Katie Ledecky Busts Age-Old Myth After Jimmy Fallon Asks: Can You Eat Before Swimming?

Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky became the most decorated woman athlete at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics after winning two gold and two silver medals. This brought her grand total to an amazing 10 Olympic medals (six individual gold!). She sat down With Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show Wednesday night, and they talked about what it was like competing without fans or family. Ledecky also let him wear a gold medal for a few glorious moments and see the details on it like how it's engraved with the event on the edge (I didn't know that!).

Then Fallon got a little serious, leaned in, and asked her the question we all thought we knew the answer to: can you eat before you go in the pool, or do you have to wait 30 minutes? Ledecky laid out the hard truth, so parents listen up! She said, "I think we can debunk the myth. You can eat before you swim." While she doesn't recommend downing an entire pizza and then jumping in the water, she said she often will eat a granola bar within five or 10 minutes before swimming. Fallon was shocked (as we all were), and responded, "I just hope my dad is watching." I think I'll send this to my parents and then lament over all the time I wasted as a child waiting until the 30 minutes was up.