When freshman swimmer Erin Gemmell was eight years old, she dressed up as Katie Ledecky for Halloween, wearing a Team USA swim cap donated by the Olympian herself.
Now, 11 years later, Gemmell will get to adorn a Team USA cap, but with a different name on the side: her own.
In the Olympic Trials 200m freestyle finals, Gemmell touched the wall with a time of 1:56.75, getting her fourth place and making the 4×200 freestyle relay team.
Gemmell got a special congratulations before she even got out of the water. Swimming from lane four to lane six, Ledecky reached over the lane line to hug the wide-eyed Gemmell.
“Moments like that are always better when you can share them with someone,” Gemmell said. “It means a lot more than it would’ve if I’d just been on my own.”
Gemmell will get to share more of those moments with Ledecky in Paris, competing on the same relay team as they once did at the Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championship 4x200m freestyle relay, where they got silver together.
“Erin Gemmell was on the world championship relays (last) summer and I actually got the dive off of her,” Ledecky told PEOPLE magazine. “She went first and I went second, so that was a really special moment for me because I’ve known Erin since she was seven.”
Gemmell has known the seven-time Olympic gold medalist for a long time.
Gemmell’s father, Bruce Gemmell, coached Ledecky at Nation’s Capital Swim Club, the same place that Bruce coached his son, 2012 Olympic swimmer Andrew Gemmell, and daughter later on. So, Gemmell had always been a close admirer of Ledecky.
“I think that I, in particular, forget that (Ledecky’s) someone that a lot of people idolize and really look up to,” Gemmell said. “I look up to her too, but to me, that’s just a friend coming to congratulate me on getting to join her on a trip across the world.”
In only one year, Gemmell already has a list of accomplishments at Texas. She became a four-time Big 12 champion, 2024 Big 12 Championship Swimming Newcomer of the Meet and All-American for the 800m free relay.
“This year, I was really nervous the whole time knowing that the Olympic Trials were coming and that I wanted to make the team,” Gemmell said.
The week before the trials, Gemmell’s nerves reached a peak.
“I had to try really hard to distract myself. I did some arts and crafts, I did some other things,” Gemmell said. “But I had to remember that I know what I’m doing and I practiced for this moment, so just to use the nerves to help me.”
But now that Gemmell has become an Olympian, the pressure has lightened.
“I think without that ‘I need to be an Olympian’ mentality, I’ll just be a lot more free to enjoy the experience,” Gemmell said.
Gemmell, Ledecky and the rest of the 4x200m freestyle team – Claire Weinstein and Paige Madden – will aim for a Team USA gold while enjoying the experience in Paris.
