Getty Katie Ledecky of Team United States looks on during aquatics training at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on July 22, 2021.
Team USA’s swimming star Katie Ledecky, who won her first gold medal at age 15 at the 2012 Olympics, is looking to add more medals to her collection at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The six-time medalist will compete during the 200, 400, 800 and 1,500-meter freestyle swims, along with the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, and fans can’t help but wonder about the swimming prodigy’s personal life.
The 24-year-old swimmer is not married, nor does it appear that she’s dating anyone. Her social media profiles focus on her sport and sponsorships, with no indication of a special someone. While it sounds like an overused trope, Ledecky is so laser-focused on training, she truly doesn’t have time for romance. Amid the coronavirus lockdown, Ledecky only left her apartment in Palo Alto “to swim and lift weights,” per Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde.
Did you know @katieledecky’s broken the world record in the 1500m free SIX times?
Well now she’s heading to its Olympic debut!
Ledecky didn’t even see her family in person between March 2020 and April 2021, Forde wrote :
If medals were awarded for the seriousness with which an athlete approached the pandemic, Ledecky would have another gold to add to her extensive Olympic collection. It can be lonely at the top, a truism few athletes know better than Ledecky. She essentially created her own summit and spent many years occupying it without company in women’s distance swimming, far ahead of the rest of the world, chasing only her own records. The pandemic added a different layer of loneliness, but she was committed to staying safe while continuing her training for a third Olympic Games.
Ledecky Is ‘Super Friggin’ Competitive’
Instead of dating, Ledecky used her year of downtime to finish her psychology degree at Stanford, along with a minor in political science. She FaceTimed her parents, Mary Gen and David Ledecky, along with her older brother, Michael, she told Sports Illustrated.
Needless to say, Ledecky was not spending hours swiping right or left on dating apps or meeting new romantic partners. Ledecky, who does 10 workouts a week, admitted to Sports Illustrated that her competitive spirit trumps any desire to live a “normal” life.
“It’s just constantly chasing another goal,” Ledecky said. “It’s definitely harder to go best times now and I don’t expect that of myself every time I race — but I kind of do, in a way. I kind of approach every race like it’s an important race, and I expect a lot of myself every time. I think that has allowed me to sustain the success I’ve had over the last nine years, never being satisfied and approaching each race with high expectations.”
Ledecky’s swim coach Greg Meehan is continuously impressed by her dedication to swimming.
“You can check all the technique boxes and not be anywhere near as good as she is,” Meehan said. “The appetite for work, attacking with that appetite — it’s not just, ‘Give me work.’ It’s, ‘Give me work and I’m going to go be the best in the pool every day.’ She’s fairly quiet, fairly reserved, and super friggin’ competitive.”
Ledecky Is Committed to Competing at the 2024 Olympics
GettyKatie Ledecky of the United States reacts after competing in the Women’s 800m freestyle final during Day Seven of the 2021 U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials at CHI Health Center on June 19, 2021 in Omaha, Nebraska.
Unfortunately for anyone looking to date Ledecky, she is going to be quite busy for the next seven years. Not only is Ledecky committed to competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, “L.A. [in 2028] is pretty intriguing as well,” she told Sports Illustrated.
As for Tokyo, if Ledecky wins all five events she qualified for, she’ll be the first American woman to earn five gold medals at a single Olympics.
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