Katie Ledecky

Olympic 800 m champion at 15 in London, now with nine Olympic golds.

Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky (born March 17, 1997) is an American competitive swimmer. She is the most decorated female swimmer in history and the most decorated American woman in Olympic history, with 14 Olympic medals, including nine golds. In her international debut at the 2012 London Olympic Games, as a 15-year-old, she unexpectedly won the gold medal in the women's 800-metre freestyle; four years later she left Rio de Janeiro as the most decorated female athlete of the 2016 Games, with four gold medals, one silver and two world records.

She became the first American female swimmer to win an individual event at three straight Olympiads. Ledecky has won a record 18 individual gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships and holds the world records in the women's 800 m and 1500 m freestyle long course. She trained with the Nation's Capital Swim Club through the 2016 Olympics and then swam for Stanford University, and in 2024 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Last updated 2026-10-21 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Full name

Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky

Strokes

Freestyle

Club

Nation's Capital Swim Club

Education

Stanford University (BA)

College team

Stanford University

Coach

Yuri Suguiyama
Bruce Gemmell
Greg Meehan
Anthony Nesty

Born

17 March 1997

Birthplace

Washington, D.C., U.S.

Facts from the source article.

Early life, swimming, and education

Katie Ledecky was born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Bethesda, Maryland. Her mother is of Irish descent and her paternal grandfather was Czech. Ledecky was raised Catholic and prays the Hail Mary before races. She began swimming at age six, influenced by her older brother and her mother, who swam for the University of New Mexico.

She attended Little Flower School through eighth grade and graduated from Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in 2015. In high school, she set American and US Open records in the 500-yard freestyle and national high-school records in the 200-yard freestyle. She trained with the Nation's Capital Swim Club under coaches Yuri Suguiyama and later Bruce Gemmell. Ledecky accepted an athletic scholarship to Stanford University, where she swam for coach Greg Meehan.

In December 2016, she and Simone Biles were chosen as sponsors of a US Navy aircraft carrier, the first Olympians given that honor. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology with a minor in political science from Stanford, graduating in June 2021.

Professional career

Ledecky turned professional on May 16, 2018, at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Indianapolis, where she broke her own world record in the 1500-meter freestyle with a time of 15:20.48. She signed her first sponsorship deal with TYR Sport on June 8, 2018. At the 2018 USA Swimming Championships, she qualified for the Pan Pacific Championships by winning the 200-, 400-, and 800-meter freestyle. At the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo, she won three individual golds (400, 800, and 1500 meters), a bronze in the 200-meter freestyle, and a silver in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay.

In 2019, at the World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, she battled illness, withdrew from the 1500- and 200-meter freestyle, but won her fourth straight world title in the 800-meter freestyle. She also helped the 4x200-meter freestyle relay set an American record. In the inaugural International Swimming League season, she represented DC Trident. For the seventh straight year, she finished with the world's top times in the 800- and 1500-meter freestyle.