Michael Phelps Statement on USA Swimming: ‘If We Don’t Talk About It, It Won’t Get Fixed’
In the latest salvo over the future of USA Swimming, Michael Phelps posted a statement to Instagram clarifying earlier comments and affirming his desire to help move the sport forward in the U.S.
Phelps’ response is the latest in a tete-a-tete between Phelps and other high-profile athletes with USA Swimming. It’s also one of the most thought out and considered of those.
The full statement is here, on Phelps’ Instagram.
Phelps reiterated many of the points he’s said before, including that he sent a letter to USA Swimming and United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee outlining “my frustrations with the current state of the sport” and saw it “fall on deaf ears.”
“No one really wants to talk about how broken USA Swimming has become,” Phelps wrote. “But, if we don’t talk about it, it won’t get fixed.”
Phelps reiterated that his criticism of USA Swimming during the recent World Championships – in which he reposted a meme posted by former teammate Ryan Lochte showing a headstone with USA Swimming’s name on it – was directed at the organization and not the athletes involved in the meet in Singapore. While many of those athletes underperformed their expectations, they were battling a wave of acute gastroenteritis that went through the team.
“I must be clear that I have the utmost respect for the U.S. swimmers that competed at World Championships,” Phelps wrote. “My criticism is in no way directed at them – I know how hard they work and how honored they are to represent the U.S. National Team. My criticism is about the system, its leadership, and how it’s failing.”
He cited figures over how the American performances have dipped at recent Olympics, and he points the finger at the business side of it. USA Swimming has been without a CEO for nearly a year, and the “poor operational controls and weak leadership” are what Phelps thinks has trickled down. (It is perhaps telling that Phelps statement is more formal in presentation than USA Swimming’s missive to which he was responding. That statement, released to media last week at the TYR Pro Swim Series, led to Phelps responding in an Instagram comment that the organization had “treated him like a piece of meat.”
“As a Dad to four young boys, it pains me to say that I’m not sure if I’d want my sons to be a part of this sport at a competitive level,” Phelps wrote. “Yes, swimming changed me life, but it also caused me a lot of heartache, and its current state makes me both sad and angry.”
Phelps advocated again for accountability, transparency and “athlete voices at the center,” which would amount to “systemic change”. He finished with three steps for the USA Swimming Board, including a “360 degree independent review” of its organization, streamlining athlete services to center the athletes and focus on “strengthening the grassroots level of the sport,” including working to reverse the pandemic membership decline.
Phelps’ criticism comes from the pinnacle of the Olympic movement. He’s the most decorated Olympian in history, swimming at five Olympics for the U.S. A 23-time gold medalist, he’s the owner of 28 career Olympic medals and 26 World Championships medals.
This war of words began with Lochte posting and Phelps reposting the meme on social media during the meet. Separately, Rowdy Gaines, broadcasting for NBC Sports, described USA Swimming as “rudderless” amid its struggles. Athletes like Lilly King and Bobby Finke hit back at the criticism, defending the team. Gaines, like Phelps on Wednesday, clarified his statements in detail. USA Swimming responded during the TYR Pro Swim Series, though that seemed to only add fuel to the fire.
USA Swimming remains without a CEO since Tim Hinchey stepped down last August. It is on its second interim CEO, with a permanent hire in Chrissie Rawak having to be withdrawn when a SafeSport complaint against her surfaced. USA Swimming also bid farewell to national team managing director Lindsay Mintenko in August, hiring Greg Meehan as her replacement.
“I want to see this sport flourish and I want to be part of the solution,” Phelps wrote. “I’ve always said that I wanted to change the sport of swimming in the U.S. and that sentiment still holds true. I still care and I’m not ready to give up.”
