PARIS - Katie Ledecky became the most decorated female Olympic swimmer of all time but the US great had to settle for silver as Australia made sure of the 4x200 metres freestyle gold at the Paris Games on Thursday (Aug 1).

China took the bronze, with Canada fourth.

Ledecky now has 13 Olympic medals -- eight golds, four silvers and a bronze -- one more than compatriots Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin and Australia's Emma McKeon.

She and her great compatriot Michael Phelps are the only swimmers to win 13 medals, with the latter's tally of 28 in no danger of being matched.

"It's just amazing to get to be a part of even one-13th of the journey that she's been on," Ledecky's teammate Erin Gemmell told reporters.

"I think it's so much more fun to be on a relay than to be by yourself. We just had a great time out there tonight."

The Australian team of Mollie O'Callaghan, Lani Pallister, Brianna Throssell and Ariarne Titmus finished in an Olympic record time of seven minutes 38.08 seconds at the La Defence Arena.

Jamie Perkins and Shayna Jack, who swam in the heats, also took gold.

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