“It’s such an honor,” stated Ledecky. Teammate Bobby Finke gave her the excellent news Thursday. “He FaceTimed me to inform me the information, and I began crying. And it is actually simply such an honor to characterize this staff with so many nice performances this week from all sports activities.”
It’s an honor that Team USA‘s most adorned feminine Olympian will share with males’s 4 rower Nick Mead, who was a part of the staff that ended a 64-year medal drought for the U.S.
The closing ceremony on the Stade de France would be the first one Ledecky will attend.
The Bethesda, Maryland, native had a formidable efficiency on the Games coming house with 4 medals, profitable gold within the 800m and 1500m freestyles, silver within the 4x200m relay and bronze within the 400m freestyle. And, she stated, she is “not executed but.” She plans to maintain coaching — and hold pushing her teammates as effectively — forward of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
“By the time LA comes round in 4 years, we need to be higher,” stated Ledecky. “We need to be higher than we have been right here in Paris. And I feel that is undoubtedly doable. We’re gonna have the house crowd in entrance of us, and we need to placed on a very good present for them.”
While Ledecky admits she by no means noticed herself as an Olympian as a child, she did know immediately how a lot she beloved being within the pool.
“I began swimming for summer season league swim staff Palisades Porpoises after I was 6 years previous,” Ledecky stated. “What made me love the game proper from the beginning, the Sharks and Minnows video games after the swim meets, the barbecues, the buddies that I’ve, I nonetheless have, to this present day.”
And to younger swimmers beginning their journey, she stated: “Just hold swimming and have as a lot enjoyable as you may with the game.”