Olympic Gold Medalist Katie Ledecky Is Preparing for Paris 2024 — As a Star Athlete and First-time Tourist

With her sights set on the Olympic games in Paris, swimmer Katie Ledecky may just find herself at the 2024 event as one of Team USA's star athletes — as well as a tourist.

"I've been to France once, but not to Paris," she told Travel + Leisure. "Hopefully I'll get to spend some extra time there and get to experience all the sights."

After the 2020 Tokyo Games, where then 24-year-old Ledecky took home four medals, the Stanford grad is back to training after taking "a little bit of a break." But regardless of any time off, the famed swimmer has always had her sights set on the City of Lights.

"I've always known that I've wanted to keep going, at least through Paris, potentially beyond as well," she said. "I'll be setting some goals for myself in the coming months of what I want to accomplish in Paris and start working towards those."

Typically, there are four years between each summer Olympics. However, due to the yearlong delay of the 2020 games caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, athletes now have a shortened time frame to prepare for 2024 — something Ledecky is factoring into her training routine.

But despite the differences in the Tokyo Olympics — no spectators and stringent health and safety protocols — brought on by the pandemic, Ledecky was pleasantly surprised with how smoothly things went.

"I didn't expect it to feel similar to my first two Olympic experiences, but I think I was surprised at how similar it actually did feel," she said. "Even though we had to be super careful and wear masks and do [COVID-19] tests, it still felt really good to be all together and race against the fastest swimmers in the world. It was just really exciting to finally be there and bring home some medals for Team USA."

"I give Tokyo a lot of credit for pulling off a great Olympics and doing it in such challenging times," she said.

Now back to her regular training schedule, which consists of nine to 10 workouts a week — in and out of the pool — on top of various meets and races, Ledecky has learned that fueling and resting her body is just as important as any time working out.

"Training is not just the hours you spend in the pool, it's the hours [training] outside of the pool, so a big priority for me is recovery and nutrition," she said, explaining that a snack within 30 minutes is a must — and her go-to sounds more like a sweet treat.

"I drink chocolate milk within 30 minutes after my race or my practice — usually within five minutes of getting out of practice," she said. "I just think it's a really great way to get protein and carbs and really refuel my muscles [to] get that recovery for my next swim."

And not only has Ledecky been drinking chocolate milk since she was 13, but she's also teamed up with Got Milk? to help showcase its recovery benefits for athletes.

"I look forward to it, it tastes so good," she said.

Now that she's got her proper recovery strategy along with her strenuous training routine down — and is ready to pair that chocolate milk with some fresh croissants — Ledecky's path to Paris seems set.

"I still have to get through the Olympic trials in a couple of years, but I really hope that I get to compete in Paris and have the opportunity to compete in a fourth Olympics," she said. "That's on the top of my list that I can see on the horizon."