Olympic swimming champ relies on her journal entries as a kid to write memoir
NEW YORK — Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky has written a memoir, reflecting on a life she can hardly believe is her own.
Simon & Schuster announced Thursday that the celebrated swimmer’s “Just Add Water” will be published June 11. Ledecky, a two-time winner of The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year award, is a seven-time gold medal winner who has won more individual Olympic races than any female swimmer in history.
Her memoir will cover everything from childhood games of sharks and minnows while growing up in Bethesda, Maryland, to her reign as one of the world’s greatest athletes.
“I never imagined I would make it to the Olympics, or be at this level, or write a book about this unlikely career that I’ve had,” Ledecky, who turns 27 next week, said in a statement.
“I first started keeping a journal when I was 14 years old, to document my training in the lead-up to the 2012 London Olympics. Paging through them last year, I realized these journals included elements of my wider story in swimming.”
Around age 6, Ledecky joined the Palisades Porpoises of the Montgomery County Swim League in her native Maryland with her older brother, Michael.
She quickly showed talent, and by 15 made her first Olympic team in 2012. The youngest U.S. Olympian across all sports in London, Ledecky won the 800m freestyle.
Over the last 12 years, she racked up 10 Olympic medals (two shy of the female swimming record and two shy of the U.S. women’s record across all sports), 26 world championship medals (a female record) and broke world records in the 400m, 800m and 1500m frees.
Ledecky, already the second-youngest U.S. swimmer to win individual Olympic gold, can this summer become the oldest U.S. female swimmer to win individual Olympic gold by two years.