The greatest female swimmer tightened her grasp on her title in Paris, earning her ninth gold and 14th overall Olympic medal with an extraordinary four-peat in the 800 freestyle.
PARIS — Twelve years as a superstar athlete is an eternity, and in the United States, a shelf life that long usually comes with some level of public blowback or fatigue. Haters materialize to find flaws, inventing them if necessary. Or the superstar can find ways to self-sabotage, fame warping perspective.
That, as much as 14 total Olympic medals and nine golds, is her legacy-in-the-making. But we would be remiss not to take a moment and talk about all that hardware. This fourth 800 gold was the most challenging. Australia’s Ariarne Titmus, who was 11 years old watching Ledecky win her first 800-meter title on TV, has arisen as a worthy rival in the race—and as Ledecky’s superior in the 400. Prior to Titmus, Ledecky won her first Olympic 800 by 4.13 seconds and her second by a preposterous 11.38; the last two have been competitive.
“I just felt a lot of pressure from myself just from my history in the race,” Ledecky said. “And I knew going into it that it was going to be a really tough race and that everyone in the field was going to throw everything they had at me.”
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