Michael Andrew Talks Adidas History and Going Pro at 14 (VIDEO)

Torrey Hart
by Torrey Hart 16

December 21st, 2017 News

Michael Andrew posted another installment in his latest string of video blogs on Wednesday, this time taking viewers on a tour of Adidas‘ archives and giving us an inside look into his backyard training facility.

In the archives, Michael and his sister Michaela learn the history of Adidas‘ signature “three stripes,” viewing items including a pair of Muhammed Ali‘s shoes from 1968, Team Germany’s 1972 Olympics uniform, and one of Ian Thorpe‘s bodysuits. The video concludes with a Q&A session, featuring an introduction video that Michael himself also made, with an up-close look at his private pool in the backyard of his family’s Lawrence, Kansas, home.

Watch the Q&A (beginning at 3:56) to hear him talk about the process and mentality behind turning pro.

Adidas is a SwimSwam partner. 

 

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Bob
6 years ago

I love 50s of stroke, they should have been in Olympics. Only fair.

stimmybob
6 years ago

Have I been saying Adidas wrong my whole life?

Dudeman
Reply to  stimmybob
6 years ago

The way it’s pronounced in the video is the correct way because it’s a German brand but the western way of saying it is technically correct too

anonymoose
Reply to  Dudeman
6 years ago

the way andrew says it in the video would still be not entirely correct. like already mentioned, adidas comes from the name adolf dassler (“adi” as nick name for adolf + “das” so it makes a better brand name, than adidassler).
thats a german name. so you would pronounce adidas with german pronounancitation, meaning the only difference to say adidas “completely correctly”, compared to how andrew says it in the video, would be to pronounce the 2 a’s more like… british a’s i guess? for example, americans pronounce the a in ‘bath’, differently than brits. thats what i mean with “british a”.

Mark
Reply to  stimmybob
6 years ago

That is the way you pronounce the nick name of the founder, which technically the company is named after. Knowing this, I still pronounce it the same way everyone else does.

Dudeman
Reply to  Mark
6 years ago

Yeah i’ve been saying it the other way for too long, it’s too weird to change it now

Markster
6 years ago

He has a lot of pressure to make the 2020 Olympic team. All of this will seem a bit silly if he misses it.

Mustangswimdad
Reply to  Markster
6 years ago

My daughter loves Maya Dirado and Missy Franklin, but we certainly don’t know what brands they represent. On the other hand, we know that MA is a person of faith and he also wears Adidas. He is a consummate professional and does a great job representing the brands that he believes in. I wish more professional swimmers make the effort to reach out to their fan base to grow the sport like MA.

Swim
Reply to  Markster
6 years ago

Whenever there is a swimmer trying to push exposure for the sport is a win for the community.

bobo gigi
Reply to  Markster
6 years ago

50 free seems to be his best chance right now. But his best events change every year. So it’s tough to predict.

bobo gigi
Reply to  bobo gigi
6 years ago

Talking about his 2017 year, I’m not particularly fan of the 50s of stroke but I’m forced to recognize that I never expected such a success at world juniors from Mr Andrew. His performances in the 50 free/50 fly/50 back in a short period of time were stunning. It was a Dressel-like show in sprint at the junior level. I’m curious to see where he goes now. Does he want to specialize exclusively into 50-meter events? Is the 200 IM still a goal for him or not? The 100 fly? Anyway it’s time for him to make a US senior team and next summer is very important. It qualifies you for 2019 worlds.

Tammy Touchpad Error
Reply to  bobo gigi
6 years ago

I like Andrew because he challenges us. I like that you admit this. I personally think he can become a force in the 200 IM and keep his speed much like Dressel, but I don’t see him ever passing Caeleb in anything but 100 and 200 breast or 400 IM. Backstroke he’s not going to beat Kolesnikov. Murphy I think he could take down in a 100 in a few years.

As crazy as it sounds, I think his best shot for individual gold is a longer race like the 400 IM. He could train himself to hold speed. He’s never going to have the power or the details that Dressel or Peaty or Kolesnikov has, but his training… Read more »

samuel huntington
Reply to  Tammy Touchpad Error
6 years ago

Dressel is a full time student at UF, so it would be hard for Dressel to do much out of the pool for swimming

tammy touchpad error
Reply to  samuel huntington
6 years ago

MA: 1 vs. Classroom: 0

Although if we’re keeping score this summer it was

MA: 0.3 vs. Gregg Troy Base (and some) Pace Training: 7

Jackman
Reply to  bobo gigi
6 years ago

HELLO BOBO! <3

Pvdh
6 years ago

Ehh….

About Torrey Hart

Torrey Hart

Torrey is from Oakland, CA, and majored in media studies and American studies at Claremont McKenna College, where she swam distance freestyle for the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps team. Outside of SwimSwam, she has bylines at Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, SB Nation, and The Student Life newspaper.

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