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At just 15 years old, swimmerKatie Ledeckyearned her first gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
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I was six the first time I met Michael Phelps.
Hed also set three world recordsin the 200-meter butterfly, 200-meter individual medley, and 400-meter individual medley.
(Phelps would go on to earn twenty-eight Olympic medals, twenty-three of them gold.)
The Ledecky Family
My brother and I stood in the parking lot outside the back door.
Eventually, Phelps emerged, alone, no coaches, no entourage.
He noticed the line of fans waiting and ambled over in that trademark chill way of his.
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I cant remember if I said anything.
Im sure I wouldnt have known what to say.
I do know I smiled so hard I felt it in my jaw.
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Swimming is a small world, and swimmers tend to stay swimmers for life.
In that brief span of time, I evolved from admiring observer to one of the gang.
To say that experience was surreal is to do a disservice to the word.
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Being at any Olympics is a wild experience.
Being a teenager at the Olympics feels like youve been transported into a different world.
And I wasnt just the youngest American swimmerI was the baby of the entire 530-athlete USA delegation.
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We were doing a set where we were supposed to hit specific times for different distances.
I was not only meeting the times I was being asked to meet but surpassing them.
I got through the set with flying colors, until the endwhen I hit a wall and tanked.
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Besides, I believed I had something to prove.
A wide-eyed kid from Bethesda.
I didnt even have a drivers license yet.
A big part of my Olympic journey was coming to terms with my place on Team USA.
He was kind of right.
I knew literally nothing about what to expect in training camp, to say nothing of the Olympic Games.
Brendan asked if I could join him to chat over a breakfast of eggs and toast.
He took the time to check in with me, which was kind of him.
He let me know I wasnt on my own, even if it sometimes felt that way.
Everyone feels out of their depth around the Olympics.
Its the big leagues.
Nerves and discombobulation are the order of the day.
Thanks to that talk, I calmed down.
I began to ease into my surroundings.
I learned about the caps.
(American swimmers race in white caps in the prelims and semifinals.
The black caps are for the finals.
I clued into the other Olympic rites and rituals.
They hadnt known I had it in me.
Ridiculous as it sounds, that off-the-cuff imitation freed me from my protective shell.
After that, I was fully in the mix of the team.
Katie, Im so sorry, he said.
You shouldnt have to hear all that.
I smiled, told him I didnt mind.
I may have been inexperienced and somewhat sheltered, but I wasnt a complete shut-in.
It would take more than Michael Phelps telling a typical college story to shock me.
We had a lot of innocent fun, like scrounging in Vichy for Nutella at two in the morning.
How does one ask for Nutella in France?
Lia had taken Spanish and Chinese; I had taken French at Little Flower.
That I was not justwiththem, I was one of them.
I felt I truly belonged.
The video was a sensation, netting eighteen million views.
Every day at training camp, they shot a bit more.
Then, during our charter flight from Vichy to London, we filmed the choreographed dance scene.
When the video dropped, we were giddy, watching the views and likes tick up and up.
This was a love letter from Team USA directly to the fans, and the fans embraced it wholeheartedly.
On July 27, 2012, we arrived in London.
I pinched myself every day.
The opening ceremony parade was giant, and I got to walk with the USA delegation.
Most swimmers dont get that chance because of the schedule.
The ceremony is always on a Friday night, lasting four hours and ending well after midnight.
The coaches advise you not to go because it is miles of walking and could interfere with your performance.
In London, I got lucky.
The heats of the womens 800 free werent scheduled until day six.
Every athlete had worked so hard to be there, many overcoming obstacles we would never hear about.
My race being so late in the swim schedule worked to my advantage in other ways as well.
The Village is an exceedingly cool place to be.
Its almost like a video game.
Youre dodging Olympic-level speed walkers doing their training exercises with their hyperflexible knees.
Youre strolling beside weightlifters and towering basketball players and demure gymnasts.
All shapes and sizes of athlete, speaking in every language youve ever heard.
Representatives from every country, mingling and chitchatting.
Especially in the cafeteria.
At the same time, youre cheek by jowl with your competitors.
The mix gives rise to a palpable buzz.
It doesnt feel tense so much as like youre floating in this exclusive, singular bubble.
Theres pin trading, like at Disney World.
When youre there, among so many talented people, you feel like youve already won.
No one is a bigger swimming dork than me.
I attended every prelim and finals session.
Rebecca beat my time by more than two seconds.
