SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France — The most decorated current female Olympian from Team USA, Katie Ledecky attended the third round of the Olympic women’s golf competition, checking in with friends and giving a boost to U.S. golfers Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu and Rose Zhang, who are lurking in medal contention of their own.
Ledecky, the long-distance swimming sensation who has 14 Olympic medals and nine gold—including four at the Paris Games—met up with Switzerland’s Albane Valenzuela before her third round. The two have been friends since 2016, when they met as undergrads at Stanford. Valenzuela was T-25 midway through her third round. Ledecky also chatted with Korda, one of the Team USA golfers who was at the swimming venue to cheer on Ledecky when she won the gold in the 800 meters earlier during the Olympics.
“This is my first Olympics where I’ve got to go to other sports,” Ledecky said. “It’s been a whirlwind few days, but since I am done competing, I don’t mind the lack of sleep and the walking and travelling to all the events.”
Korda, the No. 1 player in the world, spoke earlier about the effect watching Ledecky and other athletes at these Olympics has had on her.
“That was really exciting,” she said of watching the 800-meter swim final. “That’s something that I watched as a kid so getting to do that in person was definitely a bucket list thing. … Obviously we have five majors a year, and they train four years for one shot. And that’s what makes track and field, swimming, gymnastics, all those sports so amazing because they train four years to live out their dream, and we have five times a year to live out our dream. It’s absolutely incredible and it makes me appreciate what they do that much more.”
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Ledecky doesn’t play golf but maybe only for the moment, she said.
“I love watching golf,” she said. “When I am still swimming, I try to stay away from land sports. I feel like golf is a pretty safe one though. A lot of my swimming teammates play golf year-round.
“At some point I’ll pick up a club and learn. I’ll have to rely on Albane for that.”
With water in play on 10 holes at Le Golf National, Ledecky laughed when asked if the venue made her feel more at home: “Yes, except I don’t want to see any balls go in that water. I always feel bad when I see that.”
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
