Allison Schmitt
Allison Schmitt has won eight Olympic medals by swimming for the US team so far, and there’s a chance we’ll see even more medals in the future. In 2008’s Beijing Games, she won only a bronze medal, but in 2012 in London, she won five medals. Three were gold, and Schmitt helped set a world record in a relay race. Besides international competitions, she was a four-time NCAA swimming champion in the 200 and 500-yard dashes. Schmitt has one more internship left before earning her master’s degree and preparing for a career in the mental health field.
Allison Schmitt
Katie Ledecky
American Katie Ledecky currently holds records in several races, the 1500-meter, 800-meter, and 400-meter freestyle. Throughout her career, she’s broken 14 world records, many of them her own, and Ledecky is still young enough to cut more before she’s done. Just 15, when she debuted in London 2012, she won a gold medal in the 800-meter freestyle race and broke Janet Evan’s longstanding America record in the event. The next Olympics, the 2016 Rio Games, Ledecky won four more gold medals. Simone Biles and Serena Williams came before her to vote for Associated Press’s Female Athlete of the Decade. She has won 5 Olympic golds, 15 World Championship golds, and holds the world record in the 400,800 and 1500. At present, she was one of the athletes to be featured in one of the first season’s episodes of new docuseries by Apple TV, “Greatness Code,” that is set to highlight the careers of seven different superstar athletes.
Katie Ledecky