He continued, “One of many nice issues about watching our Olympics is we’re a portrait of what this nation is all about, individuals from each stroll of life, each background, each race, each religion. It sends a message to the world about what makes America particular. It speaks to the character of this group, the way you guys carried yourselves. And it’s much more spectacular when you consider the obstacles that a lot of you might have needed to overcome not simply to succeed on the Video games however to get there within the first place.”

After which he talked about me by identify, a shock I nonetheless haven’t recovered from.

“Katie Ledecky could have been swimming in London, however she nonetheless needed to end the summer time studying assignments for her highschool English class.”

Everybody laughed. Then he searched the gang to seek out me. “The place’s Katie? Sure, there she is.”

After pointing me out, then–Vice President Joe Biden came visiting to me and quipped, “I guess you completed that studying, didn’t you?” This was all heady stuff for an adolescent coming into her sophomore 12 months of highschool. Fortunately, my classmates and lecturers did an awesome job of creating issues regular for me in school after I returned. I imply, positive, I did an meeting and answered plenty of questions in regards to the Olympics. College students, lecturers, everybody may ask no matter they wished. However after that, the all-consuming feeling of getting been part of the world stage receded. At random occasions, I might really feel considerably overwhelmed, however I wasn’t precisely positive why.

I did my greatest to push ahead and inhabit my college universe, till at one level throughout the winter of my sophomore 12 months, I used to be hit with the popularity that though I saved telling individuals I felt my life was nonetheless the identical because it had been, perhaps it really wasn’t.

Prefer it or not, I’d turn into a public determine. An expert athlete with a world viewers. Being an Olympian, having that title and profile, was a large adjustment. As was my brother leaving residence and beginning school. I used to be adapting to the truth that I used to be out of the blue an solely little one in my home, and that my brother, Michael, the one who knew me greatest—and saved me levelheaded—was elsewhere. At college, it wasn’t as if I used to be handled as a unique individual post-London. However I type of felt like one.

After I’d began at Stone Ridge the 12 months earlier than, I’d entered as a brand new freshman, not an Olympian; simply one other scholar making an attempt to make associates. After I returned from London, Bob Walker, my spirited highschool swim coach, recommended me that although I used to be a gold-medal winner now, my different qualities have been what made me who I used to be. Bob, my classmates, lecturers, and directors helped me traverse the bridge between common fifteen-year-old and Olympic gold medalist.

In swimming, it may be straightforward to get caught in your individual head. In spite of everything, you spend most of your time face down within the water, staring down on the black line on the backside of the pool. Again at Stone Ridge, I used to be lucky to have the ability to get again within the swing of issues with my highschool classmates on the swim crew. We have been all devoted swimmers, however we additionally saved issues enjoyable and light-weight. After London, I additionally took care to steadiness out my swimming with volunteering and committing to highschool service tasks. I attempted to take care of a connection to my group that went past the pool. By doing extra, I stuffed my time, stayed occupied, actually spent extra hours with my toes on the bottom. I held on to who I at all times was whereas accepting who I used to be turning into. And I reminded myself on daily basis that I used to be, like Coach Bob and Yuri and my dad and mom so often mentioned, a lot greater than a swimmer.

Excerpted from JUST ADD WATER: My Swimming Life. Copyright © 2024 by Katie Ledecky. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.