"I swim better when I get mad"— When Katie Ledecky beat Sarah Sjostrom, exhaustion and vomit for 200m freestyle gold at Rio Olympics

Katie Ledecky overcame exhaustion and even vomiting to win the 200m freestyle gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics, her fifth Olympic gold in two games. She later added two more gold medals at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

During the 2016 Rio Olympics, Ledecky had the pressure to deliver. She did more than that, winning the 400m freestyle gold in a world time of 3:56.46. Next up was 200m freestyle, her weakest event.

After leading the race for the majority of the part, Katie Ledecky's body started aching. She started to feel like she might vomit. Speaking about the race after the event, Ledecky claimed (via Guardian):

“That was a really tough race … the closest I’ve come to throwing up.”

She continued:

“I’ve come pretty close in practice a few times so I’m kind of used to it,” Ledecky added . "And I know I can get through it and it’s almost like you get mad when that happens and I swim better when I get mad so I just sucked deep and knew I had only 25m left.”

However, she did win the gold. Ledecky claims she pushed as hard as she could for the last part, unaware of where her rival Sarah Sjostrom was.

“I was done when I hit the wall,” she expressed.

Can Katie Ledecky do another three-peat at the Paris Olympics 2024?

TYR Pro Swim Series San Antonio - Day 4. (Image via Getty)

It's unlikely Katie Ledecky will repeat her 2016 Rio Olympics medal tally at the Paris Summer Games, as she hasn't focused much on the 200m freestyle recently. However, she plans to swim the event at the Olympic Trials to qualify for the 4x200m freestyle team.

However, Ledecky can do the three-peat in 1500m freestyle, 800m freestyle and 400m freestyle. She will highly likely swim these events at the Olympic Trials, in Paris as well if she qualifies.

Katie Ledecky has looked in good touch at the start of the season this year. The 27-year-old swam eight times this year, winning five of those at TYR Pro Swim Series Knoxville and San Antonio editions.

---

Ledecky rose to international fame at the 2012 London Olympics after winning the gold in the 800m freestyle. She swam in a blazing time of 8:14.63, beating the field by a huge four seconds. The Olympic gold wasn't her only achievement of the day. The then 15-year-old also broke the American record of 8:16.22 which had stood since 1989.

Ledecky broke Michael Phleps' record for the most individual world championship wins at the 2023 World Aquatics. In the Fukuoka waters, she won her sixteenth individual gold medal.