To me, the only thing that mattered was that I had made it to the finals.
My time of 8:23.84 was near what Id done at the Trials, which boded well.
Officials assign lanes by race times, fastest in the middle, slower on the outside.
My time put me in the middle of the pool, in lane three.
I met Yuri outside the spectator entrance as soon as I could after my prelim.
It was as if he was being kept behind the velvet ropes of a nightclub or something.
I have this picture of the two of us meeting that one of my family members took.
Were huddled together whispering in the public areaamong fans and competitors alikeabout my stroke and my race strategy.
Despite the odd circumstances, Yuri was reassuring and focused.
He emphasized how proud he was of me for making the final.
Which was the truth.
And thats when he gave the last-minute advice that changed everything.
Yuri told me to breathe more to my right side and less to my left.
Yuri didnt say breatheonlyto the right.
That was his final technical instruction.
Oh, and not to take the race out so hard and fast.
To be more controlled.
(This was not a new suggestion, but I appreciated the reinforcement.)
Last, as a warning, Yuri told me, Its going to be loud.
Youre going to be in lane three.
Rebecca is going to be in lane four.
The place is going to erupt for her.
All that energy is for you.
Dont let it be more than that.
Then he smiled and added, Youre going to be great.
The story pitted Rebecca against Lotte.
It has always been us two, declared Rebecca.
As far as the press was concerned, I didnt exist.
In reading the Olympic press, it became clear how big a race this was going to be.
The Olympic Committee had scheduled the race toward the end of the night.
I was nearly 100 percent certain neither Rebecca nor Lotte knew anything about my racing style.
Being an underdog gave me space to concentrate on my own game.
Invisibility would be my superpower.
Seeing Yuri had left me calmer than Id felt in the prelim race.
I knew I was ready, come what may.
No eyes were on me.
No one was sweating me to deliver anything but my best effort.
Not even my folks.
I called my mom the day of my race.
My mom said, Oh, great.
Then she hung up, turned to my dad, and winced.
She thinks shes going to make the podium, she said.
He answered, Well, if she doesnt, we will remind her that shes just fifteen.
And that this was a good experience.
I smile, thinking about that conversation.
No one in my family could conceive of my winning a medal at my first Olympics.
My parents always get asked, When did you know Katie was gonna make the Olympics?
And they shoot back honestly, When she touched the wall at the Olympic Trials.
To be clear, my parents were thrilled that I made it to the Games.
They supported me from a place of love and consistency, which was separate from my accomplishments.
If there is such a thing as the opposite of stage parents, my folks are it.
As for my own mindset, I consistently saw myself winning gold.
At that point I think Id only lost one 800 freestyle race in my life.
Id won the Olympic Trials.
Id won Junior Nationals.
I tried to visualize different scenarios, but I struggled to visualize anything but winning.
Before any race, I typically eat the same thing: plain pasta with olive oil and Parmesan cheese.
In London, prior to my 800 free, it was no different.
I wolfed down a plate of noodles at the Olympic Village before busing to the aquatic center early.
By then the media coverage was at a fever pitch.
Prince William and Princess Kate were going to be in the stands.
As were Lebron James and a handful of other NBA players from Team USA Basketball.
I was in the pool warming up when my parents arrived.
I waved to them, and one of the ushers noticed and asked who they knew swimming tonight.
My mom said that their daughter was in the 800.
My parents freaked out.
They were positive theyd be ejected from the arena and miss my race.
When I walked in, Michael Phelps was there.
His mind must have been reeling with the significance of that milestone.
The best in the world, headed toward what was meant to be his Olympic swan song.
They were standing up to witness the coronation of their favorite swimmer.
Attack and not look back.
Typically, before the call comes to take your mark, I do three claps.
That night, it was so noisy, I had some concern I would not hear the starter.
I decided to forgo the three claps and bent into position and waited for my cue.
When I dove in, my mind was clearblank, really.
I was on autopilot.
My coaches wanted me to swim a controlled first half of the race.
I started so eagerly that I took the lead by the 50-meter mark.
It was as if the adrenaline made my brain black out.
I was pacing myself, not putting it all into the first 100 meters.
Same for Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines at NBC.
After 150 meters, I broke away.
By 200 meters, Id flipped at under two minutes, faster than the world-record pace.
Even in the water, the noise in the aquatic center was deafening.
When I would turn my head to breathe, I was hammered by a wave of sound.
It was the crowd, still chanting, Becky!
