The young and the old stood in front of their seats.
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She grabbed hold of it Friday night, etching her name into the record books.
Behold the stories of her legendary training regimen: 5am and 3pm practices in the pool at Georgetown Prep with dryland training in between. Oh my. The crowd unleashed a roar that thundered throughout the arena. That consistency was key, as the USA team built an insurmountable advantage in the middle three bouts of the match. Along with her individual golds, Ledecky also topped the podium with the 4×200 relay. During her last 800-meter Olympic race in London as a 15-year-old – yes, she won gold there, too – she couldn’t help but think, “Wow, I’m at the Olympics”, with every breath taken.
Ledecky’s finish showed her dominance in the sport.
Then she was off, diving into the pool. Ledecky has not turned professional and plans to swim at least one NCAA season.
If Anthony Ervin had won the 50 meter freestyle last night by the same margin that Ledecky won the 800 meter freestyle, he would’ve won by three quarters of a second. All she had done coming into Friday was record the top 12 marks of all time in the 800.
Katie Ledecky met all of her goals.
Hosszu led from the start, reacting fastest from the block, but DiRado shadowed her the whole way.
“It’s indescribable. That is just pure joy and surprise and excitement”, she said. You can see it in the way she trains.
Ledecky could also continue to develop her 100m freestyle.
Iran set a world record when Kianoush Rostami earned a gold medal in the men’s 85-kilogram weightlifting class with a combined 396 kilos.
But Ledecky is eager to get on to the next phase of her life.
The fans were in a fever. Ayana eclipsed a 23-year-old record time by 14 seconds.
What makes Ledecky so good? The command whipped the crowd into a broiling froth.
At the long distances – 800m and 1500m – there has never been anybody like her.
“The goal was 8:05 or better”, she said. Even janitors, dropping their brooms, were now cheering Ledecky. She’s the first woman to sweep the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle races since Debbie Meyer did the same in Mexico in 1968.
Joseph Schooling became Singapore’s first Olympic champion by winning the 100 meter fly and Michael Phelps got Olympic medal 27 in a three-way tie for second. The memories mean more than the medals to me here.
Ledecky had to stop; tears fell like raindrops from her eyes.
After winning four gold medals at these games and looking unbeatable, Phelps finally ran out of steam in what was the final individual race of his career unless he decides to come out of retirement again.
Ledecky’s final lap-after having already swam 750 meters, and 2600 more meters in other Olympic events-was her second fastest non-diving start lap of the Olympics. The better team lost, she said. After all, she loves swimming the way most people love ice cream. Ledecky only needs to look at Missy Franklin as a cautionary tale.
She won her first Olympic medal in 2012 in the 800-meter freestyle, too, but now, four years later, did it nearly 10 seconds faster.
But nobody right now is doubting Katie Ledecky. That’s what’s challenging. That’s what’s driven her. “The possibilities are endless for her”.
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‘I have been feeling a bit rough over the last couple of days so to come away with another silver medal is an incredible feeling. That was two-tenths of a second better than the bronze medalist, Boglarka Kapas, of Hungary.
