Gold Medalist Katie Ledecky Looks Ahead to Stanford, Getting Driver's License (VIDEO)

BETHESDA, MD — Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky returned home to Montgomery County on Wednesday to a huge crowd of loved ones, fans and well-wishers on Wednesday at Dulles Airport.

Ledecky, 19, is a native of Bethesda. She won four gold medals and one silver medal in swimming in Rio and is a nine-time world champion overall.

Ledecky told the crowds and media that now that she is home, her focus will turn to preparing for college at Stanford in California, which she begins in just two weeks — and, finally getting her driver's license.

Her teammates from Stone Ridge, the private school from which she graduated, hugged Ledecky as she arrived near the baggage claim area.

“She set out to win five Olympic medals, and she did,” Emily Deale, one of Ledecky’s co-captains on the Stone Ridge swim team, told The Washington Post. “It’s not really surprising. If you know Katie at all, you know that when she sets a goal for herself, she can do it.”

Fans cheered and posed for pictures with the modest champion.

“It’s pretty crazy,” Ledecky said of the crowd that gathered. “It’s great to see my friends and to celebrate [this] moment with them. They’ve been a big part of [it] the last couple of years.”

She said she was ready to spend time with her family before heading to college.

“First thing I'm going to do is eat a home-cooked meal with my mom,” Ledecky said, reports WUSA.

Watch the video from Montgomery County Media (MCM) below:

Image courtesy of USA Swimming.

Video by Montgomery County Media (MCM).