‘Angry' Michael Phelps has dire warning for USA swimming
Phelps posted a lengthy, five-page statement on Instagram, doubling down on his call for action within the organization.
'I've watched too many teammates struggle to compete in a sport they love without the support they need,' Phelps wrote. 'I've also seen the sport struggle to return its membership numbers to pre-pandemic levels, and I'm done pretending this system works just because it produces medals.
'Swimming, to me, was always about more than just medals – it's supposed to be an environment that builds champions in and out of the pool. As a Dad to four young boys, it pains me to say that I'm not sure if I'd want my sons to be a part of this sport at a competitive level. Yes, swimming changed my life, but it also caused a lot of heartache, and its current state makes me both sad and angry.'
Phelps began his post by clarifying that he wasn't calling out the actual swimmers in the organization with his initial critique, but rather leadership outside the pool.
He pointed out the team's decline in performance, saying Team USA won just 44% of medals at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the lowest mark for the United States since 1988.
Gold medallist Michael Phelps of the U.S. (R) and silver medallist and compatriot Ryan Lochte hold their medals during the men's 200m individual medley victory ceremony during the London 2012 Olympic Games.
REUTERS
And while Phelps referenced money as being a factor in USA Swimming's decline, he accused the organization of 'poor operational controls and weak leadership.'
Phelps didn't point the finger without offering himself and certain recommendations as solutions. First, he vowed he would be a resource for USA Swimming.
'My door is open and there is work to be done,' he wrote.
He also recommended that USA Swimming hold an independent review of the entire organization. He believes an athletes-first mentality needs to be adopted to support swimmers competing at the highest level. At the same time, offering support to those young swimmers to reach that level is imperative in his eyes.
USA's Michael Phelps celebrates after he won the Men's 200m Butterfly Final during the swimming event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
AFP via Getty Images
Phelps' initial post was about former Team USA swimmer Ryan Lochte, a teammate of his during his Olympic gold-medal days. Lochte had sent an image where a funeral was being held for USA Swimming, with Phelps asking if the 2025 World Championships would be a 'wake-up call' for the organization.
Team USA tallied nine gold medals at the World Championships, which led all countries involved in the pool. They had 29 total medals, which was also first among participating nations.
Phelps is one of the best Olympians, let alone swimmers, of all time. He collected 23 gold medals over his illustrious career, which remains an Olympic record.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
L.A. Olympics will be first to offer venue naming rights
More than 40 years after L.A. produced the most financially successful Olympic Games in history, the 2028 Olympics will feature a new advertising revenue path for the Games. In an Olympic first, venues used for the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics will be allowed to have corporate sponsor names after LA28 and the International Olympic Committee came to a tradition-bucking agreement announced Thursday. Historically, the IOC has sought to limit corporate influence by keeping venues free from advertising. Major sponsors are still ubiquitous at the Games, where only Visa credit cards are accepted and Coca-Cola products monopolize the concession stands, but venues and fields of play have remained commercial-free. The traditional clean venue policy has forced L.A. organizers to refer to SoFi Stadium, which will host Olympic swimming, officially as '2028 Stadium' or 'the Stadium in Inglewood.' Not only will the new agreement help logistically by not requiring well-known venues to adopt generic temporary nicknames, but it will ease costs as existing signage can remain in place outside of the venue. Read more: L.A. Olympic organizers confident they will cover estimated $7.1 billion cost of Games 'Our job is to push and our job is to do what's best for the Olympics in Los Angeles,' LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman told The Times. 'Our job in those conversations [with the IOC] was to explain why this was more than just about money. It was about experience and value and opportunity.' The additional revenue opportunities from naming rights agreements will help cover what LA28 has promised will be a privately funded Games. Wasserman said the private organizing committee has contracts for about 70% of the projected $2.5 billion domestic sponsorship goal. Any money that comes from the new naming opportunities are additions to the previously estimated revenue, Wasserman said. Needing to cover the budget of $7.1 billion, LA28 has added eight corporate sponsors this year, already surpassing the total from 2024. 