American Katie Ledecky on Wednesday defended her title in the 1,500m at the Paris Games, after dominating a race in which she broke her own Olympic record and became, with eight gold medals, the most successful swimmer in Olympic history.
Katie Ledecky gave her opponents no chance and led the race from start to finish, stopping the clock at 15:30.02, which allowed her to smash the previous Olympic record, which she herself set in Tokyo 3 years ago (15:35.35), by more than five seconds.
Frenchwoman Anastasiia Kirpichnikova, who finished in 10.33 got Silver, and bronze to German Isabel Gose, in 11.14.
Ledecky becomes the second most decorated athlete in the history of the Games, tied with fellow swimmer Jenny Thompson and behind only Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina, who won nine gold medals between 1956 and 1964.
With her victory on Wednesday night in front of a delighted French public, the swimmer from Maryland made up for the disappointment of Saturday, when she only won bronze in the final of the 400-meter freestyle, which was won by the Australian Ariarne Titmus.
At 27 years old, Katie Ledecky has been the world record holder in the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle since 2018 and has already won 12 Olympic medals.
The Happiness of Swimming
Behind Ledecky’s eight Olympic gold medals lies a key to her life: a love of swimming so profound that it has allowed her to stay at the top without succumbing to psychological pressure.
“Every year that passes, I feel like I’m enjoying it more,” said the queen of middle distance running in June during the qualifying events in the United States, shortly before traveling to Paris to take part, at the age of 27, in her fourth Olympic Games.
With her 21 world titles – 16 of them individual, one more than Michael Phelps – and now 12 Olympic medals, eight of them gold, the swimmer from Maryland is enlarging her place in history.
On August 3, she will have another chance to surpass Thompson’s record and become the athlete with the most Olympic titles (nine, like gymnast Latynina), if she wins the 800-meter final.
Another record was achieved on Wednesday with her new medal, she is the first swimmer to win gold in four Olympics.
A Long Career
Ledecky rose to fame at age 15, when she won the 800-meter freestyle at the 2012 London Games.
She then added four golds in Rio 2016 (200m, 400m, and 800m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay). And in Tokyo 2020 she overcame the disappointment of the 200m (she finished 5th) and 400m (silver) to win the 800m and 1500m.
Australian Ariarne Titmus has now surpassed her in the short distance, and in this Paris edition she beat her again in the 400m freestyle, where the North American took bronze and admitted after the race that “I knew it was going to be tough.”
But Ledecky’s supremacy over the long distance remains very real, to the point that she holds the 19 best times in history in the 1,500 meters.
In Wednesday’s final, which she dominated from start to finish, she put in a show of accomplishment, lowering her own Olympic record, which she had set back in Tokyo 2020, by more than five seconds.
Millimeter Precision
The American’s style is millimetrically precise – she can swim with a glass of milk chocolate in her cap without spilling a single drop – and is characterized by a powerful and slightly asymmetrical crawl.
But the ultimate key is his mental discipline, which has allowed him to keep a cool head in a sport marked by monotony and solitude in training, and which caused depression for the greatest athletes, such as Phelps and Caeleb Dressel, who also boasts eight Olympic gold medals.
“I hope my tenacity will outlast any sporting glory,” the swimmer wrote in her memoir, “Just Add Water,” published in June.
In the liquid element, this daughter of a swimmer who started this sport at the age of six finds the pleasure of “doing pirouettes, turning her body in all directions”, and even, on a more existential level, “putting her psyche to the test” to get the best out of it.
“Katie always tries to maximize her performance and not hold anything back,” True Sweetser, one of her training partners at Stanford, told the in 2021.
His voracity in training, both in the water and in bodybuilding, contrasts with the calm he shows in competition, where he usually soberly celebrates his triumphs and never forgets to congratulate his rivals.
“Katie always wants to win by the greatest margin probable, but I don’t think she’s out to break anyone’s soul like Michael Jordan did,” said Matt Barbini of the U.S. swimming team.
