Fri, August 15, 2025
Swimming legend Phelps demands change in USA Swimming’s governance
23-times gold medallist swimmer Michael Phelps has highlighted USA swimming’s weak leadership, governance failures and concerning safeguarding record, and is calling for a systematic overhaul.
The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic swimming competition will take place in SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, which is being turned into the largest swimming venue in Olympic history with a capacity for 38,000 spectators. However, Phelps has voiced that he believes the U.S. swimming programme will not be up to scratch under current leadership, and that U.S. athletes will not to be able to capitalise on competing on home soil as a result.
Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, retired from competitive swimming in 2016, and stated that significant “cracks” have grown in the last 9 years within USA Swimming.
In an Instagram post, Phelps wrote: “My criticism is about the system, its leadership, and how it’s failing…
In 2016, I had the honour to be a part of a U.S. swim team in Rio that was arguably the most successful in the sport’s history and we won 57% of the medals we had the opportunity to win. Fast forward eight years to Paris, where Team USA won only 44% of the medals they had the opportunity to win in the pool, the lowest percentage the sport had seen since the 1988 Olympics…
I spent most of my life inside of a system that is supposed to support athletes. I gave it my everything, but I often felt that my voice went unheard. I was told to be grateful for the chance to compete and that it was more important to stay quiet and to keep the peace…
Money is a factor. But poor operational controls and weak leadership are a cornerstone of the sport’s problems. Swimming to me was always about more than just medals – it’s supposed to be an environment that builds champions in and out of the pool…
I’m not sure if I’d want my sons to be part of this sport at a competitive level…
We need accountability. We need transparency. We need athlete voices at the center, not in the margins.”
Phelps proposed the following to the USA Swimming Board of Directors and staff:
- An independent review of USA Swimming
- Streamline athlete services and develop a proactive, athlete-first way to support them
- Focus on strengthening the grassroots level of the sport
He concluded with: “I offer up my service to be a resource in these proposed initial steps.”
12-times Olympic swimming medallist Ryan Lochte shared the same sentiment by posting an image showing a gravestone and attendees dressed in black. The grave read: “In Loving Memory of United States Swimming…They set the bar high – until they stopped reaching for it.” This was in response to the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. Although the U.S. finished first on the swimming medal table, its performance fell short compared to previous efforts, as reported by Swimming World.
Three-time Olympic champion Rowdy Gaines shared similar views with Swimming World as well: “Both Michael and I, along with many others in the sport, are saying what’s becoming harder to ignore: the structure guiding USA Swimming is not functioning as it should. And if we don’t address that now, we risk losing the very culture of excellence that built this legacy in the first place…
Team USA won the overall medal count and the gold medal count. That should absolutely be recognized and celebrated. But we can’t confuse medals with long-term health. A strong performance doesn’t mean there aren’t deeper structural issues under the surface…
USA Swimming has now gone a full year without a Chief Executive Officer. That’s not just a delay, it’s a leadership void. And with LA 2028 approaching fast, time is not on our side.”
Although not explicitly mentioned by Phelps, Chrissi Rawak, a former swimmer and CEO of USA Swimming, was forced to step down less than two weeks after her appointment in the wake of an abuse allegation against her.
Although some have voiced that the previous Olympians’ complaints suggest “entitlement,” “when someone like Michael Phelps speaks up, it’s worth listening, not because of the medals, but because few people understand this sport’s heartbeat like he does,” as expressed by Gaines.
