Katie Ledecky

Katie Ledecky devotes considerable time and effort to various charities, such as Catholic Charities, Shepherd's Table, Bikes for the World, and Wounded Warriors. In December 2016, she was named as a Ship’s Sponsor for USS Enterprise (CVN-80) along with Simone Biles. They are the first Olympians to receive such honour.

Katie Ledecky was born on March 17, 1997, in Washington D.C., to Mary Gen (née Hagan) and David Ledecky. She has an older brother named Michael who swam for the Harvard University. Her uncle is Jon Ledecky, the owner of New York Islanders.

Her paternal grandfather, Jaromír Ledecký, was a Czech immigrant who came to the United States in 1947. Her paternal grandmother was Jewish. Ledecky’s own mother is of Irish ancestry. Ledecky is a devout Catholic.

At the age of six, Ledecky started taking swimming lessons after getting inspired by her brother and her mother, who, during her time at the University of New Mexico, used to swim as well.

She studied at Little Flower School in Bethesda, Maryland before attending Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart. While in high school, she registered the American and US Open record in the 500-yard freestyle as well as broke the high school record for the 200-yard freestyle.

In the summer of 2012, she started training at the Nation's Capital Swim Club, where initially her coach was Yuri Suguiyama. After Yuri Suguiyama left the club, she began training under coach Bruce Gemmell, who would later guide her through the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Katie Ledecky took the first place in the 800-meter freestyle at the 2012 United States Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska. In the same trial, she also got the third place in the 400-meter freestyle and the ninth place in the 200-meter freestyle. In the 2012 Olympics, she was the youngest American participant.

In the 2012 Summer Olympics, She made it to the final of the 800-meter freestyle after taking third place overall in the qualifying rounds. In the final round, she surprised everyone by clocking an impressive 8:14.63 and grabbing the gold by four seconds.

That win earned her the first international medal of her career and brought her several recognitions, including the 2012 Best Female Performance of the Year and Breakout Performer of the Year at the Golden Goggle Awards.

After finishing first in the 400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyle, she qualified for those events and the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, Spain. She had also qualified for the 200-meter freestyle by taking the second place, but later withdrew from the event.

Ledecky went on to win gold medals in all the competitions she participated in the World Championships and in the process, broke several American and world records, including the world record in the 1500-meter freestyle by clocking 15:36.53.