Katie Ledecky: Swimming’s Golden Girl narrates the extraordinary story of the young US swimmer who stunned the world by capturing gold at the 2012 Olympics. Since the London Games, the popular role model has dominated ladies swimming with her powerful swimming and winning attitude. A children’s biography accompanied by breathtaking illustrations, Katie Ledecky: Swimming’s Golden Girl offers an in-depth look at the swimmer who is expected to reign at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The stirring story of Ledecky’s meteoric rise to the top will captivate and inspire young readers.

"Katie Ledecky: Swimming's Golden Girl" narrates the extraordinary story of the young US swimmer who stunned the world by capturing gold at the 2012 Olympics. Since the London Games, the popular role model has dominated ladies swimming with her powerful swimming and winning attitude. A children's biography accompanied by breathtaking illustrations, "Katie Ledecky: Swimming's Golden Girl" offers an in-depth look at the swimmer who is expected to reign at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The stirring story of Ledecky's meteoric rise to the top will captivate and inspire young readers.

New York Times Bestseller A candid and inspiring memoir from Olympic gold medalist, world champion, and one of the best swimmers ever to compete: Katie Ledecky. Katie Ledecky has won more individual Olympic races than any female swimmer in history. She is a three-time Olympian, a seven-time gold medalist, a twenty-one-time world champion, eight-time NCAA Champion, and a world record-holder in individual swimming events. Time and again, the question is posed to her family, her coaches, and to her—what makes her a champion? Now, for the first time, she shares what it takes to compete at an elite level. Again and again, Ledecky has broken records: those of others and, increasingly, her own. She is both consistent and innovative—consistent at setting goals and shattering them, and innovative in the way she approaches her training. A true competitor, she sets her goals by choosing the ones that feel the scariest. But, crucially, she never sacrifices the joy of competition, even in the face of adversity. Her positive mental outlook and a great support system provides the springboard to her success. Just Add Water charts Ledecky’s life in swimming. It details her start in Bethesda, Maryland, where she played sharks and minnows and first discovered the joy of the pool; her early foray into the Olympics at the tender age of fifteen where, as the youngest member of the American team, she stunned everyone by winning her first gold medal; her time balancing competition and her education at Stanford University; how she developed a champion’s mindset that has allowed her to persevere through so many meets, even under intense pressure; and how she has maintained her dominance in a sport where success depends on milliseconds. You learn how every element of her life—from the support of her family to the tutelage of her coaches, from her childhood spent in summer league swimming to the bright lights of Olympic pools in London, Rio, and Tokyo—set her up to become the champion she is. In the end, Katie’s story is about testing yourself against the difficult, and seeing who you become on the other side.

Learn how a young girl who loved being in the water became one of the greatest Olympic swimmers of all time in this exciting addition to the Who HQ Now series featuring newsmakers and trending topics. Katie Ledecky began swimming competitively at age six after watching her mother and brother in the pool. By age fifteen, she was setting records and winning gold medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics. And with each year, Katie improved her skills and her times in the water! The Summer 2024 Olympics in Paris will be Katie's fourth, and the world will be watching. With over seven Olympic gold medals, nineteen World Championship gold medals, and twenty-two overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships to her name, Katie has become the most decorated female swimmer in the world. Her charming spirit and impressive athletic skills have made Katie a popular role model for young swimmers, and everyone is eager to see what she achieves in the future.

At just 15 years old, Katie Ledecky won her first gold Olympic medal. Since then, she has added nine more Olympic medals and 21 world championships. She has also broken 16 world records and has the most individual world swimming titles of all time--more than any man or woman in swimming history. Dive into this inspiring sports biography and learn all about Katie Ledecky and her legacy.

In her extraordinary swimming career, Shirley Babashoff set thirty-nine national records and eleven world records. Prior to the 1990s, she was the most successful U.S. female Olympian and, in her prime, was widely considered to be the greatest female swimmer in the world. Heading into the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Babashoff was pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated and followed closely by the media. Hopes were high that she would become “the female Mark Spitz.” All of that changed once Babashoff questioned the shocking masculinity of the swimmers on the East German women’s team. Once celebrated as America’s golden girl, Babashoff was accused of poor sportsmanship and vilified by the press with a new nickname: “Surly Shirley.” Making Waves displays the remarkable strength and resilience that made Babashoff such a dynamic champion. From her difficult childhood and beginnings as a determined young athlete growing up in Southern California in the 1960s, through her triumphs as the greatest female amateur swimmer in the world, Babashoff tells her story in the same unflinching manner that made her both the most dominant female swimmer of her time and one of the most controversial athletes in Olympic history.

Meet Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky! Ledecky's life story is examined from her childhood in Maryland where she began swimming at age six, to three US Junior Championships. Learn about Ledecky's Olympic career in the London and Rio de Janeiro games throughout which she won five gold and one silver medals. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Big Buddy Books is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.