American swim coach Bob Bowman gave the United States its greatest Olympian Michael Phelps, and in his new role as the head coach of Arizona State/the University of Texas, may have given France its greatest Olympian in Leon Marchand.
And a lot of Americans are mad about that – an understandable emotion. It’s the latest reminder that the primary driver of the Olympics is nationalism and politics. Bob Bowman is “ours” and we don’t want to share him.
It’s also the latest reminder of the economic realities of swimming in the United States. If Bob Bowman were a member of the United States Olympic coaching staff, the pay for that would be $0. His base salary at the University of Texas is $400,000 annually, plus bonuses, camp money, and other earnings opportunities.
Coaching for France also allows Bowman to work with all of his international athletes and his American athletes at the Games, whereas American coaches are more limited.
But sports are increasingly global, which increasingly puts the ideas of nationalism at odds with the realities of sport: athletes will chase the best opportunities for their best performance, and if an opportunity is available in a country other than theirs, they will pursue it. When Leon Marchand committed to swim for Bob Bowman and Arizona State, he specifically cited that Bowman does his best coaching in Marchand’s best events (though admittedly the 200 breaststroke wasn’t really part of that demonstrable skillset for Bowman).
Of all the international swimmers who have won Olympic gold medals this week, 10 medals by our count, including 0 from relays, trained primarily in the United States in the leadup to the Olympics. The most successful swimming countries are still training their athletes at home.
I think it is probably fair to say that America is, on net, a net exporter of Olympic medals; that is to say that the world benefits from the American sporting infrastructure, especially the NCAA system, more than America benefits from the rest of the world’s sporting infrastructure. That’s true in a lot of industries, and is among the pillars of America’s position in the global order.
But the exchange is not strictly a one-way flow. Anthony Nesty, the head coach of the men’s U.S. Olympic Swim Team, was born in Trinidad & Tobago and represented Suriname internationally, winning Olympic gold in 1988 in the 100 fly. He is now an American citizen and is coaching one of the most successful groups in U.S. swimming generally and without a narrowed-vision on this week’s results.
Top Americans in other sports train abroad too. Many of the United States’ best soccer players train in Europe. The top US male table tennis player Kanak Jha, who reached the round of 16 at the Olympics, trains in Germany. His finish was the best-ever by an American male.
Most of the country’s top water polo players play professionally in other countries, as do many American winter Olympians, rugby players, and stars in a number of other sports.
Monank Patel, the captain and star of the United States’ history-making men’s cricket team, was born in India, as was Sindhu Sriharsha, who is the captain of the U.S. women’s team. Cricket is coming to the Olympic Games in 2028 in Los Angeles, and the bulk of the American cricket industry has been built by people not born in America.
But maybe the most apt counterexample is that of one of the American Olympic stars of all-time: gymnast Simone Biles. The 27-year-old Biles now owns 9 Olympic medals, including winning the team and all-around golds already in Paris.
Her coaches are Cecile and Laurent Landi, who are both French. Cecile competed at the 1996 Olympic Games for France, and together they have trained about a dozen US Women’s Senior National Team members. Cecile will become the head coach at the University of Georgia for next season.
The floor routine that Biles used to win those gold medals was choreographed by French choreographer Gregory Milan, who never really made it in dance but has carved out a niche as one of the world’s most sought-after gymnastics choreographer.
In Paris, he is a full-time dance instructor for the French national team, which has won 22 all-time Olympic medals, only seven of which have come in the last century.
But the same way that the University of Texas subsidizes Bob Bowman‘s lifestyle so that he can change French Olympians, the French National Team subsidizes Gregory Milan’s lifestyle so that he can choreograph for Simone Biles.
There are other exchanges too. The hosting fees for meets like Worlds provided by other countries result in prize purses that funnel more money back into paying American swimmers, who are among the least-compensated by their national federations in the world.
Sports are global. No one country has the interest, resources, or infrastructure to develop the world’s best athletes in every sport. Globalization of sport leads to the improvement of those sports, globally. Swimming happens to be something that the United States does well, along with sports like basketball, baseball, track & field, lacrosse, and golf.
Rather than focusing on how to keep swimmers like Summer McIntosh and Leon Marchand and Hubert Kos out of the American system, the American system would be better-served by figuring out why those incredible talents from other countries are outperforming Americans in the same training environments and trying to bottle, and apply, those lessons.
Very well written. I totally agree with this article. It’s very obvious that swimming leadership in Europe and Australia have upped their game, while USA Swimming has lacked leadership and greatly diminished support for their, clubs, coaches and athletes. Sadly, I wouldn’t trust the current USA Swimming board and executive leadership to run the swim team at our local swim and tennis club. The money is gone because of the sexual abuse cover-up lawsuits, membership is way down and USAS is nickel and diming current membership for all they can get, while providing nothing in return. USAS is on the brink of being in shambles and it’s going to take a lot of work and big changes in leadership to… Read more »
I’d love to see more of the Aussie’s go to college in the US and do NCAA swimming; and it would probably help the image of the Chinese swimmers if more of them trained abroad for a few years (NCAA or otherwise) as they have historically been so closed to the rest of the world that it invites suspicion.
Good article. Don’t want to go into politics too much as it’s a sports website but it’s really important to see the bigger picture. You can’t keep foreign athletes and students out etc. and at the same time expect to have great export and remain as a world top power. It’s all interconnected, the US was basically built on that. These athletes literally promote the US and make it even more investable.
In addition, I would also not underestimate the training these athletes had received BEFORE they came to the US. Most of them were already olympians and world championships medalist. Don’t forget about all the years before the US (10-19 vs. 19-23)
I agree with this article, but I’m surprised that your counter example was that Simone’s choreographer is French, when her coaches are Cecile and Laurent Landi. Simone doesn’t train abroad, but I think the fact that her coaches competed for France before immigrating to the US to coach is a more noteworthy example. Cecile Landi will also be coaching at the University of Georgia soon, as she was recently named as co-head coach.
Agree, I came into this expecting to see a discussion of how her actual coaches are French (their daughter is actually competing for the French diving team in Paris!). The coaches are a MUCH bigger factor than the choreographer.
Gymnastics is a perfect example of how the IS have benefitted from non-American coaching for generations.
The Olympic AA champions (all American) in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2024 all had non-Americans as their primary coach. (Two former Soviet, one Chinese, one French)
No you’re right, I should add that.
Explain this section to me like I’m a baby
The conclusion here is crazy haha
Oh I think I figured it out – countries that export themselves to a star (like Marchand?) aren’t as successful overall as countries that cultivate their own from the ground up.
Which I mean, makes sense, I think.