Gulf Pine Catholic

10 Gulf Pine Catholic • December 6, 2024 Faith, school and parish support are source of strength for Olympic champion swimmer BY MARK ZIMMERMANN OSV News BETHESDA, Md. ( OSV News ) -- For Olympic champion swimmer Katie Ledecky, one of the best things about winning Olympic medals is sharing them. Now the most decorated U.S. female Olympian in history, Ledecky paid a visit Oct. 22 to her high school alma mater, Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, to show students her medals and to talk about her Olympic experiences. She also stopped by her home parish, the Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda. Addressing Stone Ridge students in the school’s theater, Ledecky described what it was like after winning her first gold medal in swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, when she was 15 and a rising sopho- more at the school. She returned home and showed her medal to wounded warriors at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, and she also visited the National Children’s Hospital in Washington, and she remembered putting a medal around a child’s neck there and seeing that child’s face light up. “That’s probably my favorite part about winning the medals, and that’s probably what really inspires me the most, to try to win those medals and to be able to share them,” the Olympian said. Ledecky, who wore her four latest Olympic med- als around her neck as she addressed the Stone Ridge students, added, “To me, these medals are not just mine. They’re everyone’s, everyone that has supported me, everyone that has driven me to prac- tice, pushed me in practice, taught me in school, supported me in all my goals, and even just everyone at home watching on TV and yelling at their TV.” In Paris while swimming in her fourth consecu- tive Summer Olympics, Ledecky won her 14th Olympic medal, adding two more gold medals to her record-setting total of nine gold medals, and she became the most decorated U.S. female Olympian in history. At the Paris Olympics, Ledecky won gold med- als in her signature races -- the women’s 800-meter and 1500-meter freestyle events -- and she won a silver medal in the 4x200 meter freestyle relay and a bronze in the 400-meter women’s freestyle race. This summer before the Olympics, her best-sell- ing memoir, “Just Add Water,” was published by Simon & Schuster. In May at the White House, President Joe Biden presented Ledecky with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Five days before speaking to Stone Ridge stu- dents, Ledecky was honored at a ceremony on cam- pus, where members of the Montgomery County Council issued a proclamation naming Oct. 17 as “Katie Ledecky Day,” and an honorary road marker, “Katie Ledecky Lane” was unveiled for a roadway along the school. Speaking to students during Ledecky’s visit, Catherine Ronan Karrels -- head of school at Stone Ridge -- said of the new road sign, “Now every day when we drive to school, we will be able to see that and be inspired by her as we come and go about our day.” Ledecky, class of 2015, gave credit to the Stone Ridge community for its support, and for helping her find balance in her life from when she first returned to school in 2012 as an Olympian. “What was so great was I was able to just get right back to work, get back to school. All my teach- ers treated me just like any other student, all my classmates treated me like I was just another stu- dent,” she said. Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart is spon- sored by the Society of the Sacred Heart. Before the Paris Olympics, Stone Ridge held a pep rally for Ledecky and two other alumnae who were swimming in those games -- Phoebe Bacon of the class of 2020 and Erin Gemmell of the class of 2023. Gemmell joined Ledecky in winning a silver medal in the 4x200 meter freestyle relay, and Bacon finished in fourth place in the 200-meter backstroke race, narrowly missing a bronze medal by .04 sec- onds. Ledecky said she appreciated how during her years at Stone Ridge, the community sup- ported her in her swimming journey and her academic journey. “Education has always been a top priority in my life, it’s been a value in my family,” she said. “I never wanted to push my education aside for the sake of swimming. I always want- ed to balance both of them. Stone Ridge and everyone in this community allowed me to do that, supported me in that, pushed me in school and in my sport.” After graduating from Stone Ridge, Ledecky earned a degree in psychology from Stanford University. The Olympian said another aspect of her Stone Ridge education that she appreciated was the Upper School’s SocialAction Program. On one Wednesday each month, Stone Ridge Upper School students participate in a day of community service. When she was at Stone Ridge, Ledecky volunteered with Bikes for the World , which provides donated bicycles to people in developing countries. “I loved to be able to get out and help other peo- ple. ... It’s so great to learn how to give back to your community,” she said. The athlete, who is now 27, said she started swimming when she was six years old, and she loved swimming from the start. The athlete said she has always set goals for her- self. “I set my mind on something I want to achieve, whether that was in the classroom or whether that was in the pool, and I’d just go do it, do whatever it took to get those goals,” she said. Describing the work involved in her training, Ledecky said she swims 10 times a week, and she added that she swims about two hours each time, and sometimes adds another swimming session on Sundays. One little girl emphatically asked Ledecky if she ever gets tired of swimming, and the Olympian responded, “I really love it!” Ledecky is now training to compete in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The Olympian offered words of encouragement to all the students. “If there’s something that you do find that you love as much as I have found that with swimming, you’ve got to try to pursue it to the full- est and try to be the very best that you can be at it.” That might be a school subject, a sport or an extra- curricular activity, she said. Standing beside the pool at the Stone Ridge Aquatics Center, Ledecky was interviewed by jour- nalists after her remarks. SEE LEDECKY HIGH SCHOOL ALMA MATER, PAGE 17 Olympic swimming champion Katie Ledecky at center visits her alma mater, Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, Md., on Oct. 22 and listens as second grader Anna Reilly at right asks her a question during a session with Lower School students there. The other students from left to right are fourth grader Annie Siciliano, third grader Lilly Bracewell, first grader Amelia Farrell and kindergarten student Bowen Wiegmann. OSV News photo/Mihoko Owada, Catholic Standard