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16-Year-Old Md. Swimmer Wins USOC SportsWoman Of Year

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- Olympic champion swimmer Katie Ledecky has won the U.S. Olympic Committee's SportsWoman of the Year award.

The award was announced Thursday. It will be presented on Oct. 29 in New York.

The 16-year-old from Bethesda, Md., won four gold medals and set two world marks at last summer's world championships in Spain. She won the 800- and 1,500-meter freestyles with world records, and also earned gold in the 400 free and 800 free relay.

In the 1,500 free, Ledecky lowered the old mark by more than six seconds, winning in 15 minutes, 36.53 seconds. In the 800 free, she cut nearly a quarter of a second off the old record.

Ledecky is the first female swimmer to win USOC SportsWoman of the Year honors since Natalie Coughlin in 2008.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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