Garrett Reports: Weekend Results Wrap Up

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LS
11 years ago

The video of Clary’s comments is out, and he can shove his out of context excuse down his throat cause he let it all out like verbal diarrhea…. smh

He moans about how Phelps wasn’t nice to him, didn’t like him….thinks Phelps’ saw him as a threat…Probably more like Phelps’ saw him as a rat and treated him as one.

Kirt
Reply to  LS
11 years ago

Where is the video?

swimphile
Reply to  LS
11 years ago

Well Clary did apologise to Phelps on Twitter…whilst maintaining that his comments were “misunderstood”…

ZYNG43
Reply to  swimphile
11 years ago

listen to the audio. it is all there

LS
Reply to  swimphile
11 years ago

listen to the audio, there’s nothing misunderstood about what he said.

FreeStyler
11 years ago

Y’all are turning this into a gossip column. lets discuss swimming and not dwell on TMZ like stuff!!

swimmer
11 years ago

While I think what Clary did was incredibly stupid and immature, but that does not mean he is wrong. For all we know he could be telling the truth or was speaking of a certain week when Phelps acted like this and the reporter exaggerated.. There are people who are just that much more talented then everyone else. We have all experienced that person whether it was in our own swimming careers or any other activity. So I believe it is entirely possible that Clary is telling the truth. Part of the problem is no one wants to say in life there is going to be people with huge talent and don’t have to work to get a great amount… Read more »

Koko
Reply to  swimmer
11 years ago

That’s the other thing (besides the timing), though. Unless he was actually talking about the buildup to London, particularly 2009 and 2010, then how does what he say about Phelps’ preparation for the buildup to Beijing make sense (especially given others’ testimony to the contrary)? Because he and Phelps were only together at Michigan for the 2007-2008 school year. Phelps wouldn’t have been able to do what he did in Beijing if he had slacked off the year PRIOR. He’d have dropped dead before he even got to the end of the program.

liquidassets
Reply to  Koko
11 years ago

It could be that Phelps got beat in practice during the year(s) Clary observed, and/or didn’t come as close as he “should have” for making expected times on various sets. But according to her coach, Soni, for example, reportedly gets beat in practice very regularly by Hardy and others, but usually beats her in competition. It could be that she worked harder on technique, dryland training, mental game, sets that didn’t involve direct competition, etc. Just because someone gets beat or doesn’t swim as fast as expected sometimes in practice doesn’t mean they’re not training hard. In fact those training the hardest will be the most broken down and naturally WIILL get beaten in practice by those who don’t consistently… Read more »

john26
Reply to  liquidassets
11 years ago

The issue, as stated in the article, is that phelps doesnt work as hard, that any individual so much as watches one practice in disguise will see the lack of commitment. This does not accuse him of swimming slowly, they ar two different things

LS
Reply to  john26
11 years ago

Many of Phelps’ other training partners have commented on how training with Phelps has made them better. So his comments are quite absurd to be honest. Maybe Clary didn’t use the opportunity give to him in the right way.

beachmouse
Reply to  swimmer
11 years ago

And granted we’re talking about current team member instead of retired swimmer, but Janet Evans said far, far nastier things about Katie Hoff’s bad Olympic meet in 2004.

ZYNG43
Reply to  beachmouse
11 years ago

what were the comments evans made?

liquidassets
11 years ago

This is where good coaching and team captaining becomes crucial. Clary should have to meet with Phelps, the team captains, and coaches, and apologize to Phelps and then later to the rest of the team. Not as much for the content of what he said (although I do think it’s a complete waste of time to focus on, and whine about,somebody’s superior gifts. Life isn’t fair–deal with it), but more for the public nature of it, to the media, and above all, the timing. Most of what happens between now and the Olympics is a mental game and even if Phelps uses this attack as fuel, it can’t help the rest of the team to know that its top swimmer… Read more »

aswimfan
Reply to  liquidassets
11 years ago

Darcy + Monk + Clary = Dumb + Dumber + Dumbest?

Kirt
Reply to  aswimfan
11 years ago

D’Arcy is by far the dumbest of the three. I’d say Monk second, Clary third.

beachmouse
Reply to  Kirt
11 years ago

Unlike the other two, Clary, hasn’t done something illegal or ended anyone’s athletic career.

Koko
Reply to  beachmouse
11 years ago

Yeah, let’s not get completely carried away here.

Lisa
Reply to  aswimfan
11 years ago

Reverse the order and that sounds about right lol

Liliana
11 years ago

If Phelps was powerful enough to make FINA ban the suits, he’s powerful enough to throw Clary out of the team.Tarwater might earn another swim, this time in 200 fly, lol.

john26
Reply to  Liliana
11 years ago

It would be Bollier,
but, you know if this was Australia and it was Nick Darcy, he would’ve been off the team already and Phelps wouldn’t have to lift a finger.

