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Glamourising distance races

After Meyers, Ledecky becomes the 2nd woman to capture three freestyle events at same Games
Last Updated 13 August 2016, 18:53 IST

Katie Ledecky's grandmothers, Kathleen Hagan and Berta Ledecky, didn’t attend the 2016 Olympics. Her 10 aunts and uncles and 13 of her 15 cousins also stayed home. But those left behind will may not have missed a stroke of Ledecky's attempt to win the 800-meter freestyle and become only the second swimmer, after Debbie Meyer, to capture the 200, 400 and 800 distances at the same Games.

The distance freestyles used to be swimming's equivalent of baseball's seventh-inning stretch: a convenient time to take a commercial break or make a trip to the restroom or concession stand.

Not anymore. Since winning the 800-meter freestyle in an upset at the 2012 London Games, Ledecky has broken 13 world records, most recently in the 800-meter freestyle on Saturday at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium. In that event, the silver medalist finished almost 12 seconds behind Ledecky.

What Ledecky lacks in competition, she more than makes up for in drama racing against the clock.

"I wasn't sure it was possible, but Katie has made the 800 free edge-of-your-seat, must-see TV," said Tommy Roy, who oversees NBC's swimming coverage.

In Williston, North Dakota, roughly 90 people gathered at the recreation center, where the natatorium is named after Ledecky's maternal grandfather, EJ Hagan, for a watch party for the Olympic final in the 400 freestyle. A cousin had planned a watch party for Ledecky's 800 freestyle preliminary heat on Thursday, and another hosted a similar get-together in Fort Collins, Colorado, for Friday's final. But one does not have to be a member of Ledecky's "Fam Club," the name that graced green T-shirts worn by relatives who attended the US Olympic trials in Omaha, Nebraksa, to be drawn into Ledecky's cheerfully relentless rewriting of swimming history.

The US swim team held a training camp in San Antonio before the games, and one weekend morning the public was invited to watch practice. During the session, which drew several thousand fans, dozens peeled away from the main pool, where Missy Franklin, Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte were swimming, to watch Ledecky go through her paces in an adjacent diving well.

It is not just people outside swimming's inner circle who gather to watch Ledecky. David Marsh, the head coach of the women's Olympic team, said he had often seen coaches who were working with other athletes during pre-Olympics training sessions slide over to stand behind Ledecky's lane when she was stringing together what he described as "pretty off-the-earth kind of stuff."

American sprinter Nathan Adrian, who inhabits the sport's so-called glamour events, the 50- and 100-meter freestyles, explained Ledecky's drawing power.

"One of the reasons why it's so amazing to watch is anybody that's ever swum knows how difficult it is to do the things she does," he said. Adrian described Ledecky as "an amazing aerobic machine" and "an absolute spectacle."

At meets, he said, he has noticed that the crowds, far from losing interest when the women's distance heats start, are energised by Ledecky's swims. He cited her 1,500-metre freestyle preliminary at last summer's world championships, where Ledecky pulled Russian fans to their feet to cheer for her as she cruised to a world record. She clocked 15 minutes 27.71 seconds in the morning, and in the final the next day, she went even faster. Her time of 15:25.48 was faster than the eighth-place finish in every men's 1,500 final through the 1992 Olympics.

Ledecky's racing instincts and competitiveness are also earning her fans outside the sport. Members of the US men's basketball team attended the swim session Tuesday night. After Ledecky won the 200-meter freestyle by furiously staving off Swedish sprinter Sarah Sjostrom in the final meters, Kevin Durant asked to meet her. He had his photo taken with Ledecky and posted it to his Instagram account.

Ledecky makes racing look fun. The longer the distance, the more joy she exudes. Her enthusiasm is infectious. Meyer, the 1968 Olympian whom Ledecky emulated, said she had found that out when talking to children at the Olympic trials.

"I asked them what their favorite event is, and I kept getting distance freestyle, distance freestyle," she said. "It was amazing. I had never seen that before."

Bruce Gemmell has observed the same phenomenon among the age-groupers at Nation's Capital Swim Club, where he oversees Ledecky's training. Referring to the longest short-course yards event for 10-and-under competitors, Gemmell said, "She's making the 500 cool."

Leah Smith, the bronze medalist in the 400, has seen the Ledecky effect at the elite level. "When you have someone out front and everybody's chasing her, you're obviously going to go faster," Smith said. "I think it's a great thing. It's really exciting to hear a crowd going insane and pretend it's for you even though it's for Katie."

Smith, 21, remembered cozying up in front of the television as a teenager to watch the major swim meets on television and invariably winding up disappointed and a bit deflated.

"It would always make me sad to see them cut to commercial breaks during the 800 and 1,500," Smith said. "I think that it has changed. Since Katie broke so many barriers, it just showed people where distance swimming could be. You never know when she's going to take it out under world-record pace. She makes it so exciting I think people want to watch it."

Smith traveled to Indianapolis in December for a meet featuring teams from Europe and the United States. Ledecky bypassed the competition. Smith won the 800 freestyle, but her family back home did not get to see it during NBC's coverage.

"They didn't show it at all," Smith said. "Maybe if Katie was in it, they would have shown it."

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(Published 13 August 2016, 18:47 IST)

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