Katie Ledecky tied Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres, and Natalie Coughlin for the most medals ever won by an American female swimmer on Wednesday when she won gold in the 1,500-meter freestyle.
Ledecky’s dominant victory in Olympic record time also secured her eighth gold medal overall, matching Thompson’s record as the most by any female swimmer in Olympic history. Ledecky claimed that even if she doesn’t read history books much, she will always hold those famous American swimmers in high regard.
“Those women that I’m up there with now, they’re people that I’ve looked up to for so many years,” Ledecky stated to reporters after the race. “I consider many of them friends, supporters, people that I was watching swim when I was just starting out in the sport, so that’s very special to me to share that with them, and they’ve definitely inspired me.”
Ledecky of Bethesda, Maryland, joyfully slammed the water in a relatively unusual moment of dramatic action when she touched the wall and looked up at the scoreboard to see her time of 15:30.02.
“Yeah, I was just happy with the time and just happy with how it felt,” she stated. “Any gold medal, it’s not easy to win. So I’m just trying to appreciate it, appreciate the moment. I don’t mean to celebrate that much, but it comes out, the happiness and the joy, it just comes out.”
Emma McKeon, a famous Australian swimmer of today, has also won 12 medals, including six gold, two silver, and four bronze. Together, these five athletes currently hold the record for the most podium appearances by a female swimmer.
While Ledecky, 27, is in France after winning medals in Tokyo, Rio (2016), and London (2012), Thompson won her hardware in Athens (2004), Sydney (2000), Atlanta (1996), and Barcelona (1992).
Coughlin won three gold medals, four silver medals, and five bronze medals in London (2012), Beijing (2008), and Athens.
With victories in Los Angeles (1984), Seoul (1988), Barcelona, Sydney, and Beijing, Torres possesses four of each medal.
Ledecky still has more to add as she swims in Paris La Défense Arena on Thursday in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay and on Friday in the 800-meter freestyle.
After placing third in the 400-meter freestyle behind Australian gold medallist Ariarne Titmus and Canadian runner-up Summer McIntosh, Ledecky earned her first bronze of the year on Saturday.
On Saturday, McKeon won her 12th medal overall while competing for Australia in the 4×100-meter free relay.
Ledecky and Léon Marchand, the national hero of France, shared the limelight on Wednesday night. Marchand won two gold medals in exciting fashion, roughly two hours apart.
In the 200-meter butterfly, former Arizona State standout Marchand needed an Olympic record time and a strong finish to pass Hungary’s Kristóf Milák, the silver medallist. Milák now owns the world record and held the previous Olympic mark.
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Then, with the encouragement of a thunderous French crowd, Marchand put an exclamation point on the event by winning the 200 breaststroke in Olympic record time.
Pro sportsmen frequently claim to be able to tune out crowd noise, but Marchand claimed to have welcomed every sound, particularly when pursuing Milák.
“I wasn’t ignoring it. I was really trying to listen to what was happening,” he stated. “I could hear the whole pool just going crazy. I think that’s why I was able to win that race, really use that energy from the crowd.”
