“Dont practice until you get it right. Practice until you can’t get it wrong.”
Born in 1997, Washington DC, USA, Kathleen ‘Katie’ Ledecky is a competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle events. She began swimming at the age of six and entered her first competition in high school. During her high-school swimming career, Ledecky twice set the American and US Open record in the 500-yard freestyle and the national high-school record in the 200-yard freestyle.
![](http://139.84.133.140/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/5f1b53192618b958c977a473.jpg)
International Career
With an early and explosive start to what would become a groundbreaking career, Ledecky participated in the 2012 US Olympic Trials, her first senior competition. At the age of 15, she was the youngest American athlete to compete at the 2012 Olympic Games. She won gold in the 800m freestyle, set a new American record, secured her first Olympic medal, and won the 2012 Best Female Performance of the Year and Breakout Performer of the Year at the Golden Goggle Awards.
Ledecky is a fifteen-time World Championship gold medalist, eight-time Pan Pacific Champion, and seven-time Olympic gold medallist, making her the most decorated female swimmer in history. She is the current world record holder of the 400m, 800m, and 1500m freestyle events and in the women’s 500y, 1000y, 1500y, and 1650-yard freestyle events. At her second Olympic Games in Rio, 2016, she won 4 gold, 2 silver medals and set two new world record to become the most decorated female athlete in any sport that year, according to the IOC website.
![](http://139.84.133.140/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Katie-Ledecky-Stanford-Twitter.jpg)
Education
Apart from outstanding success in the pool, Ledecky is a brilliant student. She won a sports scholarship to Stanford University, USA in 2015 where she has completed her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 2020.
Tokyo Olympics
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Ledecky won 2 silver and 2 gold medals. Her six individual gold medals are the most out of any female Olympic swimmer, any female US Olympians, and the second-most out of all Olympic swimmers behind Michael Phelps. She became the first swimmer to win a distance event three times in a row and the youngest and oldest person to win the 800 freestyle (at age 15 in 2012 and age 24 in 2021), according to Wikipedia.
In her whole career, she has broken a total of 14 world records and she’s only 24-years old! She is truly the embodiment of skill and excellence and a symbol of woman empowerment, hard work and dedication. An inspiration to athletes all around the world, her ground-breaking accomplishments are the perfect motivation to young swimmers everywhere.
![](http://139.84.133.140/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/download.png)
#GCPWishesKatieLedecky #GCPAWishesOlympians
Team Global Child Prodigy Congratulates Katie Ledecky for winning Gold in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This will inspire millions of people worldwide, including children who aspire to be like her.
We are on a mission to recognize Child prodigies across the world in all domains. Do let us know in the comment section if you know any such kid, or you can directly apply For Global Child Prodigy Award 2021 from the link below.
If you know someone close to you who deserves to be on the top 100 Child Prodigies list, make sure to register below –
![Nandita Deodhar](http://blogs.gcpawards.com/wp-content/wphb-cache/gravatar/60b/60b661764e08d15f06f7f41131314dd4x100.jpg)
Creative content developer at Global Child Prodigy Awards | Feel free to contact me at team@139.84.133.140