In three years’ time, the swimming programme for the Los Angeles Olympics will unfold over nine days and nights on the grandest stage the sport has ever known. A purpose-built pool inside SoFi Stadium in Inglewood will be the centerpiece of a 38,000-capacity open-air natatorium, transforming the $5bn home of the NFL’s Rams and Chargers into what’s said to be the largest swimming venue in history. For the United States, a rare Summer Games on home soil should be a coronation, a chance to showcase the depth of its talent in the country’s most spectacular arena. Yet Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of them all, fears the US swimming program is in no shape to seize the moment.
Phelps has launched a withering attack on USA Swimming’s leadership, accusing it of “weak” stewardship, “poor operational controls” and presiding over years of organizational drift. The 23-times Olympic gold medalist said he would think twice about letting his own sons join the system in its current state. His concerns, he says, stretch back to his own competitive career, when athlete voices were too often brushed aside in the name of keeping the peace and presenting a united front. “This isn’t on the athletes,” he wrote in a lengthy Instagram statement. “This is on the leadership of USA Swimming.”
