Born-to-swim champ meets ‘Born to Run’ music legend

WASHINGTON — Before heading off to Stanford University, Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky has spent the rest of her summer busy around the D.C. area.

The Bethesda, Maryland, native and world record-breaking swimmer threw the first pitch at a Washington Nationals game, shared her gold medals and stories at Children’s Hospital and her former high school, and talked to WTOP about her favorite musician: Bruce Springsteen.

She posted a photo of her with Springsteen before his concert at Nationals Park Thursday night. And she not only shared her big grin on Twitter, but also on Facebook and Instagram.

Ledecky cites Springsteen as a favorite musician on her bio page for USA Swimming, and told WTOP, “My dad is a big Bruce Springsteen fan. He’s been to 30, 40 concerts, maybe less, I don’t know. Big fan. I have probably 400 Bruce Springsteen songs on my iPod just from different shows and everything, so I became a fan pretty early on.”

The 19-year-old athlete won four gold medals and a silver medal at the Rio Olympics and starts swimming for Stanford later this month. She’s also one of 39 Twitter accounts that Springsteen follows on the social media site.

Teta Alim

Teta Alim is a Digital Editor at WTOP. Teta's interest in journalism started in music and moved to digital media.

Federal News Network Logo
Log in to your WTOP account for notifications and alerts customized for you.

Sign up