A fun fact, inspired by a tweet from Alex Braunfeld that read: Question; how many senior girls’ RELAYS went 8:14 this summer in the 800 free relay?
That’s a good question. One with an easy answer.
4.
Only 4 American relays of any age this year have swum an 800 free faster than 15-year old Katie Ledecky did on her own tonight. And two of them were the prelims and finals Olympic relays.
Both of the relays (the one that swam in heats, and the one that swam in finals) for the United States that won gold were each under 8 minutes. The best club relay is the Palo Alto group of Jasmine Tosky, Ally Howe, Rachael Acker, and Alicia Grima swam a 8:13.42 in March; and the women from the University of Minnesota were an 8:14.50 at the Minnesota Grand Prix in November.
Those were the only relay swims better than Ledecky’s 8:14.63 to win gold at the Olympics and mark the second-fastest swim of all-time.
Now, if Ledecky were a college post-grad, that might not be as impressive. Afterall, usually long course 800 free relays are swum by only high-school-level club programs (where big collections of development like that are rare) and on rare occasion college programs off of a taper.
But this is a 15-year old. high-school-level club programs are right in her wheelhouse. She’s in high school, after all.
Here’s where it gets wackier: her time is faster than the 15-16 National Age Group Record in the 800 free relay. And that was a relay from NOVA of Virginia that has at least two high-level Division I NCAA swimmers on it in Rachel Naurath and Alison Haulsee. Of course, Janet Evans’ old record in the 800 of 8:17.12 also was faster than that relay.
More amazing stats about this incredible swim:
- Her opening 400 time of 4;04.34 was her best time, the fastest ever done by an American 15 or 16-year-old. It would also rank her 9th in the world in 2012, and would have final’ed in the individual 400.
- Among all swims in the women’s 800 free in history better than 8:20, the best-ever opening 400 splits are: Ledecky 4:04.34, Manaudou 4:05.70, Adlington (WR swim) 4:05.72.
- This is the second-best swim in history, behind just Rebecca Adlington’s 8:14.10 World Record.
- The youngest gold medalist in Beijing was diver Chen Roulin who won two gold medals. She was 15 years, 241 days old as of the 2008 opening ceremonies. Ledecky was 15 years, 132 days old as of this year’s opening ceremonies.
- Even opening in a National Age Group Record, Ledecky’s closing 400 meters of 4:10.30, without a dive, would have ranked her faster than all but two swimmers in her age group in the United States this season, and rank her 13th in history in 15-16’s in the United States.
I can’t believe some of the nasty comments hete about a MINOR. The US has the most stringent drug testing policy in the world. She is a girl with natural TALENT and a phenomenal work ethic. CONGRATS!!!! You go girl!!!!
i couldn,t help but notice the differences between ye shiwen and katie ledecky. Ledecky is going bald, has a deep voice and has massive arms and shoulders. She also looks about 35 instead of 15. Ye shiwen looks her age, doesn,t have a deep voice, she,s not getting bald and she has moderately sized arms and shoulders. In other words i would say i,m suspicious of ledecky bcos she looks like she,s on steroids.
Really sweet feature video on Katie Ledecky. You will cry. –> http://youtu.be/SRaQMhITxHc
quick question, maybe not the correct place to ask, but are chinese athletes (representing china) allowed to talk to western media? from what i understand most chinese are taught foreign language very well in school, english, french, german ect.
@SPIRITH20
The United States Olympic Committee covered up 114 positive doping tests between 1988 and 2000, including those of 19 American Olympic medalists that should have not been allowed to compete.
This includes THREE failed doping tests of Carl Lewis at the US Olympic Trials prior to the 1988 Olympics. Under international rules of the time, this should have gotten him kicked off the US team and yet the USOC covered up these failed drug tests so that Lewis could compete. Carl Lewis has since openly admitted to using PEDs during his career.
And let’s not forget Marion Jones, who despite many suspicions on her performances which were purposely ignored by the USOC, escaped unnoticed for years despite… Read more »
“At the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Hardy qualified for the USA Olympic Team.[21][22][23] A few weeks later, on July 23, 2008, Hardy was notified that the second of her three tests from the Trials came back as positive for low levels of clenbuterol; this notification subsequently leaked to the media.[24] Her attorney confirmed on July 24, 2008, that Hardy’s “A” and “B” samples from a test administered on July 4 were positive for clenbuterol, a banned thermogenic weight-loss aid and partial stimulant.[25]
Hardy claimed innocence and said she had never even heard of clenbuterol,[26] attributing her positive drug result to either a tainted nutritional supplement or sabotage. Media coverage of the issue noted that tainted supplements have played… Read more »
Oh please, do you really buy the claim that she took the banned performance enhancer “unwillingly” and from a “supplement”?
That’s not a surprising “defense” from an American considering the excuse of “inadvertent use” of PEDs was coined by the United States Olympic Committee in 1988 after Carl Lewis tested positive in THREE doping tests at the US Olympic Trials.
Instead of banning him from the US Olympic team, which was what they were required to do under international rules at the time, they ruled that the positive tests were due to “inadvertent use” and let him stay on the US team where he won 2 golds and a silver medal at the Seoul Olympics.
The below is from… Read more »
It’s the Clinton Way!
Lmao Brian trying defend the baseless Ye doping allegations. He is the textbook definition of a beta male.
Ok, I apologize; I have not read all the comments.
My 2 cents on the ledecky/ye double standard are simple. John Leonard, because you had to go and point a finger at Ye, you brought backlash on the American, ledecky. I hope you are happy. she seems like a tough girl, but i bet you made her cry, i know i would if within 24 hours of the greatest race of my life people were accusing me of doping
This is the Olympic games people. If someone is doping I have faith they will eventually get caught, but accusations of such are entirely up to WADA, the IOC and other people who have that authority
I’ve been follower ledecky… Read more »
With all due respect Aswimfan, to at least not be suspicious is a bit naive. Please explain to me where the US gov’t or at least USA Swimming has ever been involved in systematic doping. They haven’t!