Katie Ledecky has become the first female swimmer to win gold medals at four different Olympics after retaining her title in the women’s 1500m freestyle with another commanding performance on Wednesday night.
The 27-year-old American, widely regarded as the greatest female distance swimmer of all time, touched first in 15min and 30.02sec, breaking her own Olympic record, before a boisterous crowd in the Paris suburbs. France’s Anastasiya Kirpichnikova claimed the silver (15:40.35), while third place went to Germany’s Isabel Gose (15:41.16). The only other swimmer to break 16 minutes was Simona Quadarella of Italy (15:44.05), who faded in a hard-fought duel for the bronze.
