To me, Katie Ledecky is simply the #GOAT, the greatest swimmer of all time.
I’ve written on this blog several times in the past about Katie to seek to understand a little about her and what lessons we can take:
- Nov 2017: Elite lessons: Katie Ledecky (aka The GOAT)
- Jan 2018: Emotional Equations – Grit
- Feb 2021: How to become better than anyone is at anything
This week, though, I learned yet more about what makes her great, as she competed at the Tokyo Olympics.
Katie Ledecky truly has a phenomenal range. She is by far the greatest long-distance pool swimmer in history, though up until this Olympics the longest distance event for women was the 800m. This year, however, she entered into the 1500m, 800m, 400m as well as 200m, plus relays.
I’m going to share a remarkable interview with Katie Ledecky with Sports Illustrated, but first, a background to her swimming programme and results in Tokyo up to the point of that interview.
Her first final was the 400m Free last Monday, where she was narrowly touched out and took home the Silver rather than her customary Gold.
On Wednesday, she then had two finals. First came the 200m Free, and she was visibly upset when she could finish no better than fifth, out of the medals. However, she then picked herself up and raced the 1500m later in the same session, winning the Gold by an enormous margin.
The interview below came after that day’s events, a day which also saw Simone Biles momentous decision to pull out of the Gymnastics team event after a very scary attack of the “twisties” on her first event, the vault.
Now, before posting an excerpt from that interview, at the time of writing this (I am writing it on Thursday to go out on Saturday), I just watched Katie Ledecky swim the third-fastest 200M Free relay split of all time to bring the USA team not only into contention but into Silver medal position, losing only to China as they broke the world record. Remember, Katie Ledecky is a long-distance swimmer, yet she now holds 4 of the top 5 200M Free relay split times in history. As I said, the #GOAT
Now, this interview provides such amazing insights into Katie, not only what makes her great in terms of grit and determination, but also, to me, that her self-knowledge means that she can take her empathy and care for others and turn that into a powerful tool to swim fast and strong too:
…Ledecky regrouped and won the 1,500-meter freestyle, with U.S. teammate Erica Sullivan charging hard for silver. Ledecky’s time was not extraordinary by her standards, which in that event are not the same standards as the rest of humanity. But the recovery and return to dominance mattered more than the time. And the reaction was different from any of her previous five gold medals. Ledecky waited for teammate Sullivan to finish, then slapped her hand down on the water in celebration of them both. They embraced, and suddenly Ledecky was crying. That moment was a hint at what she and Biles probably know better than any two athletes here: how hard it can be lugging perfection around on your shoulders every day. “I would never want to speak for Simone and say that I know what she’s feeling because none of us do,” Ledecky said. “But I understand it.”
An existence in which any weakness comes as a shock, and excellence is the minimum requirement, is not easy. Especially as the evidence mounts that the performance in Rio, when she won everything and broke records, was a peak that probably won’t be scaled again. “I’m always striving to be better than I’ve ever been, and it’s not easy when your times are world records,” Ledecky said, during what certainly was her most unguarded press conference ever at the Olympics. “I’m really tough on myself. But that’s the attitude I have—I literally approach each race with a belief that I can swim a best time, and that’s pretty darned tough. But that’s why I’ve been so successful over the years because I approach every single race with the attitude that anything can happen, and I can break world records this race. I’m going to step up and throw down. “It’s a real blessing and a curse to have that attitude. It’s served me well and it’s why I’ve broken so many world records and swam so many fast times. It’s also a really hard attitude to maintain for nine years.”
Ledecky has learned to coexist with that duality, that self-created conflict. She badly wants to win every time, but also can deal with a silver medal when she swims her second-best time in the 400-meter freestyle. What she would like now is for the outside world to join her in that coexistence. Cheer the wins but don’t treat the losses as some sort of calamity. “I’m kind of at peace with it,” she said. “I kind of laugh when I see things like ‘settles for silver.’ There’s so many Olympians that have won silver and bronze that are really happy with that, and deserve a lot of praise. Just because I’ve won golds all the time, that doesn’t mean silver doesn’t mean something to me.
“I don’t want anybody to feel sorry for me, or think that a silver medal is a disappointment or anything. I’d much rather people be concerned about people who are truly struggling in life. It’s such a privilege to be in an Olympics, much less an Olympics in the middle of a pandemic. I’m lucky to be here.”
As she often has done, Ledecky psychologically leaned on family after the shock of her fifth-place finish in the 200. Her coach, Greg Meehan, gave her a few minutes to process it before sending her into the warm-down pool to get ready for the 1,500. While slowly turning laps, Ledecky thought of her grandparents—her deceased grandfathers, her living but aged grandmothers, both of whom she very much wants to visit after the Olympics for the first time since before the pandemic. “Four of the toughest people I know,” she said, using their struggles as a speed primer on bouncing back. Then she went out and did what she does better than any female in history—turning lap after lap after lap and leaving everyone behind. When she stood on the top podium, she remembered everything that has come along with being there before.
“I was thinking of the power of the gold medal and what I’ve experienced over the years, how I’ve gone to children’s hospitals and met wounded warriors and their faces light up when they see the gold medal. That means more to me than anything, the ability to put a smile on someone’s face. I still wanted to get a gold medal to have that opportunity again.”
from the SI article published Jul 28,. 2021: “For Katie Ledecky, Emotions Run Deep“
Like I said, the #GOAT. So much to learn from this remarkable human being.
and a link to the full piece (and thank you to my friend, Coach Ian Armiger, for sending this to me, it is a privilege and blessing to have Ian as a dear friend and a font of so much knowledge about elite sports and sports psychology!).