hmm

http://www.si.com/olympics/2016/06/01/olympics-2016-road-to-rio-katie-ledecky-swimming

All of which is to say that Marsh’s puzzlement is justified. Being immersed in the mostly white, mostly privileged slice of the DMV (District-Maryland-Virginia), of overinvolved adults and overscheduled kids, I’ve seen plenty of young Katie Ledeckys. I know it’s not just comfort that kills the drive for athletic greatness. It’s options. It’s perspective—the knowledge that deep down, hitting a baseball or swimming fast is hardly the most common route to success.

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“When she shows up to practice, she kind of slogs up the steps with her mesh bag and parka and boots, and you’re like, This is the best female athlete in the world? There’s nothing that says that. Last month we were walking at the training center, and she had some floppy shoes on, scuffing, and I felt like saying, ‘American teenager! Pick up your damn feet when you walk!’” That “unremarkableness”—a cheery normalcy prevailing amid ego-inflaters like fame, praise and outlandish achievement—is a refrain when people speak of Ledecky. “Out of the water? She’s very, very level-headed,” says Sue Chen, a Nation’s Capital coach who started working with Ledecky last year. “I’ve seen her get pulled out of practice because she wasn’t at her best, and she’s like, ‘Well, tomorrow’s another day.’ But she’ll also text me if I’m away at a swim meet to ask how all the little kids are doing. Nobody does that at 19 years old. She just cares. It’s like it’s her little world, and she’s just a normal person who loves it—and is driven like no other. “Because she’s scary, man. That face she has on when she’s about to perform? She’s like a bull in a stall, and someone just has to open the door for her to let go. I’ve never seen a woman have that attitude. I feel bad for those people who have to race her. Good Lord.”

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David recalls the moment he noticed Katie’s cool. She was two. It was Jan. 19, 2000, the day Michael Jordan was announced as the Wizards’ new president. Jon had invited David and his family to a luxury suite at MCI. So there sat Katie, eating popcorn, directly in front of Jordan. Jordan, clearly bored, reached over and placed his massive hands over Katie’s eyes. She didn’t move. He pulled them back, and replaced them. Peekaboo! She kept chewing. He did it again, TV cameras caught him, and a clip ended up all over the highlight shows: Everybody in the city was electrified by MJ’s blockbuster arrival except this one little girl. Finally minority owner Ted Leonsis’s son, Zach, leaned over and said to Katie, “Do you know who that is?” Katie—blank-faced, munching—turns and says, “It’s Michael Jordan.”