President Joe Biden on Friday will give the nation’s "highest civilian honor," the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to 19 people at a ceremony in the White House. Among the 19 people being honored are a pair of sports stars from past and present in U.S. Olympic swimming champion Katie Ledecky and legendary multi-sport star Jim Thorpe. Ledecky won seven Olympic gold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, more than any other woman in the sport. Thorpe, meanwhile, was the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal and later became a HOF football and baseball player. In 2022, Biden gave the Medal of Freedom to U.S. Olympic gymnastics champion Simone Biles and USWNT F Megan Rapinoe (WASHINGTON POST, 5/2).
Ledecky, Thorpe get Presidential Medal of Freedom
