Katie Ledecky: A Record-Breaking Approach to Success
Katie Ledecky
- The most decorated U.S. female Olympian of all time in individual events
- Four-time, history-making Olympian, debuting at the 2012 London Games at just 15-years-old
- Undeniable “G.O.A.T.” who has broken 16 world records and 37 American records
- Blows audiences away with her Olympian’s perspective on developing a winner’s mentality and swimming past adversity to achieve goals
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One of the most dominant athletes the world has seen and among the most celebrated of her generation, Katie Ledecky is a 14-time Olympic medalist and 21-time World Champion — the most of any female swimmer. A record-shattering, history-making athlete, Ledecky has reached undeniable “G.O.A.T.” status with the same speed and tenacity that led to her breaking 16 world records and 37 American records. A four-time Olympian with nine gold medals, four silver medals and one bronze, she is the most-decorated female U.S. Olympian of all time in individual events, with nine individual Olympic gold medals, who made her debut as the breakout star and youngest American Olympian at the 2012 games at age 15. She continues to make waves and inspire the masses with her achievements both in and out of the pool. Her memoir, Just Add Water (published by Simon & Schuster), draws from journal entries she has been keeping since the age of 14 to take readers behind the scenes of her journey to becoming an iconic swimmer, while also sharing stories of love, support, and overcoming obstacles that anyone will be able to relate to.
Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau for speaking engagements, Ledecky is a serial winner who possesses the unique ability to energize audiences and spark high performance with her much sought-after Olympic-level insights. As personable and relatable as she is laser-focused on achieving her goals, she shares her perspective on developing a winner’s mentality, goal setting, swimming past adversity, and the importance of discipline, practice, and support in reaching peak performance. Drawing from her inspiring personal journey to the winner’s podium, she shares her elite-level strategies for visualizing and achieving success at the highest levels in any field.
Ledecky became the most-decorated U.S. female athlete for her fourth consecutive Olympics when she won four medals overall (two individual golds, a relay silver, and an individual bronze) at the 2024 Paris Olympics, again making history by holding the 30 fastest times in the women’s 800m freestyle and the 20 fastest times in the 1500m freestyle. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she also won four medals overall (two gold and two silver), making history by winning the gold in the first-ever women’s 1500-meter freestyle, and becoming the first-ever to three-peat in the 800-meter freestyle. Four years prior, at the 2016 Rio Olympics, she delivered an all-time performance, breaking two world records while winning four gold medals and one silver medal overall — becoming the most successful U.S. female athlete ever at a single Olympics. Ledecky’s Olympic legend began at the 2012 London Olympic Games, where she was the youngest U.S. Olympic athlete at just 15-years-old. Showing confidence and maturity beyond her years, she delivered a statement win in the 800-meter freestyle race during the London Games, beating out a field of more experienced competitors by four seconds to win her first gold medal.
Ledecky’s success has earned her USA Swimming’s Golden Goggles Award as Female Swimmer of the Year an unprecedented eight times, AP Female Athlete of the Year twice, ESPY Awards for Best Female Athlete and Best Female Olympian, and countless other accolades. She has been featured in leading publications and news outlets worldwide, and was the youngest person named to the Time 100 list in 2016.
Between the 2016 and 2020 Games, Ledecky attended Stanford University where she won eight NCAA titles, broke 15 NCAA records, led the swim team to back-to-back NCAA Team Championships, and earned various individual honors, including being named Division I’s Academic All-American of the year.
Ledecky is passionate about the importance of education, especially STEM and leadership programs for girls. She partnered with Panasonic of North America to launch Dive Into STEM Education, a middle school program which aims to inspire and empower the next generation of students.
Take the Lead, Keep the Lead. “Take the lead, keep the lead” was the phrase that decorated Olympian Katie Ledecky’s grandfather used to say to motivate her mother during her own days as a swimmer. It’s a mindset Ledecky’s mother passed on to her, and one that has inspired her performances in her best races. As personable and relatable as she is focused on achieving her goals, Ledecky discusses how audience members can instill this same “take the lead, keep the lead” mindset, while providing actionable steps they can use to find their own inspirational viewpoints and demonstrating how happiness is often the result of hard work.
Going for the Gold. Knowing she’d have to perform remarkably to beat out the world’s best swimmers and win the 800-meter freestyle at the 2012 Olympics, 15-year-old Katie Ledecky made the most important pivot of her life. As Ledecky takes the audience behind the scenes at her first Olympics games, she reveals the importance of being willing to adapt your game plan to win big and why having confidence in your ability is more important than the expected outcome. In this talk, Ledecky shares her gripping story of going against her coach’s race strategy to win her first Olympic gold medal. Adapting her lessons from the pool for the workplace, she provides her Olympian-level perspective on how to inspire high performance for teams and individuals in any field, as well as tips for recognizing when it’s necessary to pivot in order to be successful.
Set Goals. Achieve. Repeat. Olympian and World Champion Swimmer Katie Ledecky leads this objective-focused discussion as she shares her unique strategy for tracking and achieving her goals. Each of Ledecky’s record-breaking performances have begun with her setting target “Want Times” to beat before every race and revisiting them afterward to see if she was successful. It’s a methodology she’s used throughout her legendary swim career and one that is easily applicable to any profession. In this talk, Ledecky shares how goal setting is the foundation for peak performance while outlining how the “Want Goal” method can be implemented by organizations of any size in any industry. Ledecky’s insights will inspire audience members to plan and track their goals with intent, visualize achievement, and then re-set goals to create continued challenges for themselves.
Peak Performance Starts with Discipline. In order to be an elite swimmer, Olympic champion Katie Ledecky knew from an early age that she would have to show elite discipline while balancing her Olympic ambitions with school and her personal life. In this talk, Ledecky shares examples and strategies from her legendary career on the vital roles discipline and balance play when it comes to achieving peak performance as an individual and team. In doing so, she uncovers many of the overlooked aspects of high achievement, highlighting that how you train outside of the pool — or workplace — is just as important as how you train inside of it.
I’ve Got Your Back: Support Fuels Success. Although swimming is considered an individual sport where you control your own destiny, 10-time Olympic medalist Katie Ledecky says she wouldn’t have made it to the Games in London, Rio, or Tokyo without the unrelenting support of her friends, family, teammates, and coaches who had her back and fueled her medal-winning, record-breaking performances. Open and honest with her audience, she draws from her experiences pushing past adversity on her journey to becoming an Olympic champion to share best practices for building strong support systems that spark high performance, improve communication, elevate morale, and energize teams and individuals as they work toward achieving their goals.
Education is the Key to Victory. Growing up, legendary swimmer Katie Ledecky didn’t dream of becoming an Olympian – education was always her priority. Today, she is using her powerful platform to become a champion for STEM and leadership education across the country. In this presentation, Ledecky shares the role that education has played in her life and why, as an Olympian, it has been vital to achieving her goals. She explains to audiences how, no matter their goals — whether in athletics, business, or another field — having a strong educational foundation and the right amount of balance is what provides the competitive edge for anyone working toward success.
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