Katie Ledecky had an extraordinary stint at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It was almost historic. When she touched the wall in 8:11.04 in the 800m finals, the swimmer completed a 4-peat with her fourth consecutive gold medal. Fun fact: the Olympian clinched her first during her debut stint on August 3 at London 2012.

With her 9th gold medal, the 27-year-old tied a 60-year-old record set by Larisa Latynina at the 1964 Tokyo Games. The two hold the title of female athlete with the most Olympic gold medals in any sport. But apart from the accolades, the swimmer received a shoutout from Lindsey Vonn. Speaking to Laureus, the most successful female alpine skier in history couldn’t help but sing her praises. “It is a sight to behold, and I hope that people appreciate how hard it is to achieve what Katie Ledecky has achieved.”

However, it doesn’t just end there. Vonn went on to compare Katie Ledecky to the Baltimore Bullet. “You know, she has dominated the sport in a way that is very seldom seen. I think Michael Phelps would be the only other person that has such a dominance, but she again showed us in Paris her level of athleticism,” the 3x Olympic medalist confessed. Game recognizes game. Even the 27-year-old has spoken up about her comparisons to the legendary swimmer in her book. 

It almost felt like words fell short of explaining the 27-year-old’s excellence. “I mean, Katie is… it’s hard to even put into words because when you look at her records, it’s just her name. You can have a two-page printout of all the records, all the best times from all the different strokes, and it’s all her name.” The Olympian currently holds two world records: the women’s 1500m freestyle (15:20:48) and the women’s 800m freestyle (8:04:79). 

Katie Ledecky has shattered the world record 14 times throughout her illustrious career. Here’s the kicker, though. A majority of them have been her own. Vonn reiterates, “She continued to come in every game and every World Championship with the same speed and gets better and better and breaks more and more records.” But it isn’t as easy as it looks.

“I think from an athlete’s perspective, if I can give a spectator a little bit of reference, to maintain that level of dominance for as many years as she has requires such a sacrifice and such a passion and such a will to continuously grind every single day,” Lindsey Vonn confessed. Lucky for us, Katie Ledecky recently opened up about the secret sauce that led her to success. What is it? 

Katie Ledecky reveals what advice catapulted her to the top

The 27-year-old’s Olympic stint didn’t start as expected. The swimmer had to settle for a third-place finish in the 400m freestyle finals. The swimmer’s time of 4:00.86 wasn’t enough to beat her rival, Ariarne Titmus. However, she pulled through for the rest of the events and walked away with 4 Olympic medals: 2 golds, 1 silver, and 1 bronze.

However, once Katie Ledecky returned to the States, she got busy promoting her New York Times-bestselling memoir, Just Add Water. During this, she appeared in a sit-down interview with Tony Dokoupil. However, he had one question for the Olympian. How did she not slow down during the final lap of the 1500m finals? All the swimmer could say was, “Well, I just don’t get slower.” No, that’s not her being smug. 

The 27-year-old continued, “I’ve put in a lot of work all these years. I learn from each year, and it’s not even necessarily about the results for me.” She first started on this journey during the 2012 London Games at 15. The swimmer even walked away with her first Olympic gold in the 800m freestyle finals. How incredible is that? However, she took away more than just shiny hardware. 

“I got really great advice in 2012 at my first Olympics from many of the veterans to enjoy the journey, you know? Don’t focus too much on the end result. I really just kind of dove back into training after my first gold and started just loving the training more and more each year to this day,” Katie Ledecky confessed. It is just like Lindsey Vonn said. This requires a lot of passion, and the 27-year-old’s rise to the top is a testament to that.