By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
Two of the biggest names in the history of American swimming have voiced frustration at the performance of Team USA in Singapore this week at the World Championships.
Ryan Lochte, a 12-time Olympic medalist, posted a photograph of a funeral that included a tombstone that reads:
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
UNITED STATES SWIMMING
1980 – 2025
Aged 45“They set the bar high-until they stopped reaching for it”
He added a caption that said “Call it a funeral, or call it a fresh start. We’ve got 3 years.”
Michael Phelps, the most-decorated Olympian in history with 28 medals, shared that post, adding “Is this the wake up call USA swimming needed? Let’s find out…..”
It’s the most direct public rebuke from arguably the two most mainstream names in American swimming in the last 30 years.
The U.S. performance at the World Championships this week has been marred by “acute gastroenteritis” that has impacted almost the entire team (with the rare exception including the top American swimmer of this generation, Katie Ledecky).
In spite of that, the U.S. moved into the top spot in the medal tables on Friday, both by the traditional gold/silver/bronze sort and the most total medals. The women, which have experienced some of the highest-profile challenges from the GI issues, have managed to medal in every single event so far to carry the load for Team USA. The men, meanwhile, have broken a lot of streaks to the negative, including not having a man make the semi-finals of the 100 back for the first time in a global competition since 1908 and missing a medal in the 800 free relay at Worlds for the first time since 1998.
The men’s 400 medley relay also doesn’t have an obvious path to the podium, and will probably be forced to use some of their top performers in prelims to even have a chance at the final.
The voices of Lochte and Phelps, which almost five million combined Instagram followers, will bring increased pressure and attention to USA Swimming’s challenges this week and over the last few years. While the raw numbers on the medals table haven’t been that bad, those obscure the overall performance coming up shy of expectations for the third straight year.
With USA Swimming limping along for almost a year with interim CEOs, weak membership numbers, and a once-in-a-generation opportunity for a home Olympics looming, the organization is running out of grace with its fans and stakeholders – remembering that much of the swimming industry in America is driven by the success of the National Team.
While Phelps has stayed engaged in swimming behind-the-scenes, it is rare for him to make a public statement, so when he does, it carries a lot of power behind it. Will this be the one that forces a culture shift within the organization? Or will it wistfully blow past the Los Angeles Olympics with a mounting pile of excuses that are allegedly outside of its control?
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte Share Meme Criticizing Team USA’s Performance at Worlds
