With five medals in Rio, Katie Ledecky talks about what's next
RIO DE JANEIRO — As Katie Ledecky left a news conference Saturday afternoon with her four gold medals and one silver draped around her neck, she was handed two Japanese fans from the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee and asked to open them, hold them up and smile for the cameras.
Apparently, it’s never too early for Ledecky to start preparing for her next Olympic Games.
Ledecky, the first woman to sweep the Olympic 200, 400 and 800 freestyle events in 48 years and only the third U.S. woman in history to win four gold medals in a single Olympics, was barely finished with these Games when she was asked about the next.
Even though she had had just 1½ hours of sleep due to news media commitments late Friday night and early Saturday morning, she was more than game to answer every question.
Brennan: These Rio Olympics were Katie Ledecky's party, and she can cry if she wants to
“Sitting in this position now,” Ledecky said, “I still do want more. I still do want to continue to succeed in this sport. I still want to have the opportunities to compete on this level. It’s that same feeling: I just love this atmosphere. I love the Olympics. I love being here. I love forming these bonds with my teammates. I love meeting people from all different countries. And I want to have these opportunities again. I want to win the medals to represent my country really well.”
So if there were any doubts that the 19-year-old Ledecky wants to be in another Olympics or two, I think that takes care of that.
If she stays healthy, you might as well fire up the medal machine.
“Once I get back into training, I’m going to be just as motivated as ever, if not more,” she said. “I’m going to have a new environment (as a freshman at Stanford), a new training group to work with. And I think we’re all just going to be excited to see what we can do.”
She provided no specifics, obviously. (It is four years away.) Ledecky certainly could continue to break her own world records in the distance freestyle events, which wouldn’t be a bad option. There also has been chatter that she might begin to dabble with the 400-meter individual medley, a grueling event of 100 meters of each stroke that might perfectly suit her insatiable training appetite.
“I haven’t really had the chance to think about that much,” she said. “We’ll see how I can continue to develop in the freestyles and if I want to swim a 400 IM every once in a while, and we’ll see how that develops and see if I ever want to swim that on the international stage.”
That sounds interesting, doesn’t it?
One thing you will not see is Ledecky pitching any products after these Games. Just like Missy Franklin four years ago, she has chosen to not turn professional and make millions, but rather to attend college and be able to swim for her college team.
For Franklin, who went to the University of California, the results were mixed: when she did turn pro 1½ years ago, she hit financial pay dirt, signing with Visa, Speedo and Wheaties, among others. But after winning four gold medals in London in 2012, she managed just one here, and that only because she swam a relay preliminary. She failed to make the final in her two individual events.
Ledecky has no doubts she made the right decision to remain an amateur.
“I’m only 19 years old and I only really want to represent myself and my family and my coach and my teammates," she said. "I don’t really feel like I need to represent something bigger than that right now. I think down the road, I would love to be a pro swimmer.
"But first and foremost, I want to get a really great education and have the opportunities that collegiate swimming brings. And to do that, I had to remain an amateur, and I’ve really enjoyed it and embraced it. I’ve had so much fun these four years. I don’t know what it would have looked like if I had gone professional. It would have looked a little different for sure.
"I’m really happy where I am right now in swimming and in life. I’m just a really happy person.”
Follow columnist Christine Brennan on Twitter @cbrennansports.
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