Ledecky lowered the 800 meter freestyle world record by 1.89 seconds, which was the fifth time in the last three years she has lowered the world record. 23-year-old Maya Dirado of San Francisco, also a Stanford alum, took home a gold medal in the 200-meter backstroke, as KRON 4 reports. Ledecky is the first Olympian to take the 200m, 400m and 800m gold at a single Games since another USA teenager, Debbie Meyer, achieved the feat at Mexico City in 1968 – the year the 800m was added to the programme.
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She put the world on notice with another gold – and another world record – in the 400 free.
Katie Ledecky won in convincing fashion Friday night at the Games, becoming the third American woman to win four gold medals in a single Olympics.
It is incredible to think that in the time Katie Ledecky was bopping about her lane and waiting for her opponents to finish, Usain Bolt could run 100 meters and still have nearly two seconds to preen for the camera, or Mike Tyson could complete an entire boxing match.
Ledecky finished 11.38 seconds ahead of the silver medalist from Britain Jazz Carlin and Carlin was just two-tenths of a second better than the bronze medalist from Hungary Boglarka Kapas.
“The goal was 8:05 or better”, she said.
“Just four years. of everything”, he said, wiping his eyes.
Ledecky’s final lap was faster than the first lap of all but one of her competitors in the 800 meter finals, even though they had the benefit of a diving start.
“I just wanted to lay it all out there”, Ledecky said.
Ledecky rarely shows her emotions, maintaining the sort of even keel that works so well in the pool.
“I felt that it was faster than any 800 I’ve ever done before”, she said when asked whether she believed she had the record, “so I was pretty sure”. In those precious moments, Ledecky, 19, could ponder the enormousness of this accomplishment and the journey that brought her here – a notion that would leave her in tears minutes later.
So what exactly will be pushing the future Stanford swimmer in Tokyo in four years? Ledecky is not sure yet what she’ll study, but she’s looking forward to being just another college freshman. “I am heading home in a couple of days and I’ll have to get all my stuff for my dorm and get everything ready”. “I don’t know why I’m crying”.
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She’s in no hurry to turn professional and cash in on her success. “I don’t really feel like I need to represent something bigger than that right now”. “I think there are some pressures that come with being a professional swimmer, and I don’t think I am ready for that”.
