USA Swimming continues to profile some of the stars of the 2016 Olympics, this week posting a video highlighting Katie Ledecky. Of note: Ledecky recounts her Rio goals from three years earlier – and no surprise, she nailed all three.
Check out the video above, courtesy of USA Swimming on YouTube.
The video features some of Team USA’s top swimming women giving their own unique perspectives on Ledecky’s world-wide dominance. The list of appearances includes Katie Meili, Maya DiRado, Allison Schmitt and Simone Manuel. Between them, they hold 12 medals from Rio, yet the admiration in their voices is noticeable when they talk about Ledecky, who is seemingly a league above the entire world in the distance freestyle races right now.
“Katie, you know everyone here is scared to race you?” Schmitt recalls telling a surprised Ledecky in Rio.
“She’s not dominating against, you know, little kids,” Meili says. “She’s dominating against the best swimmers in the world.”
“When she went the 8:08 at Worlds, I thought that was the most impressive swim I’d ever seen,” Dirado says. “At Austin Pro Swim Series in January, she breaks that world record again. I was like, what??
“And then she drops another three seconds off of it this summer,” Dirado finishes, almost overcome with laughter at the sheer absurdity of it.
Maybe most interesting is Ledecky herself talking about goals she’d set three years out from the Rio Olympics. “I had three main goals going into Rio that I had set three years before Rio,” Ledecky says. “Go 3:56 or faster in the 400 free, go 8:05 or faster in the 800 free and to win the 200 free.”
Check, check and check for Ledecky, who went 3:56.46, 8:04.79 and won the 200 free over Swedish sprint star Sarah Sjostrom.
“We are witnessing insanity right now,” DiRado says. She’s as dead-on as Ledecky’s goals were.
Looking at previous comments there is some discussion about the difficulty of various WRs. So what do y’all think the fastest, relatively speaking, WR is?
My vote is the women’s 200 fly LCM. That record is just un-real.
Yes it is absurd. Surely a drug record. I mean 2:01 was a good men’s time back in the 1980-1990.
Along with the women’s 200 fly, I’d say the fastest might be the men’s 400IM, as well as the men’s 200 free
Men’s 400 IM would be my choice among men’s races, good call. The big difference is that there seems to be a capable level of swimmer (read: Hagino) willing to train for and focus on that 400 IM, so I tend to think it will go down first. Hosszu, Ledecky, Sjostrom…none of the world’s greatest female swimmers are really going after that 200 fly. Hosszu was at one point, but clearly her focus is the backstroke races moreso now.
The men’s 200 free – that one’s a head scratcher to me. It just doesn’t make sense to me that since the suits went away, Agnel in London is the best we’ve had by well over a second, and he was… Read more »
Swimming, especially distance swimming, can be grueling (extremely tiring and demanding).
No one is going to beat Katie. She’s in a League of Her Own. The only question for her is how she can continue to enjoy the sport and stay healthy.
She has all the records and gold medals.
She fast girl
“565” – magic formula. Why? It is actually very simple: 1 second off of each hundred meters at 800 and 400 distances. She was 8:13.86 and 3:59.82 in 2013. Why was it a secret? Because it was insane in 2013. Go back to any swimming blogs at this time to see that any prognosis of such sort (if there were any) immediately suggested either doping or Katie being a male. I’m not even sure that her coach, very experienced and very educated person believed that time that human limits can be pushed that far. This formula was 13 world records away. That far. Can someone say that there is no magic – it was already inside her just waiting to… Read more »
Her sub-4 400 at 2013 changed everything.
She didn’t even believe herself she swam a 3:59 400 free, called it her greatest achievement(back then).
I think Bruce saw she has the potential to push past the limit from this swim(the first one under 4 min without a tech suit and remain the only one three years later).
The goal to win 200 free at Rio, she was second in Nationals at 2013, just behind Missy. Her lead off at relay was a PB too(could place 4th at individual).
Bruce said she likes relay and she has speed, two of these make her a good 200 free.
So at 2014 she started to win 200 free… Read more »
Dear, GII thank you, but, please, don’t flatter me. You are killing the very reason of choosing such a nickname – not being nice if something isn’t nice around 😀
It is really nice to read some thoughts like yours.
Your words especially this one “This formula was 13 world records away. That far.”, sounds really very far. XDD
Although it should be 11 WRs between the goals setting and reaching it isn’t it?
Maybe she should name her biography “That far : The distance between me and (whatever she wants)”lol
I am also apologize to everyone of mine so many comments in one thread.
I should keep my hands off this thread from now.
I’m enjoying thes USA swimming videos! It’s so nice to hear a little bit of what the athletes have to say, because we normally only get to hear them in their post-race interviews when they are still processing what just happened (if we’re lucky). It’s also nice to hear candid thoughts the teammates have about each other so we can get to know the athletes we’re supporting a little bit.
About the goals setting though, I know Phelps had his time goals before Beijing.
And his 200 100 fly didn’t reach his goal(I think), can anyone recall his goals number?
dont quote me on this but of memory I think he destroyed all of them but the flys, he wanted a 49.5 100, and 1:51.3.
He also wanted sub 3:40 400
Thanks.
He was quite close to both fly goals at 2009.
The women 200 fly record is so out of rage, makes me wonder what kind of a record can match it on the men side…
Men 800 free.. a 7:32 is almost impossible.. having to go out on a 3:44 3:45 and return in 3:46.. Dwyer went 3:44:01 for 4th in Rio..
I meant what kind of men 200 fly record…to match that I guess 1:49.6-1:50.8 and that is really scary.
The men 800 seems very weak now compares to Ledecky’s 800…
The gap of both 800 records are 5.8%(!)(lol this is too scary), almost like both 1500 records.
If a man can swim a 3:40 or 3:39 400 free, I believe that 800 record can go down.
Sun had 3:40 at 2012, it really isn’t like a mission impossible.
Phelps goal sheet. http://imgur.com/a/50ZOj
Thanks for pointed out.
200 fly goal was 1:51.1 split 25.0/28.5/28.8/28.8
100 fly goal was 49.5 split 23.5/26.0
They even had a 1500 free 1505-1510 56 13X 101 57
and a 3:39 400 free!
Phelps goal sheet http://imgur.com/a/50ZOj
Believe he wanted a 1:53.5 200 IM.
“Katie, you know everyone here is scared to race you?”
She was like “What?” lol
Even I can figure everyone is scared to race her, not because her times are so far ahead of everyone’s, but how she’s treating her race(go check out Ledecky in the ready room), just like a Terminator ready to destroy everything.
Yup. That’s Ledecky.