Michael Phelps, the American swimming star and the most decorated Olympian in history, criticized USA Swimming on Wednesday in a lengthy Instagram post, saying there was a need for “systemic change” at the highest levels in his latest salvo against an organization that continues to search for permanent leadership.
“I’ve asked myself what’s changed in our sport and the answer is clear,” Phelps wrote, “… This isn’t on the athletes as they continue to do the best they can with what they’ve been given. This is on the leadership of USA Swimming. Poor leadership trickles down and can impact an organization at every level.”
The five-page post from Phelps, who won 23 gold and 28 Olympic medals overall in his career, was a follow-up to criticisms he and fellow swimming star Ryan Lochte posted following the Americans’ performance at the World Aquatics Championships, which concluded earlier this month.
As the Americans were laboring through the event while battling a stomach illness that affected several team members, Lochte posted a meme of a funeral on Aug. 1. The post featured a tombstone dedicated to the “loving memory of United States swimming.”
“Call it a funeral, or call it a fresh start. We’ve got 3 years,” Lochte wrote, referring to the time left to prepare for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Phelps shared the image on Instagram and added, “Is this the (wake-up) call USA Swimming needed? Let’s find out.”
That same day, the sixth of the event, the Americans pulled into a tie for the gold-medal-count lead. They ultimately edged Australia in golds, 9-8, clinching it with a world record in the final race of the meet and winning the overall medal count 29-20.
USA Swimming declined to comment on Phelps’ latest post, but interim CEO Bob Vincent addressed the criticism from Lochte, Phelps, NBC analyst Rowdy Gaines — who thanked Phelps in a reply to Wednesday’s post — and others last week.
“We respect and value the opinions of Rowdy, Michael, Ryan, and all USA Swimming alums,” Vincent said in a statement. “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.”
Eking out gold-medal counts is a shift from USA Swimming’s once-dominant standards. The Americans won 16 golds at both the 2012 London and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, more than 10 better than second place in each case. At the 2021 Tokyo Games, the margin was just 11-9 over Australia. Then, at the 2023 world championships, Australia surpassed the Americans, winning 13-7.
The U.S. pulled back in front at the Paris Games, winning 8 to Australia’s 7 and clinching the lead via the women’s 4×100 medley relay in the final event.
Luca Urlando, 23, won gold in the 200-meter butterfly at the world championships, one of a handful of promising results for young U.S. swimmers. (Lintao Zhang / Getty Images)
One reason for the change since Rio is that Phelps, who won at least four gold medals at every Olympics from 2004 to 2016, retired after those Games. Lochte, who won six Olympic golds and 12 medals overall, also won his last major hardware in Rio.
Phelps, though, insists the problems go beyond the medal counts in the pool.
“I’ve watched too many teammates struggle to compete in a sport they love without the support they need,” Phelps wrote. “I’ve also seen the sport struggle to return its membership to pre-pandemic levels, and I’m done pretending this system works just because it produces medals.”
USA Swimming’s leadership has been in flux since August 2024, when the group let go Tim Hinchey after seven years as CEO and criticism from coaching organizations over many of the issues Phelps cited, such as declining membership and waning support for the lower levels of the sport.
In February, USA Swimming named Chrissi Rawak, previously the athletic director at the University of Delaware, its new CEO, only for her to step away from the role nine days later after she was named in a complaint filed with the SafeSport Center, the organization that investigates abuse claims in Olympic sports.
After Rawak’s departure, longtime USA Swimming COO Shana Ferguson took the CEO job, then left a month later to join the organizing committee for the L.A. Olympics. Vincent, the former chair of USA Swimming’s board of directors, replaced Ferguson and continues to hold the interim title.
USA Swimming was also without a national team director for five months after the Paris Olympics before appointing longtime coach Greg Meehan to the position in April.
Phelps outlined three steps he’d like to see USA Swimming take: launching an independent review of the entire USA Swimming organization, developing a better system of directly supporting athletes and focusing on “strengthening the grassroots level of the sport.”
“I offer up my service to be a resource in these proposed initial steps,” Phelps wrote. “… My door is open and there is work to be done.”
Despite the challenges Phelps and others see, the U.S. team had a string of encouraging results from young swimmers at the world championships this year. Jack Alexy, 22, won two medals and set an American record in the 100-meter freestyle. Luke Hobson, 22, turned his Paris bronze medal in the 200-meter freestyle into silver in Singapore. Luca Urlando, 23, won his first world-stage medal of any kind, a gold in the 200-meter butterfly.
On the women’s side, 18-year-old Claire Weinstein secured her first major individual medal with a bronze in the 200-meter freestyle. Katharine Berkoff, 24, broke through with her first individual gold medal in the 50-meter backstroke, which will be part of the Olympic program for the first time in 2028. Gretchen Walsh (22), Torri Huske (22), Kate Douglass (23) and Regan Smith (23) all continue to be solidly in the gold-medal mix in their various top events.
For the L.A. Olympics, at least, Lochte might get his “fresh start” and Phelps his “wake-up call.”
“The women are set up really nicely for the next three years. And the men will be great in L.A.,” Gaines said in an interview before the world championships. “Once L.A. rolls around, these young kids … that most people have never heard of, you’re going to hear a lot about in the next three years.”
(Photo: Jeremy Chen / Getty Images)
