President Joe Biden named sports icons Katie Ledecky and Jim Thorpe among the 19 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Friday.
Ledecky, the most decorated women’s swimmer in history, has won seven Olympic gold medals and 21 world championship gold medals. She holds the record for men and women for the most individual gold medals at the world championships with 16. Ledecky is slated to compete for the United States at the Paris Olympics this summer.
Thorpe, who died in 1953, was the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the U.S. A multi-sport athlete, Thorpe won two Olympic golds in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm — one in decathlon and one in pentathlon. He also played professional football, baseball and basketball.
Thorpe is among three honorees to posthumously receive the medal, along with former civil rights leader Medgar Evers and former New Jersey Senator Frank R. Lautenberg.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is considered the nation’s highest civilian honor. It is presented to individuals “who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors,” an announcement from the White House said.
Other awardees this year…
