Gwangju (South Korea) (AFP)
USA's Katie Ledecky will not forget her fourth consecutive 800-meter world title on Saturday, when the disease disabled her all week, until she spent the night in the hospital, she said. at the World Swimming Championships, Gwangju, South Korea.
"Every race has its own story, so this one really had one that I will be able to tell for a long time," she said after her victory, revealing that she had spent 7 hours in the hospital on Tuesday. because of headaches, insomnia and abnormally high heart rate.
At the age of 22, Ledecky had to withdraw on Tuesday for the 1500m final, preventing him from defending his title, and for the 200m series.
And the American thought it necessary to give up also for the 800 m: "I went swimming this morning for the warm-up and I had a little nausea, it was not great," she explained. "I had a moment of doubt but I pulled myself together and made it work today."
"Last night, after having seen all the very fast races, I said (to my coach) that I really wanted to, really swim well tomorrow (today, Ed) .. See the records fall ... that's me set it on fire, "she added.
In the 800m final, however, the five-time Olympic champion was frightened when she was overtaken by European champion Simona Quadarella, before finally overtaking the Italian to win her 15th world title in 8:13:59.
"It's a good feeling, I started without knowing if it was going to do it when I was going to dive, but again, I wanted to finish in the best possible way."
To the point of impressing his compatriot Caeleb Dressel, who offered himself a shower of gold medals at these Worlds and described the return of Ledecky as something "phenomenal".
"I have not seen it for several days," he said. "Knowing her, if she says she does not feel great, that means it's not going at all."
"This girl is really tough," he told reporters. "How do you swim an 800m after being completely sick for days? She's the best in the world and she showed it tonight."
© 2019 AFP