Olympic swimming phenom Katie Ledecky flew into Dulles Wednesday morning to a roaring embrace from her former classmates at Stone Ridge Catholic School in Bethesda, Maryland.
“Katie!” fans screamed. “Welcome home.”
And she is not coming alone, she’s bringing back five medals, four of them gold. With five medals and two world records, the Montgomery County native is well on her way to global athletic superstardom.
But the 19-year-old, a massive celebrity now, was just as pleasant, modest and friendly as she's ever been.
“First thing I'm going to do is eat a home-cooked meal with my mom,” Ledecky said.
The youngest member of the U.S. swim team has become a great inspiration the for young women.
“Words cannot describe,” one fan said. “You cannot put it on a spectrum, my love for Katie Ledecky.”
Four gold medals: the 200-meter freestyle, the 400-meter, the 800-meter, and the 4 by 200-meter relay. And then a silver medal in the 4 by 100-meter. But she didn’t just win. She won by unheard of margins: 4.77 and 11.38 seconds.
“It takes a lot of hard work and dedication and a great support system. I have some great friends, as you can see, and a great family,” Ledecky said. “They made this possible. And it’s fun to share with them.”
There were cheers for the medals Michael Phelps taught her how to hang perfectly around her neck but even louder cheers for her connection to her home.
“We have a lot of work to do,” her mom said.
Ledecky and her parents have just weeks now to prep for college. She heads to Stanford University in just two weeks.
“I do have a lot to get for my dorm room still,” Ledecky said.
Ledecky just laughed when WUSA9 told her some are estimating she could make $8 million a year if she cashed in with endorsements.
“What can she do better? That's up to her,” another fan said. “I'm just sitting there with popcorn, Kit Kats and all the other snacks waiting to watch.”
It's not just the dorm room Ledecky has to work on. The teenager has been so focused on swimming, she hasn’t gotten her driver's license yet. And she's already talking about competing even harder in Tokyo in 2020.
Ledecky took to her Instagram to give a big emotional goodbye to the Games.
The swimmer wrote, "This picture captures the joy I have had this past week in representing the USA...I'm happy to be bringing home some medals and memories!"
A photo posted by Katie Ledecky (@kledecky) on
%
