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We watch her out there by herself, so far ahead of her competitors, wondering how she does what she does. Who is this woman? Who created her? How is she able to swim so fast for such long races for what seems like the past 20 years?
I remember years ago watching the Belmont Stakes horse race with my Dad. He wasn’t a big sports guy, but when he saw Secretariat blow away the field by what seemed like 20 miles he was taken in by the moment: “Look at that horse go,” he said. The horse spiritually moved a man not particularly inclined to care. This is what witnessing superhuman achievement does to people.
I felt similar thoughts last night watching Katie Ledecky extend her lead in the 1500-meter freestyle on her way to another Gold Medal in the event. She is the Secretariat of swimming. For those of you who don’t know that was the fastest horse that ever raced – and it’s not close.
Katie blows people away so often it’s just ordinary to see it. We expect it. And she does it.
How?
Well, here’s a clue: Caeleb Dressel practices at the same pool as Katie and he says it’s extremely difficult to get to practice before her. She’s there at 4:30 am-ish. Those who are the best at what they do outwork the rest of us. The interesting thing about her is she loves practicing whereas many other swimmers do it because they have to, not because they enjoy it each day, each lap.
This is one of her differentiators that has made her the greatest female swimmer of all time. If you like what you do, you tend to get better at it.
But with Katie, it seems to go even deeper. It’s as if she and the water are one; they speak a language only the water and Katie understand. The two aren’t distinguishable from each other. They are soulmates. They are friends. They lift each other up. They are places of refuge, escape hatches, born to be together seemingly forever, a dual-purpose oasis.
We have to seriously start thinking about Katie Ledecky being the greatest athlete who has ever lived man or woman. I know the debate could go on and on – Michael Phelps, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Babe Ruth, Serena Williams. When you start getting talked about among these people you’re really doing something so historic people will be talking about how great you were hundreds of years from now.
You can hear historians: “There was a woman named Katie Ledecky who won more medals than any woman ever and there’s never been a woman swimmer nearly as great as her since she swam four hundred years ago. And it wasn’t just that she won. It’s the way she won. Utter dominance. She raced so far ahead of competitors so often it really was never a race. It actually didn’t make sense. She was in her own world, alone out there, in the first place, doing things in the swimming pool no one had done before and never will again.”
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Sammy Sportface, a sports blogger, galvanizes, inspires, and amuses The Baby Boomer Brotherhood. And you can learn about his vision and join this group's Facebook page here:
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