The next time the teenager, already a competitive swimmer, got in the pool, she cut through the water repeating to herself, “I am Debbie Meyer”.
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United States’ Katie Ledecky cries, after winning gold, in the women’s 800-meter freestyle medals ceremony during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 12, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“It feels like gold that I’m after her”, she said of Ledecky.
“I’m not going four more years and I’m standing by that”, he said.
For Ledecky, special is routine. She is the first woman to sweep the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle races at the same Olympics since US swimmer Debbie Meyer did so at Mexico City in 1968.
Ledecky has set 13 world records in her career, with Friday night marking the fifth time she has lowered the record in the 800 and the third time in a little more than a year.
But Friday’s victory provided the most compelling example yet of the extent to which Ledecky is dominating women’s swimming.
Ledecky led from the start and inexorably stretched out the gap over her opponents to finish in 8 minutes, 4.79 seconds, beating her previous mark of 8:06.68 set in Austin, Texas, last January. That was two-tenths of a second better than the bronze medalist, Boglarka Kapas, of Hungary.
“I’ve really looked up to Debbie and all the women freestyle swimmers on the U.S. team in general”, Ledecky said.
Ledecky will rightly look to enjoy her success but things can change quickly in swimming. Moments after his victory, he said he meant to make the US team for the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Joseph Schooling of Singapore built a big lead on the opening lap and easily held off the hard-charging Phelps to win gold in the 100-meter butterfly. He grinned afterward, appeared relaxed and sounded at peace with the result. “I know we’re all going to miss being here”.
After the race, Phelps stopped to embrace teammate Maya Dirado.
Ledecky, who cried during the post-race media conference, said she and coach Bruce Gemmell had also burst into tears after the race.
Dirado swam down Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, who starred at USC, in the final 25 meters of the 200 backstroke and touched the wall an instant before the race’s heavy favorite.
Just moments prior, Ledecky had beat out her own world record by almost two seconds with a final time of 8 minutes, 4.79 seconds, 11 seconds ahead of Great Britain’s Jazz Carlin, who came in second.
“I try not to think about the history of it much, but just to be mentioned in the same sentence as her is incredible”, she said. “My legs totally seized up”.
“I have got great goggles so I could see around me. I can’t believe I did it”. And yet, the 2000 gold medalist in the 50 freestyle – now 35 – capped an fantastic comeback story Friday night by winning the same event 16 years later.
Saturday could be Michael Phelps’s last time in an Olympic competition.
The 30-year-old won gold in 2015 at the World Championships in Beijing, just over a year after giving birth to her first child.
GOLD FOR CARTER: American Michelle Carter won the country’s first medal since 1960 in shot put – and a gold one, at that – using her last throw of the night (20.63 meters) to beat two-time defending champion Valerie Adams of New Zealand.
So it was unusual to see him, after what he insists was his final individual race as an Olympian, crowding onto a medal stand with two other swimmers.
Ledecky is ready to inspire others.
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At least seven sprinters are in the mix to be crowned the fastest woman in the world as the 100 meter final takes place at Rio’s Olympic Stadium.
