--- title: Rio 2016 Olympics: Katie Ledecky Cry Gold Medal Stand description: Katie Ledecky is a fierce competitor in the pool, but she couldn't hold back her emotions after she nabbed the gold at the Rio Olympics canonical: https://time.com/4451421/rio-2016-olympics-katie-ledecky-podium/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-13T18:17:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:08.945Z og:title: Katie Ledecky Reveals the Sweet Reason She Cried On the Olympic Podium og:description: She couldn't hold back her emotions after she nabbed gold og:url: https://time.com/4451421/rio-2016-olympics-katie-ledecky-podium/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8dc9ff3811a49576/6988a24f97cdffbf996ad708/katie-ledecky2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5016 og:image:height: 2822 og:image:alt: Swimming - Olympics: Day 7 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Katie Ledecky Reveals the Sweet Reason She Cried On the Olympic Podium twitter:description: She couldn't hold back her emotions after she nabbed gold twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8dc9ff3811a49576/6988a24f97cdffbf996ad708/katie-ledecky2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Katie Ledecky Reveals the Sweet Reason She Cried On the Olympic Podium > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=aeb4673c-f95c-469c-982e-724aae0b48a4&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Maria Mercedes Lara/People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Maria Mercedes Lara/People Contributor Aug 13, 2016 6:17 PM UTC  Katie Ledecky after winning gold in the Women's 800m Freestyle Final on Day 7 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, on August 12, 2016. Katie Ledecky after winning gold in the Women's 800m Freestyle Final on Day 7 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, on August 12, 2016. Al Bello—Getty Images by [Maria Mercedes Lara/People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Maria Mercedes Lara/People Contributor Aug 13, 2016 6:17 PM UTC [Katie Ledecky](http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20612225%5F20618493,00.html) is a fierce competitor in the pool, but she couldn’t hold back her emotions after she nabbed the gold on Friday night. After [winning the 800-meter freestyle race](http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20996464%5F21024388,00.html) at the [Rio Olympics](http://www.people.com/people/package/0,,20996464,00.html) – and shattering the world record in the meantime – Ledecky teared up while the Star Spangled Banner played during her medal ceremony. “As the flag was being raised I could see my family right under the flag … the emotions just hit me and I had to let it all out,” Ledecky said on Saturday during an interview on _Today_. As for her record-shattering swim, Ledecky admitted that she could tell she was having a “good swim” on Friday night. (Talk about an understatement!) “I have a good internal clock and can tell how fast I am swimming,” she explained on _Today_. “I could tell I was having a good swim last night.” Ledecky has won a total of five medals at the Rio Olympics – gold medals for the 200-meter, 400-meter and 800-meter freestyles and the 4×200-meter freestyle relay and silver for the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. And she says her success is thanks to her coaches and teammates who set “big goals” for Rio. “We set some really big goals for Rio a couple of years ago and I never thought I would hit them so on the nose,” she said. But Ledecky’s medal count will stop at five as she said that Friday’s competition was her last one for this year’s Olympics. Meanwhile, her teammates will continue to compete on Saturday. _This_ [_article_](http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20996464%5F21024407,00.html) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://www.people.com/people/)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4451421/rio-2016-olympics-katie-ledecky-podium/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4451421/rio-2016-olympics-katie-ledecky-podium/"},"headline":"Katie Ledecky Reveals the Sweet Reason She Cried On the Olympic Podium","datePublished":"2016-08-13T18:17:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:08.945Z","description":"She couldn't hold back her emotions after she nabbed gold","url":"https://time.com/4451421/rio-2016-olympics-katie-ledecky-podium/","keywords":["motto","Summer Olympics","2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8dc9ff3811a49576/6988a24f97cdffbf996ad708/katie-ledecky2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maria Mercedes Lara/People"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8dc9ff3811a49576/6988a24f97cdffbf996ad708/katie-ledecky2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Swimming - Olympics: Day 7","caption":"Swimming - Olympics: Day 7","creditText":"Al Bello—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4451421/rio-2016-olympics-katie-ledecky-podium/","name":"Katie Ledecky Reveals the Sweet Reason She Cried On the Olympic Podium"}}]}] ```