The greatest female swimmer of all time, Katie Ledecky, is known for winning Olympic gold medals in the most impressive ways. But few may know what happens during her post-race press conference when she spends a significant amount of time shifting attention away from herself and focusing on her competitors.
So how can someone who would rather talk about other people than themselves actually write a book about themselves?
“Some of you may have noticed that I've digressed a little bit by talking about some of the people who have played important roles in my life,” Ledecky said in a recent interview to discuss her fantastically titled new autobiography, “Just Add Water,” which is published Tuesday by Simon & Schuster.
“I guess that's actually speaking for myself,” she admitted, “but I also feel like I owe a lot to the people around me, the people who came before me – my grandparents, my parents, my siblings, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, really. I don't think I would be the swimmer I am today without them, so it's been great to reflect on that and share a lot of their stories.”
It's a big week for the 27-year-old Ledecky: In addition to publishing her first book, she's competing at the US Olympic Swimming Trials in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium (yes, an indoor football stadium with a pool) where she's expected to make her fourth US Olympic team in multiple events.
Ledecky will be one of the hottest stars in Paris, looking to add to her Olympic gold medal haul of seven and three silver medals. As she did in Tokyo three years ago, she is likely to win gold in the women's 800m freestyle and 1,500m freestyle, but she will not be invincible, as the younger swimmers who idolized her as children are now her biggest rivals.
But first, she offers some valuable advice in her new book, which in many ways is the perfect introduction for parents and their athletic kids.
Recounting her childhood spent swimming at her local pool outside Washington, DC, she says she never dreamed of competing in the Olympics, just swimming for fun.
“I've seen teammates tell stories like when they first started swimming they wrote a paper in the first grade that they wanted to go to the Olympics, or when they were 8 years old and won the 25-meter freestyle they declared they were going to be an Olympian,” she said.
“That wasn't me, and that wasn't my family. I loved swimming, and it was definitely what I fell in love with from the get-go, but I played other sports too. I was reasonably good at basketball and soccer, and I was very competitive and I loved being active. So I loved everything that I did.”
As for swimming, she said, “I watched it on TV but when I saw it in person I never thought I'd get to that level. I thought it was another world, so far away. But then I started qualifying for bigger meets and all of a sudden I realised the next meet was qualification for the Olympic Trials. At that point I started to understand how to qualify for the Olympics.”
But, she said, “It wasn't a goal from a young age. So I think that's an important message, that you don't have to start out being great, you don't have to even have that goal from the beginning, and there are different journeys that everyone goes through.”
I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone looking for tabloid drama or even a hint of scandal – quite the opposite: a joyous escape from our vicious world to a place where hard work pays off and dreams come true.
“I've had a very happy life and I'm very fortunate that I've never had a major injury, a major setback, abuse or anything in my life that would have taken me off the path that I wanted to be on,” Ledecky said. “When I started writing this, I knew it was going to be a very positive story.
“Winning a gold medal and seeing it make little kids smile and old people smile and light up someone's face. That impact means so much to me and if this book can contribute even a little bit to that impact then that's amazing and it means a lot to me.”
