For three-time Olympian Katie Ledecky, her incredible journey to winning four more Olympic medals at this summer’s Tokyo games began many years ago and winds through several roads – among them are two Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Washington, a few area pools and the tight-knit community of her Bethesda hometown.
One of the early paths in her championship-swimming career is her alma mater, Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, where Ledecky returned on Sept. 17 to a hero’s welcome. She stopped by the all-girls Catholic school in Bethesda to share stories of her recent Olympics experience, of how she became a remarkable distance swimmer, and to encourage the students in their future aspirations.
But most of all, she wanted to convey her deep gratitude for the lessons she was taught and the support she received from Stone Ridge going back almost a decade ago when she first hit the world’s stage in international swimming competitions.
“It’s so great to be back here at Stone Ridge,” said Ledecky, emphasizing to the students that it’s where her Olympic story first unfolded. Ledecky was a rising 15-year-old Stone Ridge sophomore in 2012 when she won her first gold medal in the women’s 800-meter freestyle race during the London Olympics.
Wearing her white with navy blue lettering official Team USA Polo warm up jacket, Ledecky spoke for two hours to more than 750 Stone Ridge students from pre-K to 12th grade in wide-ranging question and answer sessions during three assemblies.
“Thank all of you for the support this summer. It meant so much to me. It was really impactful. We had no family or friends (able to attend the Tokyo games due to COVID-19 precautions)... We felt the cheers,” said Ledecky, a 2015 Stone Ridge graduate.
At the Tokyo games, 24-year-old Ledecky won her 10th Olympic medal for swimming, adding two gold and two silver medals to her collection. She won the inaugural gold in the women’s 1500-meter freestyle swim, a first-time Olympic event. In the 800-meter freestyle race, she touched the wall at 8:12:57, repeating her gold medal success from 2012 and 2016 in that race. Her silver medals came in the 400-meter freestyle and in the 4x200-meter freestyle races. She is the current world record holder in the 400-meter, 800-meter and 1500-meter freestyle swimming events.
“Yeah, it’s kind of cool. They’re very heavy,” Ledecky told the Stone Ridge middle schoolers of the shiny Olympic hardware hanging around her neck after receiving a rousing welcome as she entered the cafeteria in the school’s new Mater Center.
Students’ questions covered an array of topics such as: “What were her favorite classes at Stone Ridge?” (math, science, AP psychology, which she majored in at Stanford University, where she graduated in 2020) to “What is her swim training schedule? (20 hours per week, in the pool twice a day and dry land training) to “What’s on her playlist?” (not much country music, she said with a laugh, but a little bit of everything else – rock, pop, and oldies.)
During a brief break between talks to students, Ledecky spoke with the Catholic Standard, reflecting on her Catholic faith, what it meant to her during the difficulties of the pandemic. Yes, she still says the Hail Mary prayer before every race to calm any nerves, just as she did at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.
“My faith remains very important in my life, especially the last two years,” said Ledecky, adding how much being able to “attend” Mass virtually every week with her family whom she hadn’t seen in person since December 2019, helped her through the challenges of the pandemic. “My faith is strong, and I realized more how important that is.”
The Stanford University Catholic community and her godfather, Jesuit Father Jim Shea, whose livestream Masses were celebrated at a parish in Charlotte, North Carolina, kept her going spiritually during the global shutdown, when she had to pivot her swim training from the university to a nearby Palo Alto backyard pool and the initial disappointment of the 2020 Olympics being postponed for one year.
The day before she returned to Stone Ridge, Ledecky said she was pleased to pay a similar visit to her elementary school alma mater, Little Flower School in Bethesda, where she also chatted with students. She spent time there with another group of longtime supporters – the Immaculate Heart of Mary sisters who taught her and Msgr. Peter Vaghi, the pastor of Little Flower Parish.
She praised her Team USA teammate and fellow Stone Ridge and Little Flower School alumnae Phoebe Bacon, who competing in her first Olympics, came in fifth place in the women’s 200-meter backstroke. “It was great having her on the team. It was probably the most time I’ve ever got to spend with her,” she said. “She brought so much energy.”
Other students’ questions posed to Ledecky included: “What drew her to take up the sport of swimming?” “What motivates her?” and “Which are her favorite Olympics?”
She said she began swimming at the age of 6 because her older brother, Michael, swam for their neighborhood community pool, the Palisades Porpoises, and she always looked up to him. She played other sports such as basketball and soccer early on, but eventually became singularly focused on swimming. “I just loved being in the water,” she said.
