The Graduate: What Katie Ledecky Learned At Stanford And How It Might Make Her Faster -- The Washington Post -- June 12, 2021

Link here. 

This is an incredibly long article. It may be behind a paywall. Here is the beginning of the article. I've archived it. 

Katie Ledecky packed for this week’s U.S. Olympic swimming trials with her usual swim gear and unparalleled goals — plus a carefully folded black cap and gown. On Sunday, one day before her first race, Ledecky planned to take part in Stanford’s commencement ceremony — from an Omaha hotel room 1,700 miles away from campus.

She has no speaking role in the ceremony; she is just one of some 1,450 graduates in Stanford’s Class of 2021. What could she say about all that has happened these past few years?

In 2016, she arrived in Palo Alto, CA, as a 19-year-old, having taken a gap year after graduating from Stone Ridge in Bethesda to train for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.  

She had never lived alone, didn’t cook for herself and didn’t know how to ride a bike. She had never paid a bill or drawn a paycheck. 

As Ledecky says, “Just thinking about being on the pool deck in Rio, that feels like a long time ago.”

Since then, she has compiled one of the most remarkable collegiate swimming careers before turning pro and has shuffled between living an ordinary campus life and a surreal pseudo-celebrity existence. She studied Greek art one semester, and she gave a swimming lesson to Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.

All of it led her here: a virtual graduation ceremony in a Nebraska hotel room, followed in short order by a coronation in a swimming pool.

“I have moments where I have to pinch myself,” said Ledecky, 24. “There have been times on campus and it feels a little surreal that I go to school here, or I tell myself, ‘I’ve been to the Olympics — what?’ Even that hasn’t completely sunk in yet, you know?”

Already the owner of five Olympic gold medals, 15 world titles and three world records, Ledecky is on the cusp of a third Summer Games, one that can only further solidify her as one of the sport’s all-time greats. On Monday, she will race the 400-meter freestyle, the first of four events on her ambitious trials program. If all goes as planned, Ledecky will qualify to compete in at least five events at the Tokyo Olympics: the 200-, 400-, 800- and 1,500-meter freestyle races, plus the 4x200 relay. There’s an outside chance she’ll also get tapped for the 4x100 relay team, which would potentially allow her to top her five-medal haul from the Rio Games.