Liliana
Reply to  john26
11 years ago

Not sure they can invite new swimmers once they announce the team.
Also, not sure what to think about D’Arcy and his situation but if Clary can say all this BS and get away with it, then I understand why Phelps wants to retire never to come back again.

aswimfan
Reply to  john26
11 years ago

If this was Australia, you can bet Clary would have been slapped with sanctions (media ban, internet ban, sending off back home right after his last event)

Ole 99
Reply to  john26
11 years ago

Comparing Clary’s comments to anything D’arcy has done is crazy. Many would argue D’arcy shouldn’t have been on Australia’s team even before the gun photos with Monk.

aswimfan
Reply to  Ole 99
11 years ago

Not the 2008 D’arcy, but the 2012 D’arcy posting with guns in a gunshop

Ole 99
Reply to  aswimfan
11 years ago

Okay, then the D’arcy that declared bankruptcy to get out of paying the damages he owed to the guy whose career he ended.

aswimfan
Reply to  aswimfan
11 years ago

I am not defending Darcy at all, on the opposite actually, however, Darcy did not end Cowley’s career. Cowley had already retired.

beachmouse
Reply to  Liliana
11 years ago

Skimming through the selection criteria, the last day to add additional swimmers was supposed to be July 8, a day ahead of FINA’s July 9 deadline. However, they can petition about five different organizations to add swimmers between July 9 and July 24, with no guarantee everyone will sign off on the paperwork.

Also, being a jerk is not inherently a violation of the USA Swimming honor code. If it was, we’d probably have had a number of athletes bounced from international teams over the years.

Liliana
Reply to  beachmouse
11 years ago

Hmm…you’re right, but it’s not just about being a jerk. He embarrassed himself, Phelps and USA swimming. Also, he created turmoil within USA training camp , 3 weeks before Olympics.

don
11 years ago

How do you know he is closer to Michael? He is close to a lot of swimmers.Jon Urbanchek treats everyone with respect and is close to all his swimmers,he is universally loved and respected and you would be hard pressed to find anyone that would accuse him of favoritism. He also calls it like he sees it and and is probably thinking ,”what the ….”

You know as someone that was complaining of a viral infection but could muster the strength for go- carting at trials or complained that his shoulder caused him to scratch events last winter but didn’t seem to bothered by it outside of the pool, he needs to tone down the rhetoric.Taken out of context..,haha. I… Read more »

Chris
Reply to  don
11 years ago

I don’t think the level of strength required for go-carting is comparable to that required for a 4:08…

My guess is that Clary is relatively new to lengthy interviews, and fresh after Phelps beating him in an event he wasn’t supposed to swim (from Clary’s POV), he was too blunt in an interview with his local hometown paper. Seeing as Phelps essentially took two years off serious training, and only really started training for the 400 im in the past year, Clary’s probably pissed that the past six years of focus on the 400 im seems wasted.

That being said, if Clary gets a lane next to Phelps in the 200 fly final, I bet the WR goes down.

Lisa
11 years ago

Jon Urbanchek, who coaches Clary and has been close to Phelps for years, said he was “very shocked” by the criticism of the swimmer he considers “the greatest ever on this planet.” Urbanchek, in Knoxville with the U.S. team, criticized Clary for his statements, although he said the swimmer told him “everything was taken out of context.”

“Let your swimming do the talking, that’s how Michael handles it,” said Urbanchek, the former coach at the University of Michigan, where both Clary and Phelps have trained in the past. “It wasn’t called for, and the timing — this should not be the news going into the Olympics.”

“I hope the two boys will sit down and talk about it. I know… Read more »

jman
Reply to  Lisa
11 years ago

The out of context thing is possibly valid knowing reporters.

john26
Reply to  jman
11 years ago

I don’t know, but a lot of the quotes don’t seem like they could be taken out of context to me. ie.
“I saw a real lack of preparation (from) him,”
“Basically, he was a swimmer that didn’t want to be there,”
“The fact that he doesn’t have to work as hard to get that done, it’s a real shame,”
“Basically, he was a swimmer that didn’t want to be there,” Clary said of Phelps. “They can talk about all of these goals and plans and preparation they have. I saw it. I know. It’s different. And I saw somebody that has basically been asking to get beat for the longest time.”


The coaches… Read more »

aswimfan
Reply to  john26
11 years ago

John26, I agree with your analyses

Kirt
Reply to  john26
11 years ago

It does seem suspect that the video interview part of the article did not include any of this, only the written.

Reply to  Lisa
11 years ago

Unafortunatelly,
some reporters will sell their soul just to make a big news.I can even put as example this year, some statements made in Brazil press claiming Magnussen told he will take Cielo down in 50 free(he never told that!), but a lot of media give that ideia.Another one told Cielo said he will take him(Magnussen down) in 100 free.Cielo never told that.

john26
11 years ago

Honestly, I’m not sure I buy the viral infection thing. I don’t believe he was at his absolute best, but I feel that’s just an excuse for him losing the race. Really, I feel that he simply just underestimated Michael, and no doubt pissed off that he got beat.

The interview ends by saying
“There is, of course, one way Clary can prove his point convincingly, before the eyes of the world.But he’d better hurry up. After all, Phelps is hanging up his goggles after these Olympics”

…and I mean the only way that could be fulfilled is if Clary beats him in the 200fly. I’d love to see that. But clearly, the rumors about the Clary-Phelps animosity is… Read more »

About Garrett McCaffrey

No one lives the sport of swimming like Garrett McCaffrey. A Division I swimmer who spent 4 years covering the sport as a journalist, now coaches club swimming and competes as a masters swimmer, Garrett truly lives the sport of swimming. After graduating from University of Missouri’s award winning journalism program …

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