Katie Ledecky smashes US female record with ninth gold medal, making history in epic Olympics moment

Exactly 12 years has passed between Katie Ledecky’s first gold medal and the ninth one she picked up on Saturday, but the star American swimmer is still stunning the world all the same.

Once an up-and-coming 15-year-old girl who shockingly triumphed in the 800-meter freestyle at the 2012 London Games, Ledecky cruised to victory in the same event at 27, this time as the most decorated American female Olympian during the 2024 Paris Games.

Posting a time of 8:11:04, Ledecky outswam Australia’s Ariarne Titmus (8:12:29, silver) and fellow American Paige Madden (8:13.00, bronze) to become a four-time winner of the Olympic event.

Titmus and Madden each registered personal bests, but it still wasn’t enough to surpass Ledecky.

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She is just the second swimmer to ever win the same discipline at four consecutive Olympic games, joining fellow star American swimmer Michael Phelps, who accomplished the feat in the men’s 200 individual medley from 2004-2016.

“I was like, ‘Wait, I would?’” Ledecky said of the possibility of stepping into the same class as Phelps, per USA Today. “These things kind of go in one ear and out the other. I had thought that there were maybe a few others, but I think I’m getting it confused with the three-peat in Tokyo with a few others. These things, I hear them, I see them, but I don’t really focus on them.

“I just stay focused on my own goals, my goals are very time focused and splits focused and technically focused. The rest is what it is and [the media] can write about it, and you guys can focus on it, but personally I’m just going to stay focused on my own goals.”

It was Ledecky’s final race in Paris, where she finished with two gold medals, one silver and one bronze.

Ledecky’s career medal total now sits at 14.

After expressing interest in continuing to compete, however, that number could increase at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles .

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What we as a nation have witnessed with Katie Ledecky this summer can only be quantified in the expression on the face of that little girl who went viral for catching her attention after the 1500m freestyle race.

It hasn’t been all gold all the time, but it’s not necessarily about that. It’s the way Ledecky has sustained her dominance in yet another Olympic Games, while also showing little to no signs of slowing down.

Having to settle for bronze in her first event and watch Titmus, her biggest rival, earn gold could’ve knocked Ledecky off her game.

Instead, she bounced back with a dominant victory in the 1500m freestyle before she made up time for Team USA in the third leg of their silver medal-winning 4x200m freestyle relay.

It allowed for Ledecky to tie for the second most golds in the Olympics – Summer or Winter – in any sport, joining Finnish distance runner Paavo Nurmi, Russian gymnast Larisa Latynina, American swimmer Mark Spitz and American sprinter Carl Lewis.

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Phelps, of course, owns the most with a staggering and borderline untouchable 23 gold medals.

Titmus pushed Ledecky in these games until the very end. Keeping pace with Ledecky and never letting her get comfortable in the race, Titmus threatened throughout despite never taking the lead.

Set up in side by side lanes, at the conclusion of the race, Ledecky and Titmus came together, joined hands and lifted them up over the line with outstretched smiles on their faces.

They then embraced each other.

Ledecky has become the pinnacle of women’s swimming.

The last week has only confirmed that.

It’s another victory lap for Katie Ledecky.

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