Katie Ledecky "Just Add Water" Signed First Edition, First Printing [Near Fine/Fine]

Personally signed by Katie Ledecky, World Champion and Nine-time Olympic Gold Medalist.

One of the best swimmers ever to compete. 

Updated: July 31st, 2024 (2024 Olympics)

Katie Ledecky CRUISES to another 1500m freestyle victory, adding to Olympic legacy. Katie Ledecky proved once again there is simply no competition out there for her in the 1500m by setting an Olympic record and, in the process, tied the records for most golds and total medals by a female swimmer in U.S. history

Simon & Schuster (June 11, 2024) Katie Ledecky "Just Add Water: My Swimming Life" Signed First Edition, First Printing. Personally signed by the author Katie Ledecky directly onto the official licensed bookplate affixed onto the first page of the book.  Hardcover book with dust-jacket. First Printing as required by the full number line on the copyright page. 256 pages. ISBN-10: 1668060205. Very Fine/Very Fine without any flaws. 

Katie Ledecky is a record-breaking swimmer who has represented Team USA at three Olympic Games and six world championships, and won her first Olympic gold medal in 2012 at the age of fifteen. Her combined nine Olympic gold medals and twenty-one world championship gold medals are the most ever won by a female swimmer. She was the most decorated US female athlete at the Rio and Tokyo Olympic Games, and she is widely regarded as one of the greatest Olympians and sportswomen of all time. In 2024, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Born in Washington, DC, and a long-time resident of Bethesda, Maryland, Katie is a graduate of Stanford University and is currently training in Gainesville, Florida, in an attempt to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris in the summer of 2024.

New York Times Bestseller

A candid and inspiring memoir from Olympic gold medalist, world champion, and one of the best swimmers ever to compete: Katie Ledecky.

Katie Ledecky has won more individual Olympic races than any female swimmer in history. She is a three-time Olympian, a seven-time gold medalist, a twenty-one-time world champion, eight-time NCAA Champion, and a world record-holder in individual swimming events. Time and again, the question is posed to her family, her coaches, and to her—what makes her a champion? Now, for the first time, she shares what it takes to compete at an elite level.

Again and again, Ledecky has broken records: those of others and, increasingly, her own. She is both consistent and innovative—consistent at setting goals and shattering them, and innovative in the way she approaches her training. A true competitor, she sets her goals by choosing the ones that feel the scariest. But, crucially, she never sacrifices the joy of competition, even in the face of adversity. Her positive mental outlook and a great support system provides the springboard to her success.

Just Add Water charts Ledecky’s life in swimming. It details her start in Bethesda, Maryland, where she played sharks and minnows and first discovered the joy of the pool; her early foray into the Olympics at the tender age of fifteen where, as the youngest member of the American team, she stunned everyone by winning her first gold medal; her time balancing competition and her education at Stanford University; how she developed a champion’s mindset that has allowed her to persevere through so many meets, even under intense pressure; and how she has maintained her dominance in a sport where success depends on milliseconds. You learn how every element of her life—from the support of her family to the tutelage of her coaches, from her childhood spent in summer league swimming to the bright lights of Olympic pools in London, Rio, and Tokyo—set her up to become the champion she is.

In the end, Katie’s story is about testing yourself against the difficult, and seeing who you become on the other side.

Reviews

“[An] absorbing, well-written new autobiography…a mosaic view of this astonishing athlete, where every turn of the kaleidoscope brings a new facet into sharp focus. Ledecky effectively guides the reader to an understanding of how she became quite possibly the greatest female swimmer of all time…Through it all, what emerges is Katie Ledecky’s fundamental decency, sense of humor (a Curb Your Enthusiasm fan? Who knew?), and sheer doggedness.”
—SwimSwam

"Ledecky’s writing pulses with her love for the pool and an appreciation for all the people that have shaped her into the champion she is—her coaches, her brother, her grandparents, and, of course, her parents. Readers will feel inspired by Ledecky’s enthusiasm and gratitude for everything she’s worked hard to achieve."
—Associated Press

Katie Ledecky

Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky (born March 17, 1997) is an American competitive swimmer. She has won seven Olympic gold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. She has won a world record 16 individual gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships. Ledecky's six individual gold medals at the Olympics and 26 overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships are records in women's swimming‌. Ledecky is the world record holder in the women's 800- and 1500-meter freestyle (both long course and short course) as well as the former world record holder in the women's 400-meter freestyle (long course). She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events. She is widely regarded as the greatest female swimmer of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

In her international debut at the 2012 London Olympic Games as a 15-year-old, Ledecky unexpectedly won the gold medal in the women's 800-metre freestyle. Four years later, she left Rio de Janeiro as the most decorated female athlete of the 2016 Olympic Games, with four gold medals, one silver medal, and two world records. At the 2020 Olympic Games, Ledecky also emerged as the most decorated U.S. female athlete and became the first American female swimmer to win an individual event in three straight Olympiads. In 2023, she won gold in the 800 meter World Championship, becoming the only swimmer—male or female—to win six World Championship gold medals in the same event. In total, she has won 46 medals (36 golds, 9 silvers, and 1 bronze) in major international competitions, spanning the Summer Olympics, World Championships, and Pan Pacific Championships. During her career, she has broken sixteen world records.

Ledecky's success has earned her Swimming World's Female World Swimmer of the Year a record-breaking five times. Ledecky was also named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in 2017 and 2022, international female Champion of Champions by L'Équipe in 2014 and 2017, United States Olympic Committee Female Athlete of the Year in 2013, 2016 and 2017, Sportswoman of the Year by the Women's Sports Foundation in 2017, and the ESPY Best Female Athlete in 2022. In 2024, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden.