Katie Ledecky Named to 2016 TIME 100 List of the Most Influential People in the World
By USA Swimming News.
TIME Magazine named Olympic gold medalist and USA Swimming National Team member Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md./Nation’s Capital Swim Club) to the 2016 TIME 100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The full list and related tributes appear in the May 2 issue of TIME, available on newsstands on Friday and now at time.com/time100.
The list, now in its 13th year, recognizes the activism, innovation and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals. As TIME Editor Nancy Gibbs has said of the list, “The TIME 100 is a list of the world’s most influential men and women, not its most powerful, though those are not mutually exclusive terms. While power is certain, influence is subtle. As much as this exercise chronicles the achievements of the past year, we also focus on figures whose influence is likely to grow, so we can look around the corner to see what is coming.”
Others on the 2016 TIME 100 include President Barack Obama, Stephen Curry, Adele, Mark Zuckerberg and Leonardo DiCaprio. The 19-year-old Ledecky is the youngest member of the exclusive list.
Olympic legend Janet Evans wrote the article on Ledecky accompanying the TIME 100 announcement, stating: “Supported by an amazing family, Katie is a role model for how she defines achievable targets, focuses on her particular task at hand and attacks the process every day to surpass her goals. Then she doesn’t rest on what she’s accomplished but resets what she can achieve and tackles those goals as well.”
Ledecky was one of nine honorees to list their “Tools of the Trade,” hers being a power snack of chocolate milk and yogurt.
In 2015, Ledecky continued to stake her place among swimming’s all-time greats with five gold medals, four in individual events, at the FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia. With victories in the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events, Ledecky became the first swimmer to win gold in those four events at the same FINA World Championships. She is the current world record holder in the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyles, owns nine career FINA World Championships gold medals and was the 2012 Olympic gold medalist in the 800m free.