“When I was six, right before I started swimming, we went to a national...” — Katie Ledecky Quote

“When I was six, right before I started swimming, we went to a national competition here in Maryland and watched Michael Phelps swim, and I got to meet him afterwards, and I got his autograph. Fast forward nine years, and I'm at the Olympics with him, and it's like: 'Woah.'”

“I think the beauty of Catholicism is its consistency through both successes and difficulties. I've counted on my faith to give me strength through both training and competition - but also in school, with my family and everyday life.”

“I grew up in pubs so my whole thing is 'the game happened,' people would go into the pub afterwards and discuss 'it should have been a penalty, he should have scored that.'”

“To get on a show where you're acting day in and day out for many, many hours - 15-16 hours sometimes - it hones your endurance, your ability to memorize, your ability to follow your instincts, because you don't have time to fret about your choices afterward.”

“The preparations for my very first exhibition in 1984 consisted of banging a line of nails in roughly the right place and hanging plates on them. I don't think a tape measure or a spirit level was involved and the whole process took less time than the session in the pub afterwards.”