13 Medals and Counting: Ledecky Becomes the Most Decorated U.S. Female Olympian

For four Olympics, Katie Ledecky has swum toward new markers of success in her sport. Since she debuted as a teen at the 2012 London Olympics, she has added achievements as consistently as she strokes through the pool, winning individual freestyle races from 200 meters up through 1,500.

At the Paris Games, she has reached another milestone: With her silver medal in the 4×200 freestyle relay on Thursday night, Ledecky now stands alone as the most decorated female American Olympian, in any sport, with 13 medals. And she still has one more race to swim in France.

On Wednesday, Ledecky’s victory in the 1,500 freestyle — a race that she characteristically finished body lengths ahead of her nearest competitor — had brought her medal count even with fellow U.S. swimmers Natalie Coughlin, Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres. And it was Ledecky’s eighth gold, which tied Thompson for the most among American women. All four women had careers spanning multiple Olympics, competing in a sport with a variety of events, including relays.

“I try not to think about history very much,” Ledecky said. But, she added, “I know those names. They’re swimmers that I looked up to when I first started swimming. So it’s an honor to be named among them.”

In just Olympic finals alone, Ledecky has traversed 7,700 meters to win these medals, about four times as far as Thompson, speaking to the difficulty of the events she swims.

From 15-year-old sensation to 27-year-old team captain, here’s the road Ledecky has followed to becoming an Olympic legend.

London 2012

Ledecky burst onto the world stage as the United States’ youngest swimmer at the 2012 London Olympics.

She competed in one event, the 800-meter freestyle, and touched the wall more than four seconds ahead of her nearest competitor — the start of her reign of the distance freestyle events.

Rio 2016

By the Rio Games, Ledecky had asserted herself as the best freestyler in the world, and she delivered an Olympic performance in Brazil to match.

She won her three individual freestyle races — the 200, 400 and 800 — and set world records in two of those events. Her Rio medal total of four golds and one silver — a tally that included both freestyle relays — was the most successful in a single Games for any female U.S. Olympian.

Tokyo 2021

Competing against a new generation of freestylers, Ledecky won silver in the 400 freestyle and missed the podium in the 200 at the Tokyo Games. These were the first times she did not win a gold medal in an individual Olympic race. But she maintained her hold on the distance events, earning her third gold in the 800 and winning the 1,500 in the race’s debut in the women’s Olympic program.

Ledecky has set many world records in both of these races, and no other swimmer has even been within a few seconds of her best times.

Paris 2024 and Beyond

Ledecky did not come to the Paris Games thinking about the milestones ahead of her.

“These things kind of go in one ear and out the other,” she said after qualifying for her fourth Olympic team. She began the meet by earning a bronze medal in the 400 freestyle behind the Australian Ariarne Titmus, the event’s world record holder, and the Canadian teen Summer McIntosh.

Ledecky has one more event in which she can add to her medal total: the 800 freestyle, which is the race that introduced her to the world. In the 800, which will be decided on Saturday night, Ledecky will try to become the first female swimmer to win the same event at four consecutive Olympics.

More of her Olympic medals have been earned in individual events than any other American woman.

At some point between her first Olympics and her fourth, Ledecky said she had to come to the understanding that she would not be able to set a world record every time she raced. She has also had to face new challengers coming up behind her, like Titmus and McIntosh. She has kept her focus where it has always been, on her training and her technique, and she has set goals that still excite her.

One of her goals is to compete at the Los Angeles Games in 2028. Ledecky’s Olympic legacy is already one for the record books, but it is not complete yet.