On Friday night, the 19-year-old won the gold medal in the 800-meter freestyle by 11 seconds.
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As the Chronicle notes, Ledecky also broke her second world record.
“Just kind of the end of a four-year journey”, she said as the tears flowed. There were nights I would go to bed and think about this day (and) how much fun I’ve had these past four years, and I’d start crying in bed.
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.
Ledecky was practically racing against a yellow line on Friday night, which represents the Olympic record she set at the 2012 Olympics. The outcome of the race was never in doubt, and the Brazilian crowd loudly urged Ledecky on in pursuit of a new standard of greatness in the longest female Olympic swimming event.
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“I just wanted to make this meet count”. Ledecky already owned all of the top-10 times in the history of the 800 free, and this adds another layer to her dominance. “It’s a team that I’m always going to be really close with”. Ledecky made her Olympic debut in London, winning the gold in the 800-meter freestyle when she was just 15.
