Katie Ledecky is the best swimmer ever

comedyrelief wrote:

Medal numbers from swimming are a joke as they are grossly inflated. They both have nothing on Carl Lewis. Overall, Olympic swimming is a joke because it is limited to tall people in wealthy households. They are not elite athletes compared to basketball players, soccer players and runners. The beauty of basketball, soccer and running is they are not limited to the elites and encompass individuals of all heights. Face it, if you aren't 5'10" or taller as a woman or 6'4" or taller as a man and born into wealth, odds are you aren't going to be a professional swimmer.

Phelps’ family was not wealthy. His mom was a teacher and divorced.

Did you just say that you must be tall to be a competitive swimmer but basketball encompasses all heights? What?

Also, runners are mostly people who were not good enough to make it at their chosen sport so winning running events is really nothing special.

... she just broke the WR in the 1500m in season... yeah washed up.

Somebody better tell Hagino he is too short to win the Olympics ... oh wait he already did win.

Ian Thorpe tested positive over ten times.

He was asked to retire by the international governing body and his own country and told it would all be kept quiet.

That’s just the facts.

It’s Egun wrote:

Ian Thorpe tested positive over ten times.

He was asked to retire by the international governing body and his own country and told it would all be kept quiet.

That’s just the facts.

Right. And i just saw Oprah going down on Roseanne right in the middle of 42nd street

Swimswam 2k18 wrote:

... she just broke the WR in the 1500m in season... yeah washed up.

Hardly washed up but I do believe 2016 was her peak. Female distance swimmers invariably are most dominant as teenagers. For example, it has been more than 75 years since the world record at 800 meters was broken by a woman aged 20 and up.

Ledecky did make a decent run at that 800 record a few weeks ago. There is no doubt her first meet as a pro was shockingly fast and effective...superior to anything she did while a Stanford amateur.

IMO, the female distance records have been relatively weak until Ledecky came along. Likewise with track and field. Ayana is shouted as a cheat when mostly she just took advantage of a 10,000 meter time that was hardly as unattainable as conventional wisdom allowed.

This is a very good era in women's swimming. Sjostrom and Husszu have already been mentioned in this thread. The American backstroker Regan Smith has shown phenomenal potential given her age. And the best of all could be Canadian teenager Taylor Ruck, who will enable Stanford to offset the loss of Ledecky, Simone Manuel and Ella Eastin.

Ruck is a phenom who may challenge Ledecky at 200 meters in 2020 and could also win the gold in the 200 backstoke, along with other events. Penny Oleksiak appeared to be the superstar Canadian exiting Rio but now Ruck has surpassed her.

She won 1500 free at the Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo by 21 seconds!

https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2018/08/12/katie-ledecky-pan-pacs-swimming/

Well said!

Not bad for a female swimmer.

Right now, the contender for best swimmer ever goes to Kristof Rasovszky. Just won the European gold medal in the 25k open water swim. Open water swimming is THE real swimming. I don't care what people do in kiddy pools.

Awsi Dooger wrote:

This is a very good era in women's swimming. Sjostrom and Husszu have already been mentioned in this thread. The American backstroker Regan Smith has shown phenomenal potential given her age. And the best of all could be Canadian teenager Taylor Ruck, who will enable Stanford to offset the loss of Ledecky, Simone Manuel and Ella Eastin.

Ruck is a phenom who may challenge Ledecky at 200 meters in 2020 and could also win the gold in the 200 backstoke, along with other events. Penny Oleksiak appeared to be the superstar Canadian exiting Rio but now Ruck has surpassed her.

I'll quote myself from several months ago because Taylor Ruck already upended Ledecky in the 200 meters in last week's Pan-Pac championships, the most important swim meet of 2018. Ledecky actually finished third, behind another young versatile phenom in runnerup Rikako Ikee of Japan. Ruck finished a close second in the 200 backstroke behind American Kathleen Baker.

Ledecky won the 1500 in a slow time but overall she did not have a great meet. Perhaps the most interesting race of all was the women's 400 meters, in which Australian 17 year old Ariarne Titmus was not intimidated by Ledecky and went out fast with her throughout, finishing less than a body length behind while becoming only the third woman ever to break the 4 minute barrier.

Given the age gap and that women's distance swimming almost always favors the teenagers, Titmus now shapes up as a very real challenger to Ledecky in the Tokyo 2020 race at 400 meters. Titmus also swims the 800 but is not quite as competitive with Ledecky there, even though she did grab silver at Pan-Pacs.

Exactly she is the one and only lady I love her swimming.