Katie Ledecky is officially the most-decorated US woman Olympian – NBC4 Washington

Katie Ledecky is aware of what it’s like to interrupt world data and rake in gold medals, however now she’s formally No. 1 in Olympic historical past.

With 13 Olympic medals to her identify, Ledecky is now probably the most embellished U.S. girl athlete in Olympic historical past.

The Bethesda, Maryland, native gained her 13^th Olympic medal as Crew USA took second within the 4x200m freestyle relay on Thursday.

Bethesda native Katie Ledecky earns her thirteenth Olympic medal. News4’s Jummy Olabanji has extra from Paris. 

Ledecky’s fellow alum of Stone Ridge Faculty in Bethesda, Erin Gemmell, plus Paige Madden and Claire Weinstein rounded out the workforce. Madden picked up her second medal whereas each Gemmell and Weinstein earned their first.

Australia gained gold with a time of seven:38.08, beating the People (7:40.86) by over two seconds. Defending champion China took bronze with a time of seven:42.34.

Medal #13 introduced Ledecky forward of different U.S. swimming greats. Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin every have 12 Olympic medals.

The one U.S. athlete with extra Olympic medals is Michael Phelps (who coincidentally additionally hails from Maryland – particularly, Baltimore). Ledecky is tied for the second-most medals of any U.S. athlete in Olympic historical past, no matter gender.

At 27, Ledecky has earned a protracted listing of medals, “bests” and different stats that show she is the GOAT (biggest of all time).

However Ledecky, who gained her first gold medal at age 15 on the London Olympics, tries to remain humble.

“I attempt not to consider historical past very a lot. I do know these names, these folks I am up with. They’re folks I seemed as much as after I first began swimming. So it is an honor to be named amongst them. I am grateful for them inspiring me. There are such a lot of nice swimmers which have helped me get to this second,” she stated after successful her eighth gold on Wednesday.

Her gold-medal end within the 1500m freestyle on Wednesday highlighted her dominance within the pool: When Ledecky completed, no different swimmers had been even seen within the digicam shot. Silver medalist Anastasiia Kirpichnikova completed over 10 seconds later.

Ledecky has an opportunity to achieve new heights within the document books when she competes within the 800m freestyle closing on Saturday.

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