What Katie Ledecky’s Response to Losing Can Teach Us About Mental Strength

By SwimSwam Contributors on SwimSwam
Courtesy: Susannah Muller, LMFT
Katie Ledecky did something unusual at the Pan Pacific Championships: she lost the 800 freestyle.
Australia’s Lani Pallister beat Ledecky in an event Ledecky has dominated for more than a decade. Pallister has been closing the gap, so the result wasn’t entirely unexpected, but seeing someone else touch first in Ledecky’s signature event was still significant.
We tend to recognize mental strength when an athlet