TOKYO — At around 10:43 here on Wednesday morning, Katie Ledecky will touch the north wall of the Tokyo Aquatics Center pool. Her head will pop out of the water and turn. Her eyes will search a scoreboard for her name, and for a number that will tell her what color Olympic medal she has just won. And her brain will have approximately zero minutes to process what she sees.
She will climb out of the pool, retrieve her mask and Olympic credential, navigate post-race “hubbub around the Olympics,” warm down, and then, almost immediately, prepare to swim again.