When Katie Ledecky won the first big race of her career for the Olympic 800m freestyle title in London at 15 years of age, who'd have thought that she would be setting an Olympic record of 15:30.02 to retain the 1500m crown in Paris 12 years later at 27 with an effort that granted her the eighth fastest of the 20 swiftest 30-length performances in history.

At 27, Ledecky sets a record for the oldest swimmer we've ever seen taking Olympic gold in a range from 200 to 1500m freestyle. And that on a night that saw Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom become the oldest 100m free champion at 30 years ago. Two golden age-group records ion the same session.

Yes, it's a lot to take in but that's what Ledecky's career has been like: you need to take a deep breath and be fit enough to fathom the depth of commitment, consistency, excellence, pathfinding and pioneering, high-inspiration-score, shattering and sensational nature of it all.

The American teen of 2012 could not have known that Paris would host the 2024 Games, nor that it would feature the second 1500m freestyle final in history after the program for men and women was made a snap three years before in a Covid-delayed Olympics in Tokyo.

Thankfully, Galadriel's mirror wasn't with the instructions in the the tanker full of talents Ledecky came with. No-one knew. We know know. Between 15 and 27, she's amassed eight Olympic gold, four silvers and a bronze for 12 ultimate prizes in the pool of dreams.