"Took a look and enjoyed the moment" - Katie Ledecky on qualifying for her 4th Olympics following dominant performance in trials

Katie Ledecky won the 400m freestyle at the 2024 US Olympic Swim Trials to secure a berth for the Paris Olympics. With this, she made an Olympic team for the fourth time, becoming only the eighth swimmer in history to do so. Ledecky enjoyed the moment thoroughly and was taken back to her first Trials in 2012.

Ledecky has already had an extraordinary career, with six individual Olympic gold medals and 26 all-around medals at the World Aquatics Championships to her name. She is the current world record holder in the 800m freestyle, the discipline in which she won her first Olympic gold at the 2012 London Olympics.

In Rio 2016, she emerged as the most decorated swimmer with four golds, one silver, and two world records. The following edition in Tokyo saw Ledecky maintain her win streak and become the first American female swimmer to win an individual event in three consecutive editions of the Olympics.

Several swimmers from the United States aimed at booking their berths in Paris at the US Olympic Swim Team Trials in Indianapolis. Katie Ledecky swept the 400m freestyle title to make her fourth Olympic team, defeating Paige Madden. In an interview with NBC, she reminisced about her first time at the Trials in 2012 and how enjoying the moment was her only lookout.

"I was looking back to my first 400m free at the 2012 and I got third place and this one [the host] said, 'you got a lot ahead of you. You still got that 800.. I walked out of this tunnel and just took a look around and just enjoyed the moment. We've come a long and it's really great that you all came out to support us. Been an amazing first night."

According to commentators, the largest crowd of 20,000 spectators flocked to watch the athletes perform.

"I don't take these opportunities for granted" - Katie Ledecky on seeing herself competing at the Olympic level

Katie Ledecky outpaced Michael Phelps by winning her 16th individual title at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships. Boasting an impressive golden resume like no other female swimmer, the four-time Olympian once belittled herself, not believing in her abilities to be at the world level.

Now when she is, no opportunity is less great to her. In an exclusive interview with People, the 27-year-old talked about not taking any opportunity for granted.

"I don't think I would've expected to necessarily still be at this level this many years later. I wouldn't have been able to see into the future that I would be competing in 2024. So yeah, I don't take it for granted. I don't take these opportunities for granted, and I just try to enjoy each day of the training and the process."

Katie Ledecky has been in pretty impressive form so far in 2024, winning nine out of 11 tournaments she competed in.