Katie Ledecky, you’ve just won two more gold medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics to bring your career Olympic gold medal haul to nine. What do you want to do next?
Well, one thing she wants to do is inspire more kids to swim. That’s what she said last Wednesday at Ledecky’s “Conversation With CBS’ Tony Dokoupil” event at 92NY Center in New York City, where lots of aspiring young swimmers and their parents were in the audience. Also in the “Swim Like a Girl” chapter at the end of her recently published memoir Just Add Water, she wrote, “All I ever want is to be a good example for young athletes,” and about how girls may need to hear motivational messages even more since their lanes to swimming may not be as smooth.
On the surface, getting more kids — especially more girls — to become swimmers may seem like mainly a sports-related goal because swimming is, of course, a sport. However, go deeper into the water and you’ll realize that this is actually a big health-related goal, too.
Read more (via Forbes.com)