As soon as Katie Ledecky hit the water to anchor the 800-meter relay it was possible to imagine the “uh-ohs” around the pool deck at the Tokyo Aquatics Center.
Michael Ledecky, Katie’s older brother, had seen it before.
“It took me back to watching summer camp when she was 8 years old,” he said Thursday.
Back then in Maryland, Katie often dove into the water trailing opponents by 10 meters, only to chase them down.
Ledecky, 24, faced a similar predicament Wednesday night in the 4X200 relay in a gut-churning anchor leg to lead an underdog U.S. quartet to a silver medal.
Ledecky has nine Olympic medals and 15 world titles. She owns world records in the 400, 800 and 1,500 freestyles. She is regarded as one the greatest freestyle swimmers in history.
But getting the silver medal for her relay teammates Wednesday night has to be one of her most memorable races.
“That race did feel like a gold,” said Michael Ledecky, who watched with family from the East Coast. “She attacked it. She swam for her teammates. You could see her heart through that swim.”
Australia entered the race as an overwhelming favorite. The Aussies held the world record in the event. They also had one of the Tokyo Games’ breakout stars in Ariarne Titmus, who had already defeated Ledecky in the 200 and 400 freestyle races.
The Americans were given a chance to get the silver medal but Canada and China were expected to compete for second place, too.
By the time Ledecky made the exchange with Cal’s Katie McLaughlin, the Americans were at least 10 meters behind in third place.
Ledecky, the former Stanford star, finished fifth in the 200 freestyle the previous day in the first Olympic race she failed to win a medal. But U.S. coach Greg Meehan, Ledecky’s coach at Stanford, knew who he wanted to finish the relay.
“This is one swimmer you put money on,” said Jon Urbanchek, a longtime U.S. Olympic swim coach who is retired.
The Americans finished faster than the previous world record but were 0.40 of a second behind gold medalist China, which scored a surprising victory in 7 minutes 40.33 seconds. Pre-race favorite Australia was third in 7:41.29 as Titmus didn’t give her team a big enough lead in the opening leg. All three medal winners were faster than the former world record of 7:41.50.
Ledecky, swimming an ambitious five-race program in Tokyo, started the final leg more than 1 ½ seconds behind Australia. Her three teammates stood behind the starting platform screaming.
Ledecky surfaced close to Australian anchor Leah Neale. The Stanford star kept charging to the first turn.
Ledecky dismissed conventional race strategy by not conserving energy in the first 100 meters.
“Even when I try to hold back that first 100, it’s still really fast and I can still come home so I just kind of let it go and just race,” she told reporters.
After the first 100 meters Ledecky had the Americans in second place — and moving.
She kept pushing to try to close the gap with China’s anchor Li Binjie. Ledecky swam the fastest leg of the race with a time of 1:53.76. But China’s lead was too big to overcome.
“There is something more special about this one,” said Michael Ledecky, who has seen many of his sister’s major victories.
Three teams breaking the world record. Almost everyone counting the Americans out. Four-time Olympian Allison Schmitt competing in her final Olympic race.
“Katie had something to prove too in her 200,” Michael Ledecky said.
The other Katie — McLaughlin — said the teammates didn’t have expectations about where they would finish. The Berkeley alum said the women just wanted to lean on each other and let it fly.
Schmitt led off with a 1:56.34 split, followed by Paige Madden and McLaughlin. Then came Ledecky.
“I just saw how close we were, and I knew I could give it my all and get us into that position,” she said.
On Thursday, Ledecky texted Urbanacek, the coach who met her at the 2012 London Games, to say, “we were just having fun out there.”
A day earlier, the usually reserved Ledecky got emotional after winning the 1,500 freestyle an hour after finishing fifth in the 200. She shed tears at the finish line and choked up talking to reporters about the pressures of always having to win the gold medal.
Michael Ledecky appreciated his sister’s willingness to show herself “as a compassionate competitor, as a thoughtful competitor. Somebody who is in touch with her feelings. Just an emotionally mature swimmer who understands where she is at
even when things don’t go 100% her way.”
Katie Ledecky will face Titmus on Friday night in the 800 freestyle to end her Tokyo Games. Urbanchek is confident Ledecky will leave Tokyo feeling proud.
“Sometimes she makes a bad situation good,” he said.
Particularly when her relay team is trailing.