'The momentum is meaningful and real,' Wasserman said. 'We feel good about where we are but we certainly don't take that for granted.' Read more: L.A. city leaders are in high-stakes negotiations on Olympics costs For venues that already have sponsorship names, such as Arena, BMO Stadium or the Intuit Dome, the existing company can sign on as a founding-level partner to retain its naming rights during the Games, the highest level of domestic sponsorship. Otherwise, the venue will be renamed without a sponsor. The changes have already begun. LA28 announced that Honda Center will retain its name for the Olympic volleyball competition after the Japanese auto maker established its deal with LA28 in June. Squash will make its Olympic debut at the newly named Comcast Squash Center at Universal Studios as the company also holds U.S. broadcasting rights to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Broadcasters can now refer to the venues with their corporate sponsor names, providing a major global stage. Any signage outside of the venue will remain in place for existing structures. Naming rights are available for the 19 temporary facilities with first bidding opportunities going to members of The Olympic Partners (TOP) program. But the field of play will remain free from visible sponsorships. Read more: LA28 adds Honda as founding level partner, bolstering push for more funding 'The IOC is always looking to recognize and support the critical role and contributions of Olympic commercial partners, both TOP and domestic. We also want to support LA28 in their efforts to create new approaches and commercial opportunities, whilst maintaining the principles of the 'clean venue policy' that is unique to the Olympic Games,' an IOC spokesperson said in a statement to The Times. 'It is a reality that many venues in L.A. and in the U.S. already have commercial naming rights and have become commonly recognized as such by the general public. Therefore, following discussions, the IOC is supporting the LA28 initiative that takes into account market realities of venue naming and generates critical revenue to stage the Games.' With less than three years before the Olympics open on July 14, 2028, the Games delivery process has come with challenges. Soon after the IOC's coordination commission left the city to glowing reviews of LA28's planning progress in June, immigration raids and protests began in L.A. This month, President Trump named himself the chair of a task force to oversee the federal government's involvement in the Games, but concerns about safety and visas for would-be international visitors have persisted. In L.A., where the city recently closed a nearly $1-billion budget deficit, transportation updates have lagged behind and leaders are in negotiations with Olympic organizers about services including security, trash removal and traffic control. While LA28 has promised to cover all expenses related to the Games, taxpayers still face potential risk. If the group goes over budget, L.A. would be responsible for the first $270 million of the deficit. Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Axios
2 hours ago
- Axios
LA 2028 Olympics to sell venue naming rights
For the first time in the history of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, LA28 — the organizing committee for the 2028 Summer Games — is selling temporary naming rights at competition venues. Why it matters: Unlike other host countries, the U.S. government does not directly fund the Games, which has forced the host committee to find creative ways to raise capital. The committee has already laid out a commercial sponsorship revenue target of $2.5 billion, which it says would be the largest commercial revenue raise in sports. A spokesperson told Axios the committee is on track to meet that goal. Zoom in: Companies that already hold naming rights for venues will have the option to retain those rights during the Summer Games by becoming LA28 partners. If they decline, the Olympics' longstanding "clean venue" rules will remain, which means that the venue will be stripped of all non-official Olympics sponsor branding. The 2028 Games will repurpose permanent venues throughout Los Angeles, including SoFi Stadium and Arena. The first named venues, announced Thursday by LA28, are the Comcast Squash Center at Universal Studios and the Honda Center in Anaheim, home to the Anaheim Ducks NHL team, which will house indoor volleyball. Comcast's Peacock Theater will host boxing, weightlifting and goalball, as has been previously announced. Between the lines: There are 19 temporary venues that are eligible for naming rights. The first opportunities will go to members of the Olympic Partner program, followed by LA28's highest-tier domestic sponsors. Zoom out: The change comes in response to new International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules that allow host cities to sell naming rights to official Olympics sponsors.
