Watching the Olympics is an absolute tradition in my household. Instead of movie nights on the weekends, the house is filled with the cheers roaring through the television and the smell of popcorn in our hands. My favorite sports range anywhere from swimming to archery. But the one event that really had us on the edge of our chairs tonight was the women's swimming 400m freestyle.

It was us rooting for Katie Ledecky as she put on a truly amazing performance that led her to win gold in the 400m freestyle. The 19-year-old (hard to believe she's so young!) defeated her own world record to win in an outstanding time of 3:56.46 -- nearly five whole seconds ahead of her closest rival. Talk about the adrenaline rushing through my heart as she not only raced against everyone besides her, but the clock as well.

Ledecky's closest best to what she had today in the 400m was in August 2014, when she came in at 3:58.37 at the Pan Pacific Championships. But she tore that time to shreds as she finished before Britain's Jazz Carlin and U.S. teammate Leah Smith.

Just a day after anchoring the U.S. 4x100m relay team to silver, Ledecky has truly showed why she's being written as the best female swimmer in the world.