Every great athlete gets their start in the sport from somewhere. For swimming legends like Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky, that start came from their families. Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian ever, followed his sisters into the pool at age seven.

Though Phelps didn’t immediately take to the water, he eventually fell in love with it and ended up joining the North Baltimore Aquatic Club at age 10. Similarly, Katie Ledecky’s brother was an enormous influence.

How Katie Ledecky got started in swimming

Katie Ledecky has won 10 Olympic medals and 19 World Championship titles. And it all started when her mother, Mary Gen, signed up both her and her brother for the swim team at a nearby pool. According to ESPN, Gen learned how to swim after her older sister fell from a dock and nearly drowned.

Eventually, Ledecky’s mother took to competitive swimming, swam for the University of New Mexico, and started her professional career. But what motivated Ledecky to take to swimming was her brother, Michael Ledecky. When Ledecky was 6, her three-years-older brother wanted to join a summer league swim team.

And where her brother went, so did Ledecky. “I swam with my brother throughout that and always followed him to the pool and wanted to be in the same group as him in everything. I just always enjoyed swimming with him and I think that’s how I really found my love of the sport,” Ledecky shared.

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She added, “I think if I didn’t have my brother swimming with me, I don’t know if I would have loved it as much as I did and still do.” Quickly, Ledecky started beating her brother’s personal bests in the pool. They were three years apart in age, but Ledecky was only a year behind in swimming.

Ledecky on her way to become one of the greatest swimmers ever

Katie Ledecky is one of the sport’s most dominant swimmers. She has broken numerous records and racked up an impressive medal tally of 26 golds in major international competitions. She was the youngest member of the U.S. Olympic swimming team for the 2012 London Games.

Just a year later, she began breaking world records. Currently, she holds the women’s 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle records. Last month, the American swimming sensation won the 1500-meter freestyle race a whole 14 seconds ahead of her competition. 

WATCH THIS STORY: Katie Ledecky Clinches a Record Even Legendary Michael Phelps Hasn’t Touched

This marked her 20th World Championship medal and the swimmer’s second of four golds at the 2022 competition in Budapest, Hungary. Ledecky has cemented herself in swimming history and continues to push the sport with every swim.