30 greatest female athletes of all time

6. Katie Ledecky
Swimming

There have been plenty of great female swimmers over time, but none top the accomplishments of 26-year-old Katie Ledecky. Despite being barely old enough to save on her car insurance, no female swimmer can touch the accomplishments of Ledecky. In fact, some of the greatest female athletes ever are given props just for competing with Ledecky. 

Let’s go over some of her accomplishments. She already has seven Olympic gold medals, winning her first one at age 15 in London. Distance swimming was her specialty, but she eventually became great at every version of freestyle. In Rio de Janeiro, she won gold in the 200, 400, 800, and the 4x200 relay. Five years later, she took home another two gold medals, adding the 1500 to her repertoire. In the latter, she broke a world record (which she also holds in the 800 meter). 

Her dominance does not stop at the Olympics. She has 21 gold medals at the World Championships and another eight at the Pan Pacific Championships. A few more great performances, and she's in the top five of this list easily.

There really is no competition for Ledecky in swimming now or in history. While she’s now lagging in the 200 and 400-meter races, she’s still at the top of the list in the 800 and 1500. After two golds at the 2023 World Championships, she’s preparing for another dominant performance in Paris 2024. She needs three gold medals in Paris to become the second-greatest Olympic athlete of all time when looking at gold medals. Only Michael Phelps has more than nine (he has 23). Ledecky has seven, and two feel like they are in the bag. If she can pull one out in the 400 or possibly the relay, she passes Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis, and many other athletes tied with nine.