Griffith University’s Michael Bohl was in attendance at the 2024 ASCA World Clinic this year in Orlando, Florida. SwimSwam spoke with the legendary Olympic coach, who reflected on each of his 4 athletes who competed in Paris (who won 9 medals in total).
Get More SwimSwam with SwimSwam Magazine
SwimSwam Magazines are big, coming in at nearly a pound per issue. We provide you four massive print issues designed to sit on your coffee table like a piece of artwork. With your yearly subscription, you receive over 600 of pages of swimming’s highest quality print content, and another 5,330+ pages of digital issues, going back to the first issue produced.
I went to his talks at the ASCA clinic and really enjoyed them. He was very transparent and honest, was really nice to hear a coach be like that
A great coach and insightful man – You are the best Bohlie!
It was impressive that after a disappointing injury plagued Trials (where Emma McKeon swam a 53.33 100 Free) Bohl and Emma were able to turn things around at the Olympics to the extent that Emma could come out in the 4×100 prelims and rip a 51.94 to stake a claim for the final.
If Paris turns out to be the swansong for Michael Bohl with a backstroke double-double for McKeown, 6th gold medal for McKeon and gold (despite covid) for Pallister then it was a good way to finish off a great coaching career.
He’s a pleasure to watch coach if you’ve ever been in his vicinity
What I thought was amazing, was his forthright statements..very refreshing..I can’t imagine a US coach being that honest about their swimmers performance..Even now, with the poor performance of our mens team, no one will step up and just talk straight..
He is so humble for someone who is so great.
The comment that struck me most was his description of McKeown’s 200IM as a “disaster”. This event has been a bugbear for her internationally. She pulled out in Tokyo only to see Ohashi win gold with a slow 2.08.6. At the World Championships she got disqualified for an illegal back to breast turn when there were more flagrant cases which weren’t punished. And at these Olympics she was somewhat underwhelming. Bohl thinks she has a lot more to show in the 200IM. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Both Bohl and Kaylee (in our interview with her) also note that the 200 back took a lot more emotional energy than anticipated, so by the time the 200 IM rolled around, McKeown was simply pooped.
She was clearly just done during the semi final. Came back with the rest but not the whole way.
Shes clearly not able to handle big workloads at meets quite as well as the other great female swimmers currently.
It’s a bit odd because she is a great in season swimmer, so she obviously can handle racing under load, so it’s not just that.
I do not think it is that she cannot handle big loads. I think doing the back double meant a lot to her and it took its toll emotionally.
She’s dealt with big workloads at other meets. I think that this time it just took a lot out of her physically and emotionally. In the IM the struggle was there, but she got up and did her very best. Very impressive.