WASHINGTON – The whirlwind of attention has yet to sink in for swimmer Katie Ledecky.
“I think it’ll take about a year probably,” Ledecky tells WTOP. The Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart sophomore, and youngest on the U.S. swim team, won gold in London in the 800-meter freestyle race.
She visited the WTOP newsroom on Wednesday, wearing her gold medal.
Check out the gallery at right for more from her visit.
“I think the key to that race was just the confidence,” Ledecky says, “and knowing I’d put in all the training and was ready to go.”
During her winning race, commentators said Ledecky seemed to be pacing too fast and predicted she would lose energy at the end, when speed counts. But the 15-year-old phenom says those who know her from competitions in Maryland know she had it in her.
“I think everybody around here has known me for a while. I’ve been swimming since I was six for my summer league team,” she says. “I guess nationally, I just came onto the scene.”
Ledecky is looking forward to returning to school and getting back into the swing of normal life.
“I want to be a normal teenager. I just want to continue doing what I’m doing … seeing how far I can push it.”
Ledecky says she is working on her 400-meter and 200-meter distances. She will continue to train at CUBU in Bethesda, Md.
Watch video below of Katie Ledecky inside the Glass-enclosed Nerve Center, courtesy WDCW-TV:
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