectedly now had by taking on a full course load (virtually, of course). "It was busy, and it was challenging," Ledecky told The Washington Post. "But it also gave me something to do and something to focus on. There was definitely the side benefit of keeping my mind occupied during this time."

In November 2021, Ledecky graduated with a degree in psychology. Unfortunately, she was unable to attend her own graduation ceremony because she was at the U.S. Olympic trials in Omaha, Nebraska. Nevertheless, she celebrated by sharing a photo on Instagram, of herself and two fellow swimmers at the trials, wearing their caps and gowns atop their swimsuits.

It was hardly surprising when Katie Ledecky aced the trials and landed a spot on Team USA for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo — which, because of the pandemic, actually took place in 2021. While she didn't top her medal take from 2016, she came close, taking home two gold medals (for the 800-meter freestyle and the first-ever 1,500-meter freestyle) and two silvers (in the 400-meter freestyle and the 4x200-meter freestyle relay).

Beyond the medals, Ledecky made history by winning the gold for the 800-meter for the third consecutive time, becoming only the fourth swimmer in Olympic history to achieve that particular milestone (the others are Australia's Dawn Fraser, Hungary's Krisztina Egerszegi, and Team USA's Michael Phelps, who did it twice, in both the 100-meter butterfly and the 200-meter individual medley).

"I think I saw a statistic two years ago that said no one's ever three-peated in that event, and that's been in the back of my mind," Ledecky said, as reported by Swimming World Magazine. "It's both in a good way and [bad] in sometimes that thought gets to you a little bit. You're like, 'Huh, I wonder if there's a reason why no one has ever three-peated.'" 

In the decade-plus since she first made her mark at the 2012 Olympics, Katie Ledecky has come to be widely regarded as one of the all time greats in the sport of swimming, of either sex — and one of the best athletes ever, in any sport. In Sports Brief's ranking of the top 10 swimmers of all time, for example, Ledecky is ranked at No. 3, behind only swimming phenom Michael Phelps (at first place) and nine-time Olympic champ Mark Spitz. 

In women's swimming, though, there are many who believe that she simply has no peer. "She is the greatest female swimmer of all-time," declared former swimmer and three-time Olympic champion Rowdy Gaines, as reported by Swimming World Magazine. "When you look at all she has done, it's unbelievable. No one has shown that kind of dominance. In the longer events, it's like she's racing in a different pool. And she's done it all with such professionalism."

When she appeared on "The Tonight Show" in 2021, host Jimmy Fallon asked Ledecky what it was like to be referred to as the GOAT (greatest of all time) in her sport. She responded with characteristic humility. "I mean, there are so many great swimmers throughout the years [...] I'm just honored to carry on the legacy of really great female swimmers in the U.S.," she said.

Just when it seemed as if Katie Ledecky had peaked, she demonstrated athletic prowess that broke more records than she already had. That was the case in 2023, when she won her 16th gold medal, taking first place in the 800-meter freestyle while competing at the World Aquatic Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. That was her sixth consecutive win in that event, making her the first swimmer in history to take home the gold six times in a row. Meanwhile, racking up 16 gold medals also set a record, placing her ahead of Michael Phelps as the athlete with the greatest number of individual world swimming titles.

After her big win, Ledecky admitted she hadn't realized she could potentially shatter those records. "It's special. I really didn't even know I was going to achieve that until people started telling me. It's cool," she said, as reported by CNN. "I'm happy with that swim. I wanted it to be a little better, but I'll take it. I'm really pleased with how the week went."

As she told USA Today — via text message — when she competes in an event, she's only thinking about that specific race, not any records she might break because of it. "I tend to focus on one race, one practice, and one season at a time and never really 'aim' for medal-count records," she explained. "It is just the product of hard work over many years."

Not only has Katie Ledecky won medals at the Olympics, she's also had one presented to her at the White House. In May 2023, she was among 19 honorees at a special ceremony in which President Joe Biden awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her athletic achievements. According to the White House's announcement, the medal is the highest civilian honor granted in America, "presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private." Other recipients that year included Phil Donahue, Al Gore, actor Michelle Yeoh, and late Olympian Jim Thorpe. 

"The Medal of Freedom just represents a tremendous honor," she said in a brief video for the White House. "Growing up in [the] Washington, D.C. area, I definitely was aware of what the award was, but I never in my wildest dreams imagined I would be here at the White House." 

She concluded by sharing her thanks to President Biden. "It's such an honor to represent the United States on the international stage, and I hope that everyone out there will cheer on Team USA this summer."