At the 600 turn, I had an epiphany.
I wont mess this up.
From that moment on, I felt vibrant, alive in my body, present.
I registered every detail.
The London Olympic signage.
The crowd on their feet, waving pink and green Becky banners.
The slosh of the water churning around me.
I took a breath to the left, against Yuris orders.
I couldnt help myself.
I had to see if anyone was sneaking up in lanes four, five, or six.
For the last 200, I was on my own.
Well ahead of everyone else, in my first ever Olympics.
The kid leaving everyone else in her wake.
I felt like I was on another planet.
For eight minutes, I swam like my life depended on it.
Then I touched the wall.
And just like that, I was an Olympic champion.
I was the youngest athlete ever to have won the womens 800 free at the Olympics.
Rebecca took third, losing to Spains Mireia Belmonte Garcia.
My mom told me when she watched me race, she was so anxious that her mouth went dry.
She didnt know my competitors, the history of their races.
While I was ahead, she didnt trust that I could keep the lead.
She assumed the other swimmers were holding back.
But when I turned at the last 200, she, like me, knew I had it.
She began jumping up and down.
She still has a photo of the two of them on her iPad.
After I won, Rebecca was unbelievably gracious, far warmer than she had to be given the circumstances.
The first thing she did was swim over and hug me, saying, Well done, amazing.
Even saying she was looking forward to watching me break it.
It was clear all the prior pressure had fallen off her shoulders.
Im sure there must have been a level of disappointment, but she was a study in class.
Her country should have been as proud of that as any swimming medal.
When I caught up with my parents and my brother, they were all kind of in a daze.
Like I said, none of my relatives expected me to win a medal.
Never mind the gold.
My moms uncle Red, who was eighty-six at the time, may have been the only true believer.
Hed flown in from Washington state with his daughters.
He bragged that his grandniece was going to be swimming in the 800.
They listened, offered good luck, but assured him I would never beat their Becky.
Bullish, Red made the whole place a wager.
If I won, hed buy all of them breakfast.
Ironically, they were the family who had originally recommended that my mom enroll us at the Palisades pool.
None of us knew theyd be in London.
After the medal ceremony, they threw me an American flag.
To this day, Kurt jokes that he wants his lucky flag back.
Next, Team USA took me to the International Broadcast Centre for press interviews.
After the chaos of my upset, the media had a lot of questions.
Missy and Michaels performances got me pumped up, I told the gathered press.
I just wanted to see how well I could represent the U.S.
So, I could say thats a pretty good first Olympics for a fifteen-year-old.
Eventually, I was reunited with my family and with Yuri.
I dont remember too much besides giving everyone a big hug.
Im sure there were some tears.
I showed Yuri the gold medal.
He had to leave the next day to coach a swim meet in Buffalo.
But I do breathe a few times to my left, wanting to confirm that Im still ahead.
I ended up missing the world record by about half a second.
I wouldnt have wanted him to miss that moment, the culmination of our efforts together.
To be able to share that journey with him was crucial to me.
We felt a sense of satisfaction, of a shared mission accomplished.
Theres one photo I always think about.
Its a candid of me getting out of the pool after my prelim swim.
It was quite the juxtaposition.
In September, I joined other Team USA members to visit the White House.
Both President Obama and the First Lady spoke on the South Lawn.
It sends a message to the world about what makes America special.
It speaks to the character of this group, how you guys carried yourselves.
And then he mentioned me by name, a shock I still havent recovered from.
Then he searched the crowd to find me.
Yes, there she is.
This was all heady stuff for a teenager entering her sophomore year of high school.
I mean, sure, I did an assembly and answered a lot of questions about the Olympics.
Students, teachers, everyone could ask whatever they wanted.
But after that, the all-consuming feeling of having been a part of the world stage receded.
At random times, I would feel somewhat overwhelmed, but I wasnt exactly sure why.
Like it or not, Id become a public figure.
A professional athlete with an international audience.
Being an Olympian, having that title and profile, was a massive adjustment.
As was my brother leaving home and starting college.
At school, it wasnt as if I was treated as a different person post-London.
But I kind of felt like one.
In swimming, it can be easy to get stuck in your own head.
We were all dedicated swimmers, but we also kept things fun and light.
I tried to maintain a connection to my community that went beyond the pool.
I held on to who I always was while accepting who I was becoming.
Excerpted fromJUST ADD WATER: My Swimming Life.Copyright 2024 by Katie Ledecky.
Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
