Katie Ledecky makes more Olympic history and has another major milestone in her sights

NANTERRE, France — The medal was silver, not gold, but not only was that expected, it hardly mattered. It was Olympic medal No. 13 in the illustrious career of Katie Ledecky, making her the most decorated U.S. female Olympian, in any sport, ever.

Ledecky, 27, competing in her fourth Olympics, swam the third leg of the women’s 4 x 200 freestyle relay Thursday night for the United States, helping to lead the Americans to the silver in a time of 7 minutes, 40.86 seconds. Australia won the gold in 7:38.08, an Olympic record. 

China, using three swimmers in the preliminaries or final whose positive drug tests were never revealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency and Chinese officials, was third in 7:42.34. Three years ago in Tokyo in this event, China won the gold, with the United States winning silver and Australia bronze. 

Thursday night’s relay silver was Ledecky’s third medal of the Paris Games, with one more event to go Saturday: the 800 freestyle, which she won in the 2012, 2016 and 2021 Olympics. She won a bronze medal in the 400 freestyle last Saturday and the gold medal in the 1,500 freestyle Wednesday. 

Ledecky has now passed three other swimmers — Dara Torres, Jenny Thompson and Natalie Coughlin — all of whom had been tied for the most medals by an American woman in Olympic history with 12 until Ledecky arrived in Paris and quickly caught them. 

Now, by passing that trio, Ledecky also became the most decorated female swimmer of all time, from any nation. 

Why are all these swimmers at the top of the list? Their sport is chock full of races and relays, with the best swimmers competing in multiple events at every Olympics. And make no mistake about it, Ledecky is the best swimmer — the very best.

“I try not to think about history very much or any of that,” Ledecky said after winning the 1,500 for her 12th Olympic medal Wednesday. “But I know those names. They’re swimmers that I looked up to when I first started swimming, so it’s an honor just to be named among them. I’m grateful for them inspiring me.” 

Ledecky has one more milestone awaiting her should she win her fourth consecutive gold in the 800 freestyle this weekend. She is tied with Thompson for the most gold medals won by an American woman in any Olympic sport with eight. A ninth obviously would break that tie.

It was fitting that Ledecky broke the overall medal record in the relay because even though seven of her eight gold medals have been won in individual events, she adores the team aspect of her sport.

“To accomplish that with the relay feels fitting to me,” she said Thursday after the race. “I’ve been on that relay so many times over the years with so many great people, so it’s really special to do it as part of a relay.”

Her relay teammates agreed. 

“It’s just amazing to get to be a part of even 1/13th of the journey that she’s been on and I think it’s so much more fun to be on the relay than to be by yourself,” said her 19-year-old teammate Erin Gemmell, who once dressed up for Halloween as Ledecky when her father was Ledecky’s coach. 

On a far less delightful note, China’s leadoff swimmer was Yang Junxuan, who has twice been caught doping, including being one of the 11 Chinese swimmers here who were among the 23 who tested positive for trimetazidine, a heart medication that comes in pill form and can enhance performance in athletes. The Chinese say that the drug somehow ended up as a powder spread around a kitchen in a hotel where the swimmers, including Yang, were staying in late December 2020 and the first days of January 2021.

When asked at a post-race press conference why anyone should trust the Chinese performances at these Games, Yang replied through an interpreter: 

"I think there has been an official explanation and a very detailed statement. I think this is enough. We need to trust the authority and the official agencies including World Aquatics and WADA and CHINADA. … We want to use our own strength and our training to prove that everything is clear and what we have achieved today has no problem.” 

In today’s swimming world, that was a statement open to considerable debate.