Swimmer Katie Ledecky on Chinese doping scandal and the Paris Olympics

There are no such thing as days off for Katie Ledecky. “I swim nine to ten times a week for two hours at a time,” she said. By his own estimate, Ledecky swims up to 70,000 meters – about 43 miles – every week as he prepares for the Paris Olympics next month. And if that wasn’t enough, after hitting the pool, she hits the weights.

“I love the long-distance running, I love the training,” Ledecky said. “Really, if competitions didn’t exist, I think I would still love it.”

She has won 10 Olympic medals, seven of them gold, and has more individual Olympic gold medals than any swimmer in history.

Anthony Nesty, who has coached her since 2021, said: “Katie is probably the best swimmer of all time.”

Nesty is a pioneer himself… the first black person to win an individual gold medal in Olympic swimming. Asked to compare Ledecky to other swimmers he has worked with, Nesty responded: “The most important thing about Katie is her passion for swimming. week, month by month. She gives you 100% every time.”

Ledecky simply loves being in the water, ever since the first time she jumped into the pool as a child. “I have so many happy memories of those days, playing Marco Polo with my brother and all those little games,” she said. “I never remember being afraid of the water, or how cold it would be, or any aspect of the sport. … I think it was always a joy.”

This passion runs in the family. Her mother, Mary Gen, and her older brother, Michael, swam competitively.

At age 12, Katie Ledecky outperformed other kids at a local swim club near her home in Bethesda, Maryland. And in 2012 she achieved a spot on the US team at the London Olympics. She was 15 years old. “After I made the Olympic team, I – for some reason – could visualize myself winning the gold medal.”

Quijano asked, “How did you get that level of confidence at 15?”

“I don’t know. I think I really trusted the work I did. I think I believed in myself.”

The 800 meter freestyle requires athletes to swim the entire length of the pool 16 times – which is equivalent to 800 meters.

WEB EXTRA: Gold Medal Swimmer Katie Ledecky on “Beating the Boys” (YouTube Video)

In Ledecky’s new book, “Just Add Water: My Swimming Life,” she remembers the crowd that day in London cheering for her competitor, the hometown favorite. But in the final laps, she harnessed that energy for herself. “I clearly remember turning 600 meters with 200 meters to go and it was like I was waking up,” she said. “I told myself, ‘I’m winning. I’m in the Olympics. I’m beating these people next to me. Don’t screw it up!'”

In his international debut, Ledecky won his first Olympic gold medal and gained global recognition…all while being the youngest member of Team USA. As President Barack Obama noted at a White House ceremony, “Katie Ledecky may have been swimming in London, but she still had to finish her summer reading assignments for her high school English class.”

Ledecky continued to dominate swimming competitions around the world. She won six more Olympic gold medals at the 2016 Rio Games and the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Last month, those achievements brought Ledecky back to the White House, this time as the first swimmer to receive the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

But recent revelations suggest that Ledecky may have won another gold medal.

In April, The New York Times reported that 23 Chinese swimmers, including two who helped beat Ledecky and her teammates in a relay race, tested positive for a banned substance just months before the Tokyo Games.

Chinese authorities say the swimmers inadvertently ate contaminated food. The World Anti-Doping Agency refused to take action.

Ledecky said, “In this case, it doesn’t seem like everything was followed to the letter. So I’d like to see some accountability here. I’d like to see some answers as to why this happened the way it did. And I’d really like to see what measures are taken. taken for the future, so that we can regain some confidence in the global system.”

Quijano asked: “And do you think the 2021 results need to be rescinded, reexamined?

“I mean, I think the entire case has to be reexamined independently and completely, and all the information needs to be available,” Ledecky said.

In a statement to “CBS News Sunday Morning,” the World Anti-Doping Agency said it found “…compelling scientific evidence that pointed exclusively to the fact that this was a case of no-fault contamination and not doping. WADA followed up with all the processes and line of inquiry when reviewing this file.”

Wada also said a new review is underway, but it is unlikely there will be a resolution before the Paris Olympics in less than eight weeks.

“It’s hard to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes,” Ledecky said. “And I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low. You try not to think too much about when you’re actually racing. And the best thing to do is just go out there and try to win. And it’s hard when you keep in mind that there’s no necessarily a level playing field.”

Ledecky is 27 years old now. And even though she’s focusing on Paris, she’s already looking ahead to 2028, when the Olympics will take place in Los Angeles.

She said: “I think 2028 would be an incredible limit for my career. I don’t even want to say that at this point because, who knows? I could get to 2028 and say, ‘No, I don’t want to finish yet. I want to keep going!'”

As you watch, Katie Ledecky is scheduled to be back in the pool, just as she was yesterday, and will be again tomorrow, savoring every bit of the routine.

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Story produced by Alan Golds. Editor: Lauren Barnello.