Olympian Katie Ledecky shares the strength in support at Fall Convocation

As 14-time Olympic medalist Katie Ledecky spoke to Elon students and their families in Schar Center on Friday, Sept. 26, she reflected on the support she received during her four Olympic competitions, including the 2012 London Olympics, her first Olympic Games at just 15 years old.

“You can feel a little out of place when you’re swimming next to these competitors that have been in two or three Olympics, and they are world record holders. I had (Prince) William and Princess Kate in the stands for my race,” said Ledecky. “It was kind of daunting, but I felt the support of my community around me, and they helped me before, during, and maybe most importantly, after that first Olympics.”

For Elon University’s Fall Convocation, part of the Elon University Speaker Series and during Family Weekend, Ledecky sat down for a conversation with Elon alumna and NBC Sports reporter Zora Stephenson ’15 in front of a packed house in Schar Center.

“To be home is not a place, but a feeling, and Elon is not a place, but an experience,” said Stephenson. “Today, that experience includes all of us in the presence of greatness.”

The support system

With 14 Olympic medals and 22 world championship titles, Ledecky is the most decorated female swimmer of all time and the most decorated American woman in Olympic history. With swimmers from the surrounding community in the audience, Ledecky asked for a show of hands to see how many thought they could compete in the Olympics.

“I thought you had to be some superhero to wear the cool suits they wear at the Olympics and the stars and stripes and that USA cap, but I just incrementally set bigger and bigger goals for myself to the point that I was at the Olympics with some of the swimmers that I looked up to for many years,” she said.

Ledecky won her first gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics and continued to win throughout the years, accumulating nine gold medals in total. However, she notes that the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, held amid the COVID-19 pandemic, presented a unique challenge with no spectators; yet, she says her family still helped keep her motivated.

“In the middle of my 1,500 free race, which is a 15 minute long race, I thought about my grandparents, and specifically my two grandmothers, that I knew were back home watching on TV in the U.S., and I just thought about how much joy watching swimming and watching me compete brings them and it really brought me a lot of happiness in return,” she said. “So, whenever you can still think of your family and think of your support system, it can be meaningful.”

But Ledecky also acknowledged that her support system extends beyond her biological family, including the coaches in her four Olympic cycles and at Stanford University, where she graduated in 2021.

“We all have those people in our lives that support our goals, and I think coaches can be great mentors; they can be people that can help you articulate your goals, they can encourage you, they can guide you along the process to reaching your goals,” she said. “I think professors are the same, I think family members can be the same, I think whoever it is that you really trust and admire.”

The gold medal ‘twinkle’

During the hour-long conversation, Ledecky looked back at highlights throughout her career, discussing her training regimen, her initial interest in distance swimming and even Elon’s own commitment to holistic well-being through the Health EU Initiative.

“I think it’s so important and I love that Elon is really valuing that and making that a priority for their students, faculty and community,” she said. “I think physical health goes along really well with mental health (…) I often say that all my mental training has been in my physical training at practice every day.”

Now 28, Ledecky says she’s learned a lot since winning her first gold medal as a teenager.

“If you find a passion, find something that you really love, whether that’s swimming or another sport or an extracurricular activity or a subject in school or a future career that catches your eye, try to be the very best you can be in that area,” she said.

She has also noticed the impact showing her gold medals can have on other people,  getting the opportunity to travel and see that firsthand.

“Silver medals are nice, bronze medals are nice, but there’s something about that gold medal that just gets that twinkle in someone’s eye,” said Ledecky.

Ledecky saw that “twinkle” at Elon as she showed her Paris gold medal during Fall Convocation but also during a smaller meeting with Elon student-athletes beforehand. Ledecky took questions from the students about dealing with disappointment, staying motivated and setting goals.

“Hearing her experience throughout her career is really inspiring, especially with how elite she is as an athlete,” said Zach Heath ’25, president of the club swim team and an exercise science major. “Hearing how she handles things, it motivates you to do better to try to succeed as much as she did.”

Ledecky look-alike

Isabella Johnson ’29, a track and field athlete and economics and finance double major, swam competitively throughout her childhood, viewing Ledecky as her “idol,” even dressing up as her for Halloween when she was 10 years old. On Friday, Johnson was able to meet Ledecky and show her a photo of the costume.

“If you had told little me I would have probably freaked out because I never imagined that I would be able to meet her, and I’m just thankful that my athletic advisor mentioned it to me,” said Johnson. “It was a really cool connection to my childhood to meet one of my idols.”

Now, Ledecky is preparing for the 2028 Summer Olympics, set to be held in Los Angeles, California.

“Not every Olympic athlete gets to have the opportunity to compete on home soil,” said Ledecky. “The last summer Olympics in the U.S. was in 1996, which was the year before I was born, so it doesn’t’ come around too often, and that’s what is definitely motivating me to keep going.”