Katie Ledecky Research Paper

Katie Ledecky started swimming when she was just six years old. She had two world records, four world championships, and one Olympic gold. All before she passed her driver’s license test. Nobody knew she would be a three time world record holder and have five olympic gold medals by the time she was just nine-teen. She started out just an average swimmer, working hard to achieve her goals. Katie Ledecky is a hero because she is positive, brave, tough, motivated, and she is the best at what she does.
First of all, Katie Ledecky is a positive athlete. She believes she can do her best every times she swims. “‘I can do this.’ is what Katie Ledecky, 19, tells herself when her lungs are burning and her muscles are screaming and she still has dozens of laps to go” (Park). Ledecky never gets down on herself and always believes she can swim her best. “Katie has immense pressure placed upon her since London, but she doesn’t let it faze her. She comes out there, swims her races, she does her thing, she comes out with a smile” (Fenno). Even when Ledecky doesn’t have a good race she doesn’t let it affect how the rest of her day will go.
In addition to being positive, Ledecky is also a brave athlete. Ledecky faces fear from other athletes, being so young, and having to
compete for her country. Katie Ledecky made her first appearance at the 2012 United States Olympic Trials, entering the 200-, 400- and 800-meter freestyles. The lack of top-level experience proved no obstacle for the 15-year-old, who surged to an eye-opening win in the 800m to become the youngest member of the U.S. team. Katie was the youngest American athlete to participate in the 2012 games. “I was very intimidated but knew I had to get through it.” says Ledecky (Dillman). After the 2016 Olympic Trials, she feels ready to compete for her country all over again. She admits swimming in the Olympics for the second time feels surreal and shrugs off the world-beating success as the product of goal-setting and hard work (Fenno). Ledecky faces her fears knowing she will come out better and stronger for her country.
As well as being a positive and brave athlete, Ledecky is also a very tough athlete. Ledecky is a very tough, she pushes through the pain and always comes out stronger than before. Katie 19-years-old resisted the urge to vomit during the final meters and accelerated to the wall less than a second off the world record in her weakest individual event (Fenno). Ledecky pushed through not knowing if she would make it or not but trying her best to achieve her goals. Even when Ledecky is nervous about how many people there are she doesn’t let it affect her race. Like Phelps she seems immune to off nights in the biggest races. She has never lost a major individual final in international competition, she doesn’t care about the size of the stage (Walker). She doesn’t let the pressure of many people watching her determine the fate of her race.
Katie Ledecky is a very motivated athlete. Katie never knows what she will do in the water but motivates herself to do good.“She fails spectacularly and frequently” says coach Gemmell. That’s because Ledecky isn’t afraid of pushing her limits, shooting for a seemingly impossible pace (Park). She believed she could do it and she did.“I felt good. I felt coming in that I could do something like that.” she was really relaxed and ready to go (Soong). Ledecky knows how to motivate herself to get what she wants, she does it for herself.
Along with being positive, brave, tough, and motivated, Katie Ledecky is also the best at what she does. Ledecky left the rest of the field far in her wake in the 400 meter freestyle, winning her second of an expected five medals at these Games and shattering her own world record in the process (Walker). There was nobody even close to Ledecky during this race. She is only racing herself. After earning a spot on the U.S. Olympic team at age 15, she set an American record in the 800-meter freestyle to win a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Games. Ledecky has since remained unbeaten in all major international competition, shattering world records across many of the freestyle events ranging from 400 to 1,500 meters. At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, she dominated the pool, winning gold medals in the 400-meter freestyle in world record time, the 200-meter freestyle and the 4x200 meter freestyle relay, and silver in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay. She also broke the world record, winning gold in the 800-meter freestyle. She is doing things no one in the world has seen before. Her competitors gush about her as “one of a kind” and “extraordinary” and “unbelievable”. She has been named “Queen of Freestyle” (Fenno). After the 2016 Rio Olympics people were calling Ledecky the female Phelps and the GOAT (greatest of all time).
Katie Ledecky is a hero because she is positive, brave, tough, motivated, and she is the best at what she does.
Her positive, attitude helps her get along with her teammates and helps her push through the hard workouts. She is brave, which helps when she was the youngest American athlete at the Olympics. Ledecky is tough, she pushes through all her races and always comes out being better than before. She is motivated, which gives her the courage to do the best she can on every race. Katie is the best at what she does, she holds five world records and was the first American woman to win all distance events in the same Olympic Games. For starting out unknown she is now one of the most popular swimmer in the
world.