Katie Ledecky has just won the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle at the Aquatics Centre in Paris, collecting her eighth career Olympic gold. With her decisive victory over Anastasiya Kirpichnikova of France, in silver position, by a good 10 seconds, Ledecky now shares the record for the most Olympic gold medals won by an American woman in any sport. (Isabel Gose of Germany came in third.)
Her co-record holder is fellow swimmer Jenny Thompson, whose final Olympics was in Athens 20 years ago. (Only one woman has won more golds—nine—in the Games’s modern history: the gymnast Larisa Latynina, whose final Games was in Tokyo, 1964, as she competed for the then Soviet Union.)
The 1,500-meter freestyle is Ledecky’s signature race. She holds 20 of the fastest times ever recorded in the discipline (today’s result set a new Olympic record), and won the contest in this year’s Olympic swimming trials by nearly 20 seconds. (In a sport where hundredths of seconds often determine the outcome, it was a tremendous feat.) Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus has said that when she first raced Ledecky in 2017 (in the 400-meter freestyle), she was pleased that at least she never let Ledecky’s feet slip from her view.
Some other cool facts about this swimming GOAT: She already has a medal in Paris, having won bronze in the 400-meter freestyle a few days ago. Apparently, the only time she has ever lost the 1,500-meter freestyle was as a young teenager, in a high school-level championships back in 2013. She was also awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden in May of this year. And, very notably, she has more World golds than Michael Phelps.
Ledecky has two more races in Paris: the women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay (on August 1) and the women’s 800-meter freestyle (August 2, qualifying, August 3, finals). Stay tuned.