What does American swimming icon Katie Ledecky have left to prove? Not much.
Her medal record is eye-popping: seven Olympics golds and three Olympic silvers to go with 21 world golds and five silvers. She owns the world long- and short-course records in the 800-meter freestyle and 1500-meter freestyle. No conversation attempting to rank the greatest North American athletes of the 21st century is complete without her.
And yet, not only is Ledecky primed for another big Olympics this summer in Paris, she also indicated to NBC recently that she might not be done after that.
“The (2028) Olympics being in LA is very appealing. Not very many athletes get an opportunity to compete in a home Games,” Ledecky said. “I definitely at this point am planning on going through 2028… whether I compete in one event, multiple events, a relay, whatever.”
Ledecky turned 27 on St. Patrick’s Day, and will be 31 by the time Los Angeles rolls around. Only three women—the United States’s Dara Torres in 2000, the Netherlands’ Inge de Bruijn in 2004, and West Germany’s Ursula Happe in 1956—have ever won a swimming gold past the age of 30.
If there’s anyone in swimming unbound by the sport’s history, however, it’s Ledecky.
