After originally announcing that 22-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps would be attending the first annual Atlanta Classic Swim Meet, to be hosted May 13th-15th at the Georgia Tech Natatorium, meet hosts have now updated that he has pulled out of the event.
Phelps hinted that he was uncertain about his attendance at the meet during a Facebook chat with his fans last week, calling the Elite Meet in Austin a definite, and Atlanta a maybe.
The winningest Olympian of all-time is currently training at altitude in Colorado Springs, Colorado at the Olympic Training Center, along with a huge portion of the post-graduate U.S. National Team. His fiancee Nicole is due to give birth to the couple’s first child at the end of this month.
Meet organizers are offering refunds for ticket-buyers to the meet, but they still are expecting a start-studded lineup that will include Nathan Adrian, Katie Ledecky, Caeleb Dressel, and Amanda Weir.
They also have these teams listed as attending, without specific names:
Teams
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Arizona State
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Auburn
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Cal Berkeley
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Dynamo Swim Club
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Georgia Tech
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Lakeside Swim Team
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Nashville Aquatic Club
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Nitro Swimming
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North Carolina State
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Stanford
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SwimAtlanta
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Texas A&M
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University of Alabama
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University of Florida
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University of Georgia
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University of Kentucky
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University of Tennessee
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University of Texas
Bummer. I was parlaying a trip to visit a very good friend with this meet. Figured it would be my last realistic chance to see Michael swim in person as Austin, Omaha, and Rio are not feasible for me or my schedule. Oh well.
While I understand that it is well within Michael’s rights to back out of a competition, for whatever the reason, I find myself feeling sad for all the people that had been planning to attend this event for quite some time now. A true professional would have notified the meet hosts much earlier than one week out.
I understand the disappointment. I wanted to see him swim there too. But it’s important to remember that he’s a person with his own life. He doesn’t live to entertain us. I think saying he’s not a “true professional” because he scratched a meet is overreaching a bit.
Apparently, his pull out game has gotten stronger.
I don’t recall him having a history of pulling out of meets and considering they are expecting a child soon that probably played into it.
So his whole team pulled out or just him?
I would guess no one from ASU/NBAC will be attending…just not Michael. No Chase, no Allison, etc. Too bad.
Excellent Choice by Mr.Phelps. He is doing what he needs to do. Congratulations to him for being so aware and prioritizing intelligently.
I wish someone said that about me every time I scratched a meet…
I think trials needs to be moved to the end of May. Swimmers need to train more then get some rest before the Olympics so they’ll be at top form in their events.
MP looks 70 in that pic.
Show me a 70 year old that looks like that.
photographers trying to do contrasts in b&w are not as good as they once were. As if Hedy Lamarr or Marlene Dietrich would have accepted these – no way .Said photohrapher would be dead beside a country road .
I see ads all the time with captionz like ‘Pensioner finds key to youth’.”Do not eat these 7 foods’ ‘4 exercises for abz of steel’ …..etc. Do you think they are photoshopped & should I ask for a refund for my 23 vials of Rocky’z Natural HGH?
I’m shocked.
Or swim like that