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Katie Ledecky tells NPR about her plans for the Paris Olympics — and L.A. in 2028
Katie Ledecky reacts after setting a world record and winning the Woman’s 1500m Final at the FINA Swimming World Cup in 2022.
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Katie Ledecky reacts after setting a world record and winning the Woman’s 1500m Final at the FINA Swimming World Cup in 2022.
Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Katie Ledecky is used to getting medals.
She has 10 Olympic medals — seven of which are gold — and she has 26 world championship medals — 21 of those are gold.
All of that hardware has helped her earn the undisputed title as the greatest female swimmer of all time.
But on Friday, she will receive a different kind of medal: the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award a civilian can get from the U.S. government.
Ledecky spoke to All Things Considered host Juana Summers about what the medal means to her, how she is thinking about the Paris Olympics in July-August, and why she has no plans to retire after this summer.
Juana Summers will be in Paris covering the Olympics for NPR. You can follow all her reporting on All Things Considered.
Ledecky with two gold and two silver medals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
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Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
Juana Summers: Alright Katie, so this medal — does this one go in the same trophy cases as your Olympic medals? What do you think you’re going to do with it?
Katie Ledecky: Oh, I have not even thought of that yet! This is definitely one that’s very meaningful and very unique. And never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined I would be receiving this recognition. So I’m very, very honored.
Summers: Let’s look ahead if we can, because this could be another incredibly big year for you. The Summer Olympics start in just a few months in Paris — how are you feeling in the pool these days? Do you feel like you’re ready?
Ledecky: I’m ready. We have our Olympic trials in about a month now. So that’s what I’m gearing up for, I have one more meet before then. So everything is tracking well, my training is going well. And I’m really excited for hopefully the opportunity to represent the U.S. at a fourth Olympics. I can’t believe that I get this opportunity and it’s gonna be a great summer and I’m excited.
Summers: If the trials go your way, and you do indeed get to represent the U.S. at your fourth Olympic Games, do you know which event you will be most excited for?
Ledecky: Oh, well, I hope I’ll be competing in multiple events. And each one is special in a different way. The 800 free has always been my favorite and the event that I swam at my first Olympics in 2012, which I won gold at at age 15. So that’s one that I hold a special place for in my heart. But I love all my events. And I’m looking forward to each of the challenges that I’ll have with each of the races.
Summers: If you head to Paris, do you think they will be your last? Do you think we’ll see you come back for the 2028 games in Los Angeles?
Ledecky: I take things year by year, but right now, I definitely could see myself competing in 2028, with it being a home Olympics. It’s something that’s very unique. It’s something that not every Olympic athlete gets. And so I definitely know I’m not retiring after this summer and 2028 is very appealing. So I think, at this point, I want to be there, I want to compete in at least one event, maybe more. But again, plans can change. It’s a long ways away, my focus is solely on this summer in Paris at this moment.
Ledecky in the Women’s 800m Freestyle Final in Tokyo in 2021.
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Summers: You know, I have to say you have been such an inspiration for so many young women athletes, whether they are swimmers or competitors in other sports, just due to your dominance, the number of medals you’ve amassed, your longevity in your sport, and now receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is one of the highest awards a civilian can get in the United States. How do you think about your career, what you represent, what you show to a new generation of athletes, particularly women athletes?
Ledecky: Oh, thank you for the kind words. I tried to give as much as I can. And I hope that young girls look up to me and can see the work that I’ve put in and the results that I’ve had and what I’ve tried to accomplish in and out of the pool. I hope they see that and are inspired by it, whether they’re a swimmer or not.
I think, you know, I’ve learned a lot through the sport. And through this over a decade-long journey I’ve had at the international level, I’ve learned a lot about goal setting and dedication and resilience.
Summers: Is there a lesson or a story about resilience you would share for the folks who look to you as a role model?
Ledecky: Sure, I think one story that I think a lot of Olympic athletes would tell you is about our experience in 2020 and 2021 and the Olympics being postponed a year. In swimming, the Olympics is the pinnacle of our sport and we build four-year plans to peak at the Olympics and to be our very best. And so to have that pushed a year and to be kind of living under uncertain circumstances, and not knowing whether the Olympics would actually happen, I think took a lot of resilience for all of us, and we all had to adapt and train in backyard pools and do weightlifting in our homes or apartments and all those things.
So I learned a lot about myself during that time, learned that you can adapt and you can adjust to change. And certainly, we weren’t going through the worst of it during that time — I felt very lucky and fortunate to have a goal and something to work towards with the Olympics. I know that so many people during that time were suffering a lot more than we were. I think having those experiences have made me tougher, and really taught me that I’m able to adapt when things don’t go the way that I anticipate they’ll go.
Summers: Katie, whether Paris is your last Olympics, or you go to L.A., or even beyond, eventually, you will stop swimming competitively. What do you think about when you think about that future? Is that something you don’t even consider right now?
Ledecky: I haven’t thought about it too much. But for me, when I think of swimming, and I think of this career that I’ve had, I think of all the joy that I’ve had in the sport, and everything that I’ve been able to learn through the sport, all the people that I’ve gotten to meet through the sport, all the places that I’ve gotten to go through competitive swimming. And I think because of all that joy that I’ve experienced in the sport, it’s something that I’m never going to stop doing.
Of course, some day my competitive career will come to an end and I’m not going to be looking at the clock or having a coach get my times every every set. But I think I’ll always find myself going back to the pool and swimming some laps or splashing around. And it’s a place that I find so much joy.
As we get into the summer months, I hope that a lot of other people can find that joy and learn how to swim. It’s such an important life skill. And, in my view, the greatest sport on earth, and something that you can do for the rest of your life. I hope that I’ll be swimming into my 90s — I have a 98-year-old grandma, so I’m lucky to have some good genes there, and I hope that I’ll be able to stay healthy and happy, and happy in the pool and happy in the water. It’s definitely my happy place.
The U.S. Supreme Court
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The U.S. Supreme Court refused Friday to allow Virginia to use a new congressional map that favored Democrats in all but one of the state’s U.S. House seats. The map was a key part of Democrats’ effort to counter the Republican redistricting wave set off by President Trump.
The new map was drawn by Democrats and approved by Virginia voters in an April referendum. But on May 8, the Supreme Court of Virginia in a 4-to-3 vote declared the referendum, and by extension the new map, null and void because lawmakers failed to follow the proper procedures to get the issue on the ballot, violating the state constitution.
Virginia Democrats and the state’s attorney general then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to put into effect the map approved by the voters, which yields four more likely Democratic congressional seats. In their emergency application, they argued the Virginia Supreme Court was “deeply mistaken” in its decision on “critical issues of federal law with profound practical importance to the Nation.” Further, they asserted the decision “overrode the will of the people” by ordering Virginia to “conduct its election with the congressional districts that the people rejected.”
Republican legislators countered that it would be improper for the U.S. Supreme Court to wade into a purely state law controversy — especially since the Democrats had not raised any federal claims in the lower court.
Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Republicans without explanation leaving in place the state court ruling that voided the Democratic-friendly maps.
The court’s decision not to intervene was its latest in emergency requests for intervention on redistricting issues. In December, the high court OK’d Texas using a gerrymandered map that could help the GOP win five more seats in the U.S. House. In February, the court allowed California to use a voter-approved, Democratic-friendly map, adopted to offset Texas’s map. Then in March, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the redrawing of a New York map expected to flip a Republican congressional district Democratic.
And perhaps most importantly, in April, the high court ruled that a Louisiana congressional map was a racial gerrymander and must be redrawn. That decision immediately set off a flurry of redistricting efforts, particularly in the South, where Republican legislators immediately began redrawing congressional maps to eliminate long established majority Black and Hispanic districts.
An explosion and fire drew a large emergency response on Friday to a lumber mill in the Midcoast region of Maine, officials said.
The State Police and fire marshal’s investigators responded to Robbins Lumber in Searsmont, about 72 miles northeast of Portland, said Shannon Moss, a spokeswoman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Mike Larrivee, the director of the Waldo County Regional Communications Center, said the number of victims was unknown, cautioning that “the information we’re getting from the scene is very vague.”
“We’ve sent every resource in the county to that area, plus surrounding counties,” he said.
Footage from the scene shared by WABI-TV showed flames burning through the roof of a large structure as heavy, dark smoke billowed skyward.
The Associated Press reported that at least five people were injured, and that county officials were considering the incident a “mass casualty event.”
Catherine Robbins-Halsted, an owner and vice president at Robbins Lumber, told reporters at the scene that all of the company’s employees had been accounted for.
Gov. Janet T. Mills of Maine said on social media that she had been briefed on the situation and urged people to avoid the area.
“I ask Maine people to join me in keeping all those affected in their thoughts,” she said.
Representative Jared Golden, Democrat of Maine, said on social media that he was aware of the fire and explosion.
“As my team and I seek out more information, I am praying for the safety and well-being of first responders and everyone else on-site,” he said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Crime scene tape surrounds a bicycle in front of St. Lukes Episcopal Church in Atlanta on May 14, 2026. (SKYFOX 5)
ATLANTA – The woman stabbed to death on the Beltline has been identified as 23-year-old Alyssa Paige, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner.
The backstory:
Paige was killed by a 21-year-old man Thursday afternoon while she was on the Beltline. Officials confirmed to FOX 5 that the stabbing happened near the 1700 block of Flagler Avenue NE.
Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said the department was alerted around 12:10 p.m. that a woman had been stabbed just north of the Montgomery Ferry Drive overpass. She was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital where she later died. Another person was also stabbed during the incident, but their condition remains unknown.
According to officers, the man responsible attacked a U.S. Postal worker prior to the stabbing before getting away on a bike. He then used that bike to flee the scene of the stabbing as well.
The suspect was arrested near St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Peachtree Street in Midtown around 5:25 p.m.
What we don’t know:
While officials haven’t released an official motive, they noted the man may have been suffering a mental health crisis.
The Source: Information in this article came from the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office and previous FOX 5 reporting.
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