Katie Ledecky won the gold medal in swimming in the 1500 meters
1 august 2024 в 16:13
Katie Ledecky has just added another gold medal to her collection. The 27-year-old Olympic champion swam the 1500-meter freestyle in 15:30:02 on Wednesday, July 31st — winning with a huge lead over all other countries. This victory broke her personal record, as Katie had previously swum the distance in 15:35.35 at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago. In addition to eight gold medals, Katie also has three silver and one bronze medal.
After realizing she had won the freestyle, Katie was seen celebrating this success immediately after touching the wall. Later, she spoke to journalists about the victory.
«It's never easy to win a gold medal», - the athlete said. «So I’m just trying to soak in every moment of it».
Although her «mind wandered a lot» during the long-distance race, Katie was able to stay focused.
«You know, three years ago in Tokyo, I repeated my grandmothers' names in my head a lot», - she recalled. «And today, I kind of settled on the names of the guys I train with every day in Florida. I just repeated their names in my head, thinking about all the workouts we’ve done, and all the confidence I get from training, from being next to them and competing with them».
Other swimmers were surprised to hear that Katie was able to let her mind wander during the race. Michael Phelps was even shocked, but acknowledged how skilled Katie was to do it.
«Well, first of all, I’ve never swum long enough for my mind to wander», - said 39-year-old Michael. «But being able to do that and still be kind of in the moment, almost celebrating this gold medal with them, is so powerful. She has a great training group at the University of Florida».
Before the start of the Paris Olympics, Katie spoke in June about her journey. The swimmer admitted that she «never thought she would even make it to one Olympics when she started swimming, let alone have the opportunity to go to a fourth».
«So it’s amazing for me», - added Katie. «But at the same time, I don’t really focus on historical achievements or the number of medals. I am very focused on each individual race, and more on times than places»
After realizing she had won the freestyle, Katie was seen celebrating this success immediately after touching the wall. Later, she spoke to journalists about the victory.
«It's never easy to win a gold medal», - the athlete said. «So I’m just trying to soak in every moment of it».
Although her «mind wandered a lot» during the long-distance race, Katie was able to stay focused.
«You know, three years ago in Tokyo, I repeated my grandmothers' names in my head a lot», - she recalled. «And today, I kind of settled on the names of the guys I train with every day in Florida. I just repeated their names in my head, thinking about all the workouts we’ve done, and all the confidence I get from training, from being next to them and competing with them».
Other swimmers were surprised to hear that Katie was able to let her mind wander during the race. Michael Phelps was even shocked, but acknowledged how skilled Katie was to do it.
«Well, first of all, I’ve never swum long enough for my mind to wander», - said 39-year-old Michael. «But being able to do that and still be kind of in the moment, almost celebrating this gold medal with them, is so powerful. She has a great training group at the University of Florida».
Before the start of the Paris Olympics, Katie spoke in June about her journey. The swimmer admitted that she «never thought she would even make it to one Olympics when she started swimming, let alone have the opportunity to go to a fourth».
«So it’s amazing for me», - added Katie. «But at the same time, I don’t really focus on historical achievements or the number of medals. I am very focused on each individual race, and more on times than places»
© Puhova Marina
