A LOT CHANGE IN TEN YEARS!

In 2006, a smiling nine-year-old swimmer named Katie Ledecky posed for a picture while getting an autograph from her then hero, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps. Awww! Who knew that years later, the two would be teammates representing the U.S. at the Olympics.

Fast forward 10 years and Ledecky, who then was an age-group swimmer looking up to the fastest man in the world, is now 19. Since then, she has graduated from high school, enrolled at Stanford, had her wisdom teeth pulled and blossomed into the dominant female swimmer of her era. She has lowered her world records in the 800 free by nearly 4 1/2 seconds and in the 1,500 free by almost nine. She won her first Olympic gold at the 2012 London Games, in the 800m freestyle. Since then, she’s gone on to dominate not only the distance freestyle events but also the middle and sprint events. And Ledecky did not disappoint in Rio. She has won five medals at the 2016 Olympics. After their victories in Rio, the two swimming superstars recreated their 2006 photo together, this time adding a slight twist: In the new photo, Phelps is the eager fan having his Rio poster signed by the legendary Ledecky.

“Katie’s doing her thing and she’s breaking records every time she gets in the pool. It’s been an honour for me to be a part of the team with her,” Phelps said. If that isn’t proof that if you work hard enough, you can end up working alongside your idols one day, then I just don’t know what is. Dreams really do come true!