Katie Ledecky

Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky ( ; born March 17, 1997) is an American competitive swimmer. She has won nine Olympic gold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. With 14 medals and 9 gold medals, she is also the most decorated American woman, most decorated female swimmer, the woman with the most gold medals (tied with Larisa Latynina) and fifth-most decorated athlete in Olympic history. She has won a record 16 individual gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships. Ledecky's 10 individual medals at the Olympics and 26 overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships are records in women's swimming‌. Ledecky is the world record holder in the women's 800- and 1500-meter freestyle (both long course and short course), as well as the former world record holder in the women's 400-meter freestyle (long course). She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events. She is widely regarded as the greatest female swimmer of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

In her international debut at the 2012 London Olympic Games as a 15-year-old, Ledecky 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 Olympic Games, with four gold medals, one silver medal, and two world records. At the 2020 Olympic Games, Ledecky emerged as the most decorated U.S. female athlete and became the first American female swimmer to win an individual event in three straight Olympiads. In 2023, she won gold in the 800 meter World Championship, becoming the first swimmer—male or female—to win six World Championship gold medals in the same event. In total, she has won 50 medals (38 golds, 10 silvers, and 2 bronzes) in major international competitions, spanning the Summer Olympics, World Championships, and Pan Pacific Championships. During her career, she has broken sixteen world records.

Ledecky's success has earned her ''Swimming World'' Female World Swimmer of the Year a record five times. Ledecky was also named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in 2017 and 2022, international female Champion of Champions by ''L'Équipe'' in 2014 and 2017, United States Olympic Committee Female Athlete of the Year in 2013, 2016 and 2017, Sportswoman of the Year by the Women's Sports Foundation in 2017, and the ESPY Best Female Athlete in 2022. In 2024, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden. Provided by Wikipedia