How Katie Ledecky Is Defining Success for Paris 2024

The decorated swimmer and author of a new memoir tells SELF what motivates her to gold.

Excerpts from the article:

You make a surprising revelation about your health in the book: You have postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, a condition that affects your heart rate and blood flow, especially when you go from lying or sitting to standing. You describe how your symptoms, including dizziness and fatigue and inconsistent training sessions, began in the lead-up to Rio, and how your coach encouraged you to see the specialist at Johns Hopkins who diagnosed you. What made you decide it was time to talk about that publicly now? And how does it feel to start doing that?

It feels good. It’s not like I was ever hiding it; it just never felt like it was something I needed to share. I’ve had it under control completely. I really just had to add salt to my diet and wear compression gear. Whenever I get sick and when I go to hot environments, I need to be especially careful to stay on top of my salt and hydration.

I thought it was important to tell my whole story, and that was a part of my story, especially leading up to the 2016 Olympics. It was a new thing that I had to acknowledge and be aware of, something that was always in the back of my mind. I wanted to share how that’s impacted me at different points and how I’ve been able to push through that and take control of that part and live a healthy lifestyle.

POTS has become increasingly common after COVID—and interestingly, as you point out in the book, exercise in general and swimming in particular are also helpful in managing it. Do you have any advice or words of encouragement for people who might be dealing with POTS and don’t yet have it under control?

The biggest thing is to trust the health professionals you’re working with. I did that and was able to figure out what helped me pretty quickly. I understand that for some people, it’s a longer process. But it’s important to stay patient and work with the people around you and make sure you have good people watching out for you, encouraging you. For instance, my mom is always reminding me to stay on my salt and hydration.

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