Team USA coach Todd DeSorbo and Ryan Murphy heap high praise on Katie Ledecky and her impact on swimming
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00:00Unbelievable athlete, but probably an even better person and an even better leader.
00:05Lovely.
00:06Thank you.
00:14Someone asked earlier what it's like to climb the mountain and then stay atop that mountain.
00:20And Katie has been that for over a decade now.
00:25And I think it would have been way easier for her to be like,
00:29you know what, I've won three Olympics in a row in a couple of events.
00:33I can get complacent now, but she doesn't do that.
00:37She's constantly pushing the envelope on how she can improve.
00:40And it's incredible for our sport.
00:43She's one of the best of all time.
00:46She was well aware in Tokyo, one of our athletes was preparing for a relay she was going to be on,
00:50and this athlete was very nervous and just upset.
00:54And Katie saw it, understood it, was aware of it, and came up to me and was like,
00:59Todd, I'll take care of it.
01:00And took care of the athlete, the athlete swam great on the relay, they had a great relay.
01:04I don't think a lot of people at her level would necessarily have been looking at anything other than themselves
01:09in a moment like that when they're preparing for a race.
01:12She's an unbelievable athlete, but probably an even better person and an even better leader.
01:16We don't take for granted how difficult it is to even be on this team, to make it through U.S. trials.
01:23So I think when we walked on the pool deck yesterday, saw the lights, saw the big stadium,
01:29I think it felt very similar to trials for us, which I think is a nice advantage that we have,
01:36swimming in that kind of arena.
01:40And then, yeah, just going through the process and trying to get better each year,
01:47trying to get better each quad.
01:50Never being satisfied, always continuing to look ahead.
01:55I think those have been the keys to maintaining this level, continuing to make it back to the Olympics.