Just Add Water

“[Ledecky] structures her memoir around all the special people in her life, who surely played crucial roles. But that downplays her own vast resources of self-invention…What sets her truly apart is her mind-set, how she is able to approach the sport emotionally and psychologically. In that, Ledecky is a marvel.” —The New Yorker “Even if you strip away the hardware and the legacy, she is, constitutionally, an outlier, an aquatic unicorn…There is no precedent for what Ledecky is doing.” —The Washington Post  “[An] absorbing, well-written new autobiography…a mosaic view of this astonishing athlete, where every turn of the kaleidoscope brings a new facet into sharp focus. Ledecky effectively guides the reader to an understanding of how she became quite possibly the greatest female swimmer of all time…Through it all, what emerges is Katie Ledecky’s fundamental decency, sense of humor (a Curb Your Enthusiasm fan? Who knew?), and sheer doggedness.” —SwimSwam “Ledecky’s writing pulses with her love for the pool and an appreciation for all the people that have shaped her into the champion she is—her coaches, her brother, her grandparents, and, of course, her parents. Readers will feel inspired by Ledecky’s enthusiasm and gratitude for everything she’s worked hard to achieve.” —Associated Press “Ms. Ledecky’s book is just as much an ode to her family, coaches and mentors as it is a memoir. It may be light on drama, but it goes deep on a sport that many admire but few truly understand…most of her time, as has been the case for most of her life, is taken up by the sport of—no, the joy of—swimming.” —The New York Times 

Katie Ledecky is a record-breaking swimmer who has represented Team USA at four Olympic Games and six world championships and won her first Olympic gold medal in 2012 at the age of fifteen. Her combined nine Olympic gold medals and twenty-one world championship gold medals are the most ever won by a female swimmer. She was the most decorated US female athlete at the Rio and Tokyo Olympic Games and, at the Paris Olympic Games, she became the most decorated US female Olympian in history. In 2024, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Born in Washington, DC, and a long-time resident of Bethesda, Maryland, Katie is a graduate of Stanford University.