Female Athlete of the Year - Katie Ledecky | 2021 Golden Goggle Awards

With the four additional Olympic medals she earned in Tokyo (two gold and two silver), Katie Ledecky became the most decorated female individual gold medalist in Olympic history. She won the 800m and inaugural 1500m freestyle events, finished second in the 400m freestyle with the fourth-fastest performance of all time, and anchored the 4 x 200m freestyle relay to a silver medal while setting the American record with the fastest split in the entire race (1:53.7). Ledecky also won four events at the Olympic Trials in Omaha (200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle).

“I want to thank my team – the Olympic team, the Olympic coaches, the staff, the managers, everyone at USA Swimming, my coach Greg Meehan who trained me over the past five years to get to this point,” Ledecky said. "It was an extra year of a lot of hard work – we had to find somewhere to train. I trained next to Simone [Manuel] every day in a backyard pool, and that is some time I will never forget, just showing up to the pool deck with Simone and Greg to put in the work to get to 2021. I’d like to thank my family, my brother and my uncle John who are here tonight, my grandmother who I know is back home watching. Your support has meant so much to me and those late-night Facetimes after medals in Tokyo were different, we didn’t get those hugs that we normally get, but to know that you guys were watching me and supporting me every step of the way, it always means so much to me.”