USA Swimming has responded to the public criticism from Michael Phelps, Rowdy Gaines, Ryan Lochte, and others with a statement attributed to interim CEO Bob Vincent.
The statement, which was distributed to media at this week’s U.S. Summer Championships in Irvine, was first reported by The Big Friendly Swim Podcast. Media at the meet were instructed not to ask athletes about the topic, and instead were directed to the statement.
We respect and value the opinions of Rowdy, Michael, Ryan, and all USA Swimming alums. We acknowledge that their comments come from a place of passion and genuine desire to see USA Swimming succeed. We are saddened and disappointed at the timing of the comments. The USA Swimming team battled severe illness in Singapore, and these comments added public scrutiny to an already challenging situation for our athletes and coaches. We are incredibly proud of the resilience of our team in the face of such difficult circumstances and remain confident in the leadership, strategic direction, and culture established by newly appointed National Team Managing Director Greg Meehan. USA Swimming has reached out directly to Rowdy and other notable alums in recent months, offering them a forum, including an invitation to join in a more official manner. The door remains open, as the only path forward for our sport is to work collectively to achieve a shared vision of success. We remain focused on the task at hand: winning LA28.
Among the first to react to the statement was Phelps, the most decorated swimmer in history, who questioned the authenticity of the statement (though SwimSwam can confirm that it is real).
“maybe a false statement , bc I know they didn’t reach out to rowdy.” Phelps said in the comments of the @bigfriendlyswimpodcast account on Instagram. “They’ve shoved us out the door for years. Treated me like a piece of meat thro my career. Hopefully it changes someday….”
SwimSwam asked Gaines for a response to the USA Swimming statement, but as of posting he has not responded.
Gaines, the voice of swimming in the United States via his work as the sport’s primary television analyst, has also made several public statements criticizing USA Swimming.
This is not Phelps’ first complaint of mistreatment by the governing body in the last week or so, as he has been very active on social media reacting to both large and smaller swimming accounts.
In this post on the @swimcellys page, which highlights post-race celebrations from the sport, Phelps responded to a clapback from fellow Olympic gold medalist Lilly King. Swim Cellys posted a screenshot of a Lilly King Instagram story that said “y’all been real quiet tonight👀,” which was posted the day after Phelps and Lochte posted a meme portraying the funeral of American swimming.
In response, Phelps commented:
We should be so proud of how the team swam as a whole …. Right?
Apologies for having higher expectations for the leadership of the team. My opinions were way off. USAS has what they finally want, me to “stay in my lane”. They will continue to help the kids reach childhood dreams by their continued support 😳
King’s retort came on a night where the United States team broke through its early-meet challenges. That night included Katie Ledecky‘s gold in the 800 free, the hardest she has been challenged in that race in over a decade, a gold in the 50 fly from Gretchen Walsh, and a gold and World Record in the mixed 400 free relay. While King didn’t win any medals on that night, she did race a prelims leg of the women’s gold medal winning 400 medley the next day, and she was a Team USA captain in what is expected to be her final professional meet.
While behind the scenes, Phelps has long expressed frustration, Team USA’s performance in Singapore, where a gutsy performance by the women’s team salvaged a finish atop the medals table, seems to have been the push over the edge for him to engage more directly and publicly.
It has been 344 days since USA Swimming CEO Tim Hinchey resigned, and 161 days since his would-be replacement Chrissi Rawak did the same after it leaked that she was the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Center for SafeSport.
Vincent, the current interim CEO, was the Chairman of the USA Swimming Board of Directors from 2018-2021 and the Board Treasurer from 2016-2018.
To Michael Phelps, Rowdy Gaines, and every leader who cares about the future of U.S.A. swimming:
A USA Swimming staff member told me recently, “Performance improvement isn’t in the USA Swimming Mission Statement.” If that doesn’t stop you in your tracks, I don’t know what will.
In my Competitive Swimmer Magazine front-page article, I asked, “What’s Wrong With USA Swimming?” My upcoming follow-up is titled “What Should Be Right About USA Swimming.”
At the very top of that list: Rewrite the mission so performance improvement for every member is at the forefront. Then hire leadership—CEO and staff—whose professional record proves they can deliver on that mission and whose job performance is measured against it from day one.
Anything less is settling for mediocrity. And our swimmers, coaches,… Read more »
I get the sense, from reading some of the comments, that there’s a certain resignation about the idea that the US team – especially the men – may no longer be improving. As a French observer, and giver the long-standing reputation for excellence that American swimming enjoys, it’s both surprising and a bit worrying to see a institution like USA swimming seeming not to be actively striving to stay at the top.
An outbreak hitting the team can happen – that’s fair enough. But if it’s something that keeps recurring, as seems to be the case from what i’ve read here when Swimswam published its articles on the matter, then it’s up to the federation to make sure training… Read more »
Urlando, Hobson, Alexy, Sammon and Finke, that’s it from the men’s team.
What has happened with Heilman? A big hope at 16, two years later and he has not improved.
Imo Phelps, the GOAT, took the right decision skipping SCY (and almost SCM) and focusing on LCM, where real swimming is swum. For SCY it’s all about walls and underwaters, only a few strokes and a wall… for this reason US swimmers train more (relative to rest of the world) these and less the stroke. They are surpssed above the water (swimming phase), tend to have less style and less stroke efficiency.
I would just start replacing SCY by SCM (2 more strokes per pool in free)… Read more »
Even if switching to SCM was the answer, the cost of replacing or modifying the infrastructure would be in the billions of dollars. There was a period of building meters pools, but when we abandoned changing to the metric system, we went right back to building yards.
You really think that USA Swimming ignored Michael Phelps? Or Rowdy? Give me a break. In all of their ranting, I haven’t heard one specific complaint other than the lack of a CEO. Has Phelps offered actual advice or is it just easier to sit back and throw stones? Yeah, we would all like the team to perform better. Adding gasoline to a fire never helps the situation. Making snide comments mid meet is poor form.
And Rowdy, want to confirm (or correct!) the statement Phelps made that USAS never spoke with you. My guess is that is absolutely untrue and he’s just sticking his head in the sand. He should own his entitlement comments. Admit you were being flippant.
It always amazes me how USA Swimming and swimming fans want the sport to grow and be the likes of the NBA, MLB, NFL etc but then think small minded. Those other sports leagues, teams and plays are subjected to criticism on a daily business all over the media and social media. It is part and partial to being in the spotlight. Stop acting like you want the benefits those other leagues, teams and athletes get but you don’t want the criticisms that come with it.
I just think Phelps, Lochte, & Gaines have a disregard for reality because it’s really the men’s team that is falling back in regards to medals. The women’s team medalled in every event except for the 50 free, 50 breast, and 400 IM. I think you could argue that the women’s team is as strong as it has been in recent history. The women contributed 20 of the medals at World Champs versus the men’s 8.
Imagine being a first time World’s swimmer seeing athletes like Lochte and Phelps’ insta stories. It’s fair to have criticisms but this was an unprofessional and inappropriate way to express them. I’m not sure why the middle of World Championships suddenly became the time for MP to fully express his criticisms, & a petty comment or Instagram story rarely tells the full story. Somebody with his experience in the sport should know that.
I think the issues are deep and not easily survived. But I’d have felt better if Mike and Rowdy had a suggestion for CEO! Forget former players and coaches. Get me a globally respected CEO. They will fix the sport like Max Siegel has for Track!