Katie Ledecky reacts to former Olympic champion Anthony Nesty's appointment as head coach of US men's swimming team for Paris 2024
Seven-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky celebrated the appointment of Anthony Nesty as the head coach of the US men’s swimming team for the Paris Olympics 2024. The 26-year-old has been training under the Surinamese coach since the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
The 55-year-old Nesty is a former competitive swimmer, who won the Olympic gold in the 100-metre butterfly event of the 1988 Games. He won the gold medal in the same category at the FINA World Aquatics Championships and at the Pan American Games also, in the year 1991.
In the mid-1990s, he became the associate head coach for the Florida Gators men's swimming team. In 2021, he was also announced the head coach of the Florida Gators women's swimming team.
Ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, Nesty was named assistant coach to the US Men's Olympic Swim Team. Moreover, he was the head coach of the US Men's Swim Team for the 2022 FINA World Championships in Budapest. Besides coaching Katie Ledecky, he also trains Caeleb Dressel, Bobby Finke, and Kieran Smith.
Under Nesty’s guidance, Ledecky has added several feathers to her cap. She won four gold medals at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships. Recently, at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, Ledecky created history by becoming the first swimmer to win six straight world titles in an event.
She surpassed Michael Phelps as the swimmer with the most career individual world championship gold medals, with 16 of them.
So when Anthony Nesty was announced as the head coach, Katie Ledecky was elated. She shared her happiness on her Instagram story by adding a picture of her coach along with emojis. Take a look:
Katie Ledecky revealed her experience of training under Anthony Nesty’s team
After winning seven Olympic gold medals, Ledecky decided to transition to the University of Florida from Stanford University in 2021. Besides shifting the location, her guidance also changed from Coach Meehan to Coach Nesty.
In January, Ledecky shared her experience of training under Coach Nesty. The ace swimmer said that practices were a little different from what she was used to doing previously.
She was taking her time to adjust to it. Moreover, she understood that it was natural for every team to have "different kinds of weekly cycles and different practices." Saying this, she added at the end:
"So, some... some slight differences, but I feel like after the first week or two, I really started to get the hang of things and find my way around the lanes."
Quite evidently, Katie Ledecky’s timing improved significantly after shifting to Florida. She created two world records, including 7:57:42 in 800m freestyle at the FINA World Cup in Indianapolis, and 15:08:42 in 1500m freestyle at the FINA World Cup in Toronto.
No wonder she feels that Nesty's appointment to train the US men's team is a very wise move from the authorities.