Katie Ledecky

To my mind no one has ever described what Katie Ledecky does more vividly or accurately than Brian Phillips when he said, “She swims freestyle. That is a bad way to describe what she does, but technically it’s accurate. You have to swim freestyle before you can annihilate freestyle. You have to swim freestyle before you can leave the whole concept of freestyle wrecked and gasping and clutching at air in your wake” She lost her first Olympic final ever this year but still finished the Tokyo Games with two gold and two silver medals, becoming the most decorated individual female Olympian in Team USA history.

After an up-and-down Olympics, Ledecky closed things out with a dominating performance in the 800m freestyle, beating Ariarne Titmus by more than three seconds to clinch her record sixth career gold medal.

In a decade, we remember this year as just a random blip in the middle of Ledecky's prime. She's already among the most decorated swimmers in Olympic history, male or female, and she's still just 24. She conceivably has two more Olympic Games ahead of her to build on her mythic legacy.