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Michael Phelps adds to USA Swimming criticism, calls for ‘systemic change'
Michael Phelps, the American swimming star and most decorated Olympian in history, criticized USA Swimming on Wednesday in a lengthy Instagram post, saying there was a need for 'systemic change' at the highest levels in his latest salvo against an organization that continues to search for permanent leadership. Advertisement 'I've asked myself what's changed in our sport and the answer is clear,' Phelps wrote, '… this isn't on the athletes as they continue to do the best they can with what they've been given. This is on the leadership of USA Swimming. Poor leadership trickles down and can impact an organization at every level.' The five-page post from Phelps, who won 23 gold and 28 Olympic medals overall in his unmatched career, was a follow-up to criticisms he and fellow American swimming star Ryan Lochte posted following the Americans' performance at the World Aquatics Championships, which concluded earlier this month. A post shared by Michael Phelps (@m_phelps00) On Aug. 1, as the Americans were laboring through the event while battling a stomach illness that affected several members of the team, Lochte posted a meme of a funeral, with a tombstone dedicated to the 'loving memory of United States swimming.' 'Call it a funeral, or call it a fresh start. We've got 3 years,' Lochte wrote over it, referring to the time left to prepare for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Phelps shared the image on Instagram and added, 'Is this the (wake-up) call USA Swimming needed? Let's find out.' That same day, the sixth of the event, the Americans pulled into a tie for the gold-medal-count lead for the first time. They ultimately edged Australia in golds, 9-8, clinching it with a world record in the final race of the meet, and won the overall count 29-20 over the Aussies. USA Swimming has not responded to a request for comment on Phelps' latest post, but its interim CEO Bob Vincent addressed the criticism around the world championships from Lochte, Phelps, NBC analyst Rowdy Gaines — who thanked Phelps in a reply to Wednesday's post — and others last week. 'We respect and value the opinions of Rowdy, Michael, Ryan, and all USA Swimming alums,' Vincent said in a statement. 'We acknowledge that their comments come from a place of passion and genuine desire to see USA Swimming succeed. We are saddened and disappointed at the timing of the comments. The USA Swimming team battled severe illness in Singapore, and these comments added public scrutiny to an already challenging situation for our athletes and coaches.' Advertisement Eking out gold-medal counts is a shift from USA Swimming's once-dominant standards. The Americans won 16 golds at both the 2012 London and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, more than 10 better than second place in each case. At the 2021 Tokyo Games, the margin was just 11-9 over Australia. Then, at the 2023 world championships, Australia surpassed the Americans, winning 13-7. The U.S. pulled back in front at the Paris Games, winning 8 to Australia's 7, also clinching it via the women's 4×100 medley relay in the final event. One reason for the change since Rio, of course, is that Phelps, who won at least four gold medals at every Olympics from 2004 to 2016, retired after those Games. Lochte, who won six Olympic golds and 12 medals overall, also won his last major hardware in Rio. Phelps, though, insists the problems go beyond the medal counts in the pool. 'I've watched too many teammates struggle to compete in a sport they love without the support they need,' Phelps wrote. 'I've also seen the sport struggle to return its membership to pre-pandemic levels, and I'm done pretending this system works just because it produces medals.' USA Swimming's leadership has been in flux since August 2024, when Tim Hinchey was let go as CEO after seven years in the position following criticism from coaching organizations over many of the same issues Phelps cited in Wednesday's post, such as declining membership and waning support for the lower levels of the sport. In February, USA Swimming named Chrissi Rawak, previously the athletic director at the University of Delaware, its new CEO, only for her to step away from the role nine days later after she was named in a complaint filed with the SafeSport Center, the organization that investigates abuse claims in Olympic sports. After Rawak's departure, longtime USA Swimming COO Shana Ferguson took the CEO job, then left a month later to join the organizing committee for the L.A. Olympics. Vincent, the former chair of USA Swimming's board of directors, replaced Ferguson and continues to hold the interim title. Advertisement USA Swimming was also without a national team director for five months after the Paris Olympics before appointing longtime coach Greg Meehan to the position in April. Phelps outlined three steps he'd like to see USA Swimming take: launching an independent review of the entire USA Swimming organization, developing a better system of directly supporting athletes, and focusing on 'strengthening the grassroots level of the sport.' 'I offer up my service to be a resource in these proposed initial steps,' Phelps wrote. '… My door is open and there is work to be done.' Despite the challenges Phelps and others see, the U.S. team had a string of encouraging results from young swimmers at the world championships in Singapore. Jack Alexy, 22, won two medals and set an American record in the 100-meter freestyle. Luke Hobson, 22, turned his Paris bronze medal in the 200-meter freestyle into silver in Singapore. Luca Urlando, 23, won his first world-stage medal of any kind, a gold in the 200-meter butterfly. On the women's side, 18-year-old Claire Weinstein secured her first major individual medal with a bronze in the 200-meter freestyle. Katharine Berkoff, 24, broke through with her first individual gold medal — in the 50-meter backstroke, which will be part of the Olympic program for the first time in 2028. Gretchen Walsh (22), Torri Huske (22), Kate Douglass (23), and Regan Smith (23) all continue to be solidly in the gold-medal mix in their various top events. For the L.A. Olympics, at least, Lochte might get his 'fresh start' and Phelps his 'wake-up call.' 'The women are set up really nicely for the next three years. And the men will be great in L.A.,' Gaines said in an interview before the world championships. 'Once L.A. rolls around, these young kids … that most people have never heard of, you're going to hear a lot about in the next three years.' Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
