American swimming legend [autotag]Katie Ledecky[/autotag] added an eighth gold medal to her trophy case and set an Olympic record as she placed first in the 1,500-meter freestyle by more than 10 seconds.
Ledecky owns the top 20 times in the event’s history and hasn’t lost the race in 14 years. She broke her own Olympic record by more than five seconds with a 15:30.02 but still came well short of her 2018 world record (15:20.48).
Although she didn’t attend the University of Florida, Ledecky has spent the past three years training for these Olympics in Gainesville as a volunteer coach to the men’s swimming team. Her medals won’t count toward Florida’s total, but she wore a Gators cap at the Olympic Trials, so it’s clear she thinks of the swimming program as home.
Ledecky now has 12 Olympic medals over four Games, tying her with Jenny Thompson for most by an American woman.
She’ll get the chance to break that record later this week in the women’s 800-meter freestyle, which she is also favored to win. Ledecky is also a member of the United States’ 4×200-meter freestyle relay team. She already claimed bronze in the 400-meter freestyle.
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