He presented himself to the world in London 2012. Barely 15 years old, pizzas with his high school classmates, Halloween costumes, homework, his first Olympic gold in the 800-meter freestyle. He has spent a decade. He has changed the institute for the University, professional contracts, two other Olympic golds, five world golds -all disputed-, records and more records. Katie Ledecky, owner of the 800 yesterday, today and tomorrow. The American has long since stopped competing against rivals. Sometimes they are only a second away; most of the time, more than three. Ledecky competes against herself. As in any competition, they say, but more enhanced because nobody swims like her. «Ledecky is a swimmer who has an overwhelming superiority among the girls because the way she swims is similar to that of the boys. She is a force of nature », tells ABC Santiago Veiga Fernández, professor and expert in swimming biomechanics and performance analysis at the Polytechnic University of Madrid. This is how the Ledecky phenomenon is explained: «Girls tend to float more and have a more continuous and linear crawl swim, where there are hardly any changes of rhythm within the stroke. Visually, the progress is more uniform. But Ledecky swims a style of front crawl that in English translates as ‘galloping front crawl’, and which is usually typical in the way boys swim, especially in long-distance and middle-distance events. This type of front crawl is characterized by the fact that they are thrown forward more with the dominant arm. Visually it’s as if they were a little bumpy, it’s not so uniform. Using your strength to swim this way helps your performance to be better, but you need to have enough strength. And Ledecky is one of the few girls who has this strength and, therefore, she applies this way of swimming. And she with great success ». Related News SWIMMING | WORLD STANDARDS Not Spectacular Ledecky: the American leaves Budapest with another 4 golds The American legend of women’s swimming adds 19 world golds with this poker in Hungary Ledecky won her 800 event in London 2012 with a time of 8:14.63. The silver medal went to Mireia Belmonte, with a time of 8:18.76. She hasn’t always had such an advantage over her pursuers. At Tokyo 2020, for example, she put in 8:12.57, with Australia’s Ariarne Titmus coming in behind her, at 8:13.83. But, the normal thing is that her races, almost from the middle of the route, need two cameras: one for her and one for all the others. At Rio 2016, she achieved gold with a time of 8:04.79, a world record; Jazmin Carlin finished second, 12 seconds later (8:16.17). Talent, body and fun «Many factors influence phenomena like this. First there is the typology: seen from the outside his body does not seem anything special, but when it comes to applying force in the water it is where it makes the difference. On the other hand, his strength levels and specific force applied in the water are tremendous. Far superior, from the outside, than the rest of the swimmers usually are. It allows him to compete almost with the boys, “continues Veiga. And she underlines a third factor: «Without a doubt, she likes to train. You can have someone with those qualities, but if they are not consistent it is impossible to be in the elite for so many years. And Ledecky is. If she didn’t like it, it would be impossible for her to continue with those results for so long ». A decade has passed and the collection of medals increases without rivals having arisen to prevent it. On the contrary, they have fostered an extraordinary capacity for adaptation and competitiveness in the American, who also has something special in terms of her growth: her body has not undergone a great physical change in the development from a girl to a woman. The normal thing is that, in this process, the girls accumulate more fat and widen their hips, but Ledecky keeps the figure conducive to swimming, and to win, and to improve herself. «Since she began to succeed she has not had such a tremendous evolution year after year. Since 2012 she has been able to beat her personal bests and some of her records, but her greatest virtue has been the consistency in her performance. Being able to perform at a level very close to her best mark, to improve little by little and remain at this elite level throughout the decade », emphasizes Veiga. Out of the water, Katie is always smiling. She liked soccer and basketball. She received a sports and studies scholarship at Stanford. She graduated in Psychology in 2020. In the call room, the rivals avoid any contact if she is seen with the hood on. She’s not waiting to get out, she’s becoming Ledecky. She is the undisputed owner of the 800; since London 2012 she has won every time she has launched that distance. Nobody, man or woman, had won five world golds in the same event. She is also unbeaten in 1,500, golds at the World Championships in Barcelona 2013, Kazan 2015, Budapest 2017 and Budapest 2022 (she was absent from Gwangju 2019 due to illness); gold in Tokyo 2020, the first time it was an Olympic event. Neither taller nor bigger. And he performs convincingly in faster events, such as the 400 meters (gold in Rio, silver in Tokyo, 4 world golds and one silver), and he is not bad at the 200 meters (gold in Rio 2016, gold in Kazan 2015 and silver in Budapest 2017, and four golds and one silver in relay). She does not dare with the 100, although she was silver in Rio in relays. “Her swimming style is compatible and suitable for distance and middle distance, but for maximum speed she would have to change the style and it would be counterproductive. Regardless of the level of absolute strength, in speed she is usually very explosive, and that is difficult to acquire in training ». Seven Olympic golds. Nineteen world golds (and three silvers); only Michael Phelps has more (28). Are they comparable? For success, no doubt. For styles, no. “Phelps was a technical prodigy. For his anthropometry of long arms, very large feet, his laxity, his technical mastery in the four strokes, in wave swimming. His technical skills were far above normal. He moved like a fish. In Ledecky it is not so much technical superiority, but strength and physique with respect to the rest. He is not taller, he does not have bigger hands or feet. From the outside, his body doesn’t look like anything special, but when it comes to applying force in the water, that’s where he makes all the difference.” The World Cups pass, the Olympic cycles pass and Ledecky continues there, without an expiration date being observed in his strokes; on the contrary, she has changed Stanford for Florida to train in the group that Caleb Dressel was in. Swim against boys to remain the best among the girls. «In swimming it is not a problem that he physically cannot hold out or that his performance declines. What usually happens is that they can’t stand the discipline and dedication that it requires, which is a very high volume of hours. Especially swimmers who start such a brutal regimen of dedication from such a young age.” Ledecky is, for now, unbeatable and inexhaustible.
