Katie Ledecky Wins Gold in the 1500m at the 2024 Olympics

Cleopatra may be queen of the Nile, but Katie Ledecky is queen of the mile! While most of us mere mortals would give out after one lap; this athlete continues to prove why she is the greatest female swimmer ever. Katie Ledecky wins gold in the 1500m at the 2024 Olympics and she just makes it look so EASY.

It has become a sports fan pastime just to tune in to watch her obliterate the competition. In this particular race it is common to see Ledecky be the only swimmer in the camera frame (last night she won by 10+ seconds). She’s just that good.

However, despite winning her 8th Olympic gold medal Katie is also extremely humble. She takes things one race at a time and doesn’t make any excuses for herself. There had been rumblings that some of the slower swim times being put up was due to the Olympic size pool being swallower than normal. Ledecky spoke on this issue, how she felt after winning, as well as what’s next for her in these Games. Katie says,

“I’ve heard the rumblings, but at the end of the day, we’re here to race. We’re all fast swimmers. We make the pool as fast as we want it to be. I’m not really thinking about it.

[But the 1500m]… It’s not easy. It doesn’t get any easier. So, I do try to enjoy it each year and there’s different perspective that I have different years and different challenges that you face each year.

I have the relay tomorrow, that’s my next focus. Then, I’ll think about the 800.”

Ledecky Wins Gold: 13th Medal

Definitely the words of a true champion. After taking gold in the 1500; Ledecky snagged a silver medal in a relay race with three of her fellow Team USA teammates in the Women’s 4x200m. And in doing so she once again made history. With a silver medal Thursday in the 4×200 meter relay, Ledecky won her 13th medal, breaking a tie with swimmers Natalie Coughlin, Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres. Which means she now has the most Olympic medals by an American woman in any sport in history.

Speaking of sports history, Ledecky’s 1500 performance put a lot of different stats into the books. Just to name a few, she is now the first female swimmer to win gold at 4 different games. She is second only in the Olympic pool to American icon Michael Phelps, who has 28 medals all-time. She set a new Olympic record in the 1500m freestyle with a time of 15 minutes and 30.02 seconds. She previously owned the Olympic record and beat herself by 5.33 seconds!

And oh yeah, she owns the 20 fastest times in the history of the women’s 1500-meter freestyle. And her latest gold medal win is only the number eight fastest time. The woman is literally in competition with herself.

Katie Ledecky Wins Gold in the 1500m at the 2024 Olympics

Wild. One other fun fact is that throughout her career, Katie has swam some 37,484,000M. This translates into 23,291 miles. To put that into perspective, Earth’s circumference (the distance all the way around the equator) is 24,901 miles. Or if you wanted to travel to the moon; you’d be 1/3 of the way there.

With this much swimming under her belt, it makes sense why she is a major champion. She trains hard, works hard and it pays dividends. It has been a joy to watch her compete in Paris so far and we look forward to seeing how she does in the 800m.

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