Katie Ledecky finally defeats the “Terminator”. On July 31, the 27-year-old created history by becoming the first-ever female swimmer to defend the 1,500m free gold in the Olympic Games. With that, she also got the USA its fifth gold medal at the French capital. Understandably, it’s a major milestone in the prolific career of the 8-time Olympic champion, and her friends can’t help but bask in her glory, as we at EssentiallySports can vouch.

Finishing the race in 15:30.02, Ledecky just landed yet another Olympic record. While her loss to Ariarne Titmus in the 400m free raised many eyebrows, the latest feat will surely make up for the earlier loss. The greatest female swimmer of all time won by an absurd margin of 10 seconds, and the people who knew her from her student days have their reasons to be feeling elated as well.

Katie Ledecky’s old buddies on Cloud 9

While Katie moved to Florida to train for the 2024 Olympics, it looked like her classmates from her alma mater still held her in high regard. Shreya Verma, EssentiallySport’s Paris Olympics correspondent, caught up with Ledecky’s Stanford buddies for an exclusive interview outside of the Paris La Defense Arena and they were beaming. Hugo Gonzalez, a superfan and also Katie Ledecky’s classmate,  spoke about his experience studying with Katie and, also, watching her make history. Hugo went on to tell us how Ledecky was during her days with the Cardinals.

Hugo Gonzalez: It was awesome. She was really nice. We were Class of 20, so we came in right after Reno. She was always nice to everybody, took a lot of pictures. She was always in the dining hall early in the morning. She’s a very kind person. Super fun watching her win a world record.

Hugo also took the opportunity to congratulate another Cardinals star Torri Huske for her gold medal in the women’s 100m fly and silver in the 100m free events. “Also want to shout out Torri Huske from Stanford today. A lot of the Cardinals do a great job out here,” Gonzalez said.

When asked by our Paris Olympics correspondent Shreya if he had a picture with Katie, Hugo went on to rummage through his phone gallery to show us an image of himself with Katie from way back in 2016. “There’s me and Katie. From Stanford 2016. This was 8 years ago,” he said.

Soon, the conversation took a turn, and Leon Marchand, the French swimming prodigy who studies at Arizona State and trains under Bob Bowman, became the topic of discussion between Shreya and Hugo.

Hugo Gonzalez: It was really, really fun watching Leon win two gold medals. The French crowd was very hyped. So it was really just fun having that energy for the Olympic Games.

EssentiallySports: Looks like the U.S. is supporting Marchand today.

Hugo Gonzalez: Yeah, for sure. It was just a lot of energy. And it’s really just fun watching people get excited for sports they don’t normally get excited for. These guys really only get to be in the spotlight every four years. So it’s really fun watching them get so much attention.

When Katie moved to train in Florida, Stanford fans weren’t thrilled to see her sporting the ‘Gators’ tag on her cap. However, when the greater responsibility was called, it seemed that people from both programs came together and set their feud aside for the moment. Another fan, Rick, who knows Katie from university, also reiterated that it was ‘an epic night’ in the French city as the USA smashed world and Olympic records by the dozen. Speaking about the event, he said: “The event was, this was an epic night. We saw three Olympic records set, and one world record set. Katie, I mean, I think she has the top-20 1,500 meters times. That’s crazy. That’s just beyond words. So, yeah, it was really cool to be able to see all of it. It was a special night. It was a really cool opportunity to be here for the Olympics and be able to see this night.”

While these fans are right to celebrate Katie’s win in their own ways, the 21-time World Championships gold medalist still has some more tasks to look forward to.

More exploits glisten on the horizon

Despite qualifying for the 200m race at the US Team Trials, Ledecky withdrew from the event for the Paris Olympics, citing a focus on longer distances. Many expected her to dominate all the events she entered in the City of Love. However, when Katie faced her Australian rival Ariarne Titmus in the women’s 400m freestyle earlier in the tournament, she was over three seconds slower than Titmus. This led some to believe that Ledecky might be stepping away from the top ranks of the swimming world. But as the Washington native proved just a few hours ago, never count her out.

EssentiallySports can confidently state that her friends’ faith in her abilities is well-placed. Now, it’s a matter of whether she has what it takes to make it in the swimming pantheon. The women’s 800m freestyle remains on the table—an event where Katie has won gold in the last three Olympics. If she secures victory in Paris, she will become only the fourth athlete to win gold in the same event at four consecutive Games. Will she achieve this remarkable feat? Share your thoughts in the comments below!