Having Broken Michael Phelps’ Records, Katie Ledecky Opens Up on Historic Swimming Career: ‘I Hurt Somedays’

Katie Ledecky is one of the greatest swimmers. The course of her marvelous career has seen her win nine Olympic gold medals and gives her the position of the most decorated female swimmer in the competition. She also held records in the 800m freestyle and 1500m freestyle. The four medals she won during the Paris Olympics were only just evidence that she is the greatest female swimmer to ever swim in the pool.

However, this heavily intensified the debate among fans regarding her and Michael Phelps. In 2023, Katie broke Phelps’ total tally of fifteen titles in the World Championship, making history, and the whole discussion became even more fierce. Of course, as compared to the monstrous legacy Phelps had and his career spanning sixteen years with 28 Olympic medals being won, it would be a bit of a setback to treat any swimmer’s career in the same regard.

Even at the Worlds, Phelps is ahead with eight medals as he won 34 to her 26. Putting that aside, though, does not lessen Katie Ledecky’s career at all as these are accolades solely on their own merit and more than outstanding. Actually, being mentioned in the same breath as Michael Phelps already speaks volumes about how much you have done throughout your career. For all her achievements, she’s termed the best woman swimmer of all time.

In an interview with Tony Dokoupil, she opened up about her swimming legacy that is rivaled by very few. There, she admitted that while she really enjoys the water and training, the picture isn’t always rosy. Katie Ledecky also commented about her future in the sport. She said, “I promise you I hurt some days I struggle some days so um just the lessons I’ve learned from that and um those are things that I think apply so much to life out of the water, and I think I’m always going to be in the water but I’m not always going to be competing so I know that those things will serve me well in the future.”

With Katie Ledecky stating that she won’t always compete, speculations for the future have started. Now that the whole drama with Paris Olympics is over, people may now question her possible participation in the LA Olympics. But, in fact, she ended the whole thing once and for all with an interview with CBS Sports.

Still reeling from her success in France, the Olympic gold medallist talked about her desire to compete in LA. She admitted that it is a very unique opportunity which she wouldn’t want to miss. Katie said, “Not every athlete gets to compete in an Olympics on home soil.” Maybe participating in another campaign could get her closer to Phelps’ records, fuelling the debate even more. However, Katie Ledecky herself doesn’t care about the debate much.

Katie Ledecky opened up about the Michael Phelps comparisons in her book

On June 4th, Katie Ledecky published her memoir titled Just Add Water: My Swimming Life. She went on a book tour afterward and was interviewed by Elle. In this interview, she outlined her career as well as doling out some juicy stories. Finally, though, the reporter emerged with the question everyone had been wanting to ask. What did she think about the comparisons to Michael Phelps? Katie demonstrated a lot of diplomacy.

The swimming legend said that she definitely considers Phelps as the greatest swimmer ever with everyone who aspires to be in the sport looking up to him. Katie Ledecky talked about how it was amazing to see him become her teammate in 2012 and 2016 Olympics after watching him on her TV throughout her childhood.

She also spoke about having a special connection with him. “I’m from Maryland, which he is, too. So we had this connection, not everyone else did. He was competing at a level I never thought I’d make it to. He inspired me.” Katie then praised him for his impact on the sport before addressing the comparisons. She said, “I’m honored by the comparisons to him, but I don’t think too much of them. Certainly, I do want to pave my own way, and I’m focused on my own goals.”

Katie concluded her interview saying that any swimmer which is unusually successful will be compared to Phelps, no exceptions, so it should be viewed as a merit for any athlete. Whether she is better than Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky has at least definitely proven she is one of the best to ever compete. Instead of taking it with regard to the two legends competing, I should feel privileged to have been able to watch both.