Katie Ledecky is now the most decorated American female athlete in Olympic history.
The 27-year-old Washington, D.C., native broke the women’s 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay record Thursday at Paris’ La Défense Stadium to win her 13th Olympic medal.
It’s the swimmer’s fourth silver medal. She also won eight gold medals, tied with American swimmer Jenny Thompson, and won one bronze medal.
Team USA He finished in second place, behind the Australian team, which was expected to win the gold medal. The Chinese team won the bronze medal and ranked third.
The last time the U.S. women’s team won a gold medal in this event was in Rio Olympics 2016. They came close again at Tokyo 2020 but ended up settling for silver. China defeated them in a close match.
This is a huge milestone for Ledecky, who has wowed audiences since her debut at the 2012 London Olympics.
Ledecky was just 15 at the time and made a huge impression Defeated defending world champion Kate Ziegler to win the gold medal in the 800m freestyle competition.
She continued to captivate sports fans at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics, winning nine medals, bringing her total to 10 this year.
Ledecky continues to dominate in Paris. Prior to Thursday’s win, she won bronze in the women’s 400m freestyle and gold in her signature event, the 1,500m freestyle. The swimming legend broke her own record in the 1500m, finishing 10 seconds ahead of France’s Anastasiia Kirpichnikova, who set an Olympic record Time 15:30.02.
“I just want to have a really happy time in swimming, that’s it. Winning a gold medal is never easy. Just trying to soak in every moment of it,” she said Said after that game.
Over the course of her career, Ledecky Broken 14 world records and 37 national records.
With Team USA’s win on Thursday, Ledecky now holds the record for most medals in women’s Olympic swimming history, surpassing Americans Jenny Thompson, Darla Torres, Natalie Coughlin and Australian Emma Mai. Keane, they each won 12 medals.
American swimmer Michael Phelps Athletes with the most Olympic medalswon 23 gold medals, 3 silver medals and 2 bronze medals.
Ledecky is not done yet. she is Ready to compete again The women’s 800m freestyle final in Paris. Freestyle preliminary rounds will begin at 5 a.m. ET on Friday, with the finals taking place the next day at 3:08 p.m.
This story was originally published on cbs news August 1, 2024.
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