Why Katie Ledecky’s Olympic record prompted some angry social media posts

It seemed like everyone in America wanted to celebrate Katie Ledecky’s Olympic record-breaking performance in the 2024 Paris Games on Wednesday. Some were more successful in their joy than others.
The Atlantic Coast Conference celebrated Ledecky’s 1,500-meter freestyle gold medal with a graphic on X that featured the ACC logo and a photo of Ledecky in the pool, with the text “Olympians made here.” The Stanford logo appeared beneath Ledecky’s smiling face.
Just one problem: Ledecky never swam in the ACC, as Stanford was in the Pac-12 for her entire collegiate swimming career (she turned pro after dominating the collegiate ranks in 2018). While the dissolution of the Pac-12 led Stanford to effectively join the ACC on a lifeboat, the Cardinal won’t begin ACC competition until later this month — six years after Ledecky’s final collegiate swim.

The new conference’s claiming Ledecky as one of its own led to a massive online roasting.

“New greatest Stolen Valor Via Conference Realignment ever,” wrote Jason Kirk, newsletter editor at the Athletic and longtime college football voice. ESPN’s Bill Connelly chimed in with, “lol hell yes, ACC legend Katie Ledecky.”

A reply from an Oregon State fan account went even further, saying, “I’m advocating to bring back bullying because of this post.”

Perhaps the ultimate shame on X these days is getting community-noted, and the ACC’s post got a two-parter. The note reads, “Ledecky graduated from Stanford in 2021 when Stanford was still in the PAC 12” with links to two stories showing that fact.

The community note has become a popular method of roasting people who post inaccurate or deceitful content on X, with one account that highlights the most popular community notes drawing hundreds of thousands of followers. In this instance, the community note earned praise from dozens of posters, with one saying the note showed the Pac-12 “lives on.”

Stanford is set to officially join the ACC on Friday, in the middle of the Olympics. Ledecky still has two more events to compete in, including Thursday’s 4×200 freestyle relay. It will be one more moment for the conference to claim Ledecky — even if she never swam at an ACC school and reps an SEC school at events nowadays.