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‘Oh, This Is NOT My Last Swim’: USA’s Katie Ledecky Delivers Three-Peat Gold In The 800m, Promises A Return In ‘24

USA's Kathleen Ledecky reacts after winning a heat in the women's 800m freestyle swimming event during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo on July 29, 2021. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP) (Photo by ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP via Getty Images)

ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP via Getty Images

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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Team USA swimmer Katie Ledecky delivered three-peat gold in the women’s 800m freestyle at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Ledecky bested Australia’s Ariarne Titmus, who beat her in both the 400m freestyle and the 200m freestyle, finishing with a time of 8:12.57. (RELATED: Katie Ledecky Dominates First Ever Women’s 1500M, Leading Team USA To A 1-2 Finish)

Ledecky told a reporter just after the race that she was happy to finish on a high note, prompting the reporter to ask how she would decide if a gold medal in Tokyo was the way she intended to finish her career.

“Oh, that was not my last swim,” Ledecky said with a smile. “I’m at least going to ’24 — maybe ’28.”

Ledecky took the distance-swimming world by storm, pulling off a surprise win in the 800m in London in 2012 when she was just 15 years old. She then set the world record in the event — 8:04.79 — at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Ledecky is the most decorated female swimmer in history.