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Ledecky Dominance - DC 86 - 11-20-2016

Competing in the Ohio State Invitational this weekend, she broke her own American records in both the 500 Free and 1650 Free.
In the 1650 she broke her previous best by ten seconds, broke the NCAA record by 20 seconds, and beat the second place finisher by over a minute.

Re: Ledecky Dominance - fullmetal - 11-20-2016

That is bloody amazing.

Re: Ledecky Dominance - bbm233 - 11-21-2016

I assume she is going to be one and done, from an athletics perspective. I don't know why she isn't already cashing in as a pro unless she wants to feel the thrill of helping a team win an NCAA championship. If that's the case, I am glad it's for Stanford.

Re: Ledecky Dominance - CTcard - 11-21-2016

(11-21-2016, 04:16 PM)bbm233 link Wrote:I assume she is going to be one and done, from an athletics perspective. I don't know why she isn't already cashing in as a pro unless she wants to feel the thrill of helping a team win an NCAA championship. If that's the case, I am glad it's for Stanford.

I don't know what she wants to do, and as far as I am concerned any approach is fine. But I also don't see any particular reason for her to be one and done from an athletics point of view.

Being a professional in swimming isn't like being a professional in, say football. In football, playing in the NFL is the dream. Among other things, it includes playing at the highest level that exists - an obvious attraction.

For swimming, there isn't a separate pool of competition.
There is some money to be made, though prize money from competition itself is limited - a little bit in sponsored events and somewhat more as prizes in major FINA championships ($20K for winning an event at the 2015 World Championships).
Most of the money Ledecky could earn is in endorsements.

Now that money could be incredibly helpful and desired. On the other hand, it is not as if a young kid grows up fantasizing about making a commercial plugging soap.


[pun initially not intended but intentionally kept]

Re: Ledecky Dominance - DC 86 - 11-21-2016

I have no idea what her plans and motivations are, but there's no reason to assume she will be a "one and done". In basketball players are essentially obligated to play one year in college before being drafted by the NBA, likewise three years in football. In baseball most (although not all) players who choose to go to college do so in hopes of improving their draft bonus relative to what they are offered out of high school.
In Ledecky's case there were no barriers to turning pro right after the Olympics and her earnings potential was already extremely high (easily seven figures) yet she chose to enroll at Stanford, so obviously she sees value in being a student athlete, and that value only increases the longer that she stays at school.