And as she grew to love the sport more as a youngster, Ledecky told the girls she was driven by always setting new goals for herself - ones that became bigger over time, and as a result landed her at her first Olympic swim trials in 2012, something that motivates her to this day. “I’m someone who didn’t like to hit the snooze button,” she said of her internal drive to wake up before sunrise to train during high school.
The best coaching advice she received still resonates with her, she said. “ ‘Stay true to your goals. Put in the work...Enjoy the journey, do not just focus on the end result.’ I’ve taken that to heart and enjoyed the training it takes,” said Ledecky, adding time management was a large part of successfully balancing a busy academic and athletic life, a valuable tool she began practicing while at Stone Ridge and came to serve her well in college.
“I learned that here and used every minute that I could” to finish homework, study ahead for exams, as well as get plenty of rest, but also spend precious time with friends, family and on her other hobbies – playing the piano, chess and Scrabble, she said.
True to her humble demeanor, Ledecky said it’s all about keeping things in perspective. “I started swimming for fun. It’s fun. Swimming isn’t just about trophies and in many ways, it’s how I still see it,” she said. “A main part of my life is dedicated to it... (but) I don’t want it to overtake my life.”
Her proudest moments, she said, are not the Olympic medals, but the happiness she’s found in the communities she has been a part of over the years – Stone Ridge, Stanford University and Bethesda. “Yes, (the medals) are heavy, but they are small relative to all the hard work from my family, my parents, my brother,” she said. “(The medals) are a great symbol (of the work). It takes a village. I wish I could give medals to all of you.”
Ledecky said she doesn’t have a favorite Olympics, as each experience is unique and memorable. What she loves best, she said, is meeting fellow athletes from all over the world and making friends from other countries each time. She said it was particularly meaningful to finally get to meet in person a Syrian female swimmer of the Refugee Olympic Team she had previously “met” over a virtual event held prior to the Olympics.
During her years swimming for the Stone Ridge Gators, Ledecky set many records there, and after her initial triumph in the London Olympics in 2012, at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, she won five more medals – four gold in freestyle races for the 200, 400 and 800-meters, (breaking her own world records in the 400 and 800-meter races) and for the 4x200-meter freestyle relay and one silver in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay.
At this summer’s games, Ledecky said Tokyo was a great host city and she appreciated the International Olympic Committee’s efforts to keep all the athletes, coaches and officials healthy during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic through safety measures such as daily COVID-19 testing. “Tokyo did an incredible job...To see it all come together was special for all of us,” she said. “...I’m a big fan of Tokyo.” Although the stands were empty of typical Olympic crowds, she described the sports venues as “beautiful structures.”
Introduced as “the best girl swimmer in the world” to the lower school students in pre-K through fourth grade, Ledecky was asked more questions, including, “What is your favorite color? (Gold is one of them, she said.) “Do you like Spider-Man?” (Yes, she does.) and “What is her next best swim stroke? (Butterfly).
Ledecky concluded her school visit with the inquisitive and youngest members of the Stone Ridge community by telling them she enjoyed their questions and how much she loved her years at the school, where she had great teachers and made her best friends for life. She encouraged them to always chase their dreams. “Keep working hard, listen to your teachers, and be kind to each other,” she said. “Will you do that for me? Because good things will happen.”
As she prepares for the next chapter of her life, Ledecky said her immediate plans include possibly starting graduate school, definitely preparing to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and then it’s a big maybe about the Los Angeles summer games in 2028. Beyond that, she’s not sure what the future holds. But swimming in some fashion, she said, will always be a passion of hers. “You can do a lot of swimming when you are older. I know people in their 70s, 80s and 90s who still swim,” she said “It’s such a great sport.”
One more thing’s for certain. Ledecky disproves the old adage, “You can’t go home again.” For the Olympian, coming back to the town she grew up in and where she attended school is much more than just a trip down memory lane. Her mission when returning to her roots is to take the opportunity to share her profound thanks to all the teachers, school administrators, staff, students, coaches, family, friends, religious sisters and pastor – all of whom she describes as great mentors and supporters who lifted her at the beginning of her journey to Olympic glory to now, and whom she will continue to carry in her heart wherever the lane, in or out of the pool, leads her.
“I’m lucky to have this great community,” she said. “...I couldn’t do any of it without their support.”
