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U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM MEDIA SUMMIT
By Lindsay DeWall // U.S. Olympic Committee // April 15, 2008
The 2008 Olympic Swim trials will be June 29-July 6 in Omaha, Nebraska. At the Games, swimming will be in evenings of first nine days.
Quotes:
Question (Q): (Inaudible) diet?
MP (Michael Phelps): My diet is whatever I want to eat whenever I want to eat it. However much I want to eat I eat. I fluctuate between 5 and 10 pounds in a week. I try to cram all calories in to maintain weight. I get all the stuff I need.
Q: What are exercises to get a swimmer’s body type?
Start swimming laps. Swimming works every muscle of the body. If you’ve never swam you can’t just hop in and swim 20 laps but comfortably swimming would be good.
Q: (Inaudible)… are U.S. swimmers feeling a sense of pride before trials? Because of the timing, will that be a good time to break records or do you not want to peak at that time? Speedo said the LZR swimsuit gives 2 percent performance improvement… comment?
MP: The trials are almost as big as the Olympics. We have to make the team at that moment. At some events we have 3 or 4 of the top swimmers in the world for some events. We have to fight it out for a spot on that team. I think all of us will be ready to swim very fast at the trials and will be ready for the Olympics. The suit has helped a lot of the swimmers to drop some time. But it’s not the suit. A lot of hard work goes into it, but the suit helps make the differences of a hundredth or tenth. It’s an honor to be able to wear the fastest suit known to mankind.
BB (Bob Bowman): Our trials are set close to the Games so the athletes can be close to their peak close to the time of the Games. I think it works very well for us.
Q: With new suit, you have a small advantage. If you weren’t using it, would you be upset?
MP: Everyone has the opportunity to wear the suit, so for the Speedo athletes that is the suit we wear. We’re privileged enough to have this suit. Anyone can wear it if they choose to. You guys could have a media relay race and have one. Every person who wants to wear it has the possibility and the option. It is available to anyone who wants it.
Q: Do you feel a kinship with Tiger Woods and Roger Federer? [Inaudible…] Do you see an impact in how they carry themselves?
MP: When watching the highlights of Tiger or Roger, seeing the highlights of those guys and how they carry themselves and how consistent they are. We’re all the same way, I’m a creature of habit. I’m sure they go about every tournament or match as if it’s the biggest. They’re probably the same as me, I don’t like to lose and they don’t either. You can pick up on a few things here and there and see how they carry themselves and how they focus and try to do a few of the same things they do.
Q: Despite that everyone can use this suit, does it concern you that all these hard workers [inaudible…] does it concern you?
MP: I’ve worn a Speedo my entire life, from age seven to 22. I’ve always worn it and it’s the only thing I know. Speedo has always been a part of my life. I look at it as nothing different for me. It’s what I’m used to and privileged to have.
BB: FINA approved this suit every step of the way and it’s development. I think Speedo has done their job very well and made the suit within guidelines.
Q: You spend your life fielding questions about Spitz, can you beat his record in Beijing?
MP: You never know what can happen. The only person I can worry about is myself. If I can prepare the best I can, that’s all I can ask. If I go in and still get beat with my best time, that’s all I can ask for. I can’t say yes or no.
Q: When athletes and coaches split, how have you stayed with Bob this whole time? What is it about him that you wanted to stay with him? Why does that work so well?
MP: I’ve been with Bob for 11 years. It’s rare to be able to find a coach/athlete combination that work together so well. We’re more than an athlete/coach combination, we’re friends. We have so much love and passion about what we do. We’re working together to both accomplish our goals and we’ve done that from step one. We have our bad communication here and there but we tend to do well. We’re able to be very close and there for each other. The relationship we have is the best part about it.
Q: [Some say that] the suit gives an unfair advantage, how do you respond?
MP: Like I said before, it’s available for everyone.
Q: Open water swim opens in Beijing, is that something you’d consider?
MP: Not a chance, no way. I won’t do open water and I’ll probably never do distance. There is not a future there for me.
Q: Have you determined what mix you’ll do for the trials? What role, if any, will the switched schedule have in Beijing?
BB: We have determined it but we will not release it until the trials. The main concern I have is that Michael has a chance and a good chance to win every event he swims. I don’t feel the switched program will have any effect in Beijing and we made our decisions independent of that.
Q: [Inaudible…] current events?
MP: I’m beginning to understand more about world events. The Olympics is always a time where things are talked about more and more. It is the Olympic Games and everyone from all over is there. For me, always growing up and watching the Games and how positive an event it is, seeing everyone come together as one no matter where they are from, being able to live in the Village and seeing everyone happy to be there, it’s always positive. After being an Olympian, that’s how it is all the time. Everyone is happy to be there and happy to be competing at that level. I have taken a few trips to Beijing and I’ve seen the excitement on peoples’ faces there. I was at the one year event and it sent chills up my body – people were so excited to have the opportunity to have the Games in their home country.
Q: Could you talk about – I understand Bob taught you how to drive – could you talk about the things beyond swimming he has done, and Bob, could you talk about music and its role in your life?
MP: Bob’s car was a stick shift. That’s how I learned – I always had trouble and I remember going to school one day and we were on a hill at a busy intersection and of course I stall in the middle of the hill. There were tons of people behind me and I still don’t even know how to drive a stick. It’s little things like that Bob was always been there for, whether that or like when I was in Baltimore I got to go to a farm and see the horses, we do everything together.
BB: When he went to his first dance in school at 13, I let him leave practice about 15 minutes early. He didn’t know how to tie a tie so I told him I’d help him and he came with the tie and when I went to put it on, I noticed he had buttoned his shirt one off. I think moments like that have helped us go for so long. I played violin, went to FSU because it was an excellent music school and studied music composition very seriously. So then I switched to child psychology which is something I use to this day.
Q: After Athens, you said you wanted to change the sport of swimming, do you see evidence of that happening or what you’d like to see for the sport?
MP: It’s going in the right direction. When I got an agent I said I wanted to change the sport of swimming. Working with Octagon and Bob, I’ve been able to do a lot to change the sport. We’ve started “Swimming with the Stars,” where we traveled around the country for a month on a bus and could reach out to a bunch of children around the country and have relay races and interact with them. It was a long month but a lot of fun to see the reactions of the kids. I think it’s little things like that that have made the sport come a long way, also the camps we have each year have gotten people more excited about the sport. Hopefully after this year it’ll keep climbing and it’ll eventually be at where I want it to go.
Q: Do you feel any responsibility as one of the most visible athletes going into the Games to potentially become involved in these world issues and be a spokesperson? Or do you feel that the Olympics isn’t a place for these issues [inaudible] how do you feel about your role?
MP: We’re very aware of what’s going on. Being able to go to the Games and experience that, for me, being an Olympian was always a dream of mine as a kid to go to the Games and represent my country, that’s what this year is about. For the athletes, it’s an Olympic year, so that’s what we’re preparing ourselves for and being able to go over there and race in China is something I look forward to.
Q: Who’s going to be your opponent you fear the most?
MP: It’s not one person, it’s people all over the world. From Chinese to Polish to Americans to Hungarians, Australians, it’s every country. It’s the competition that I love the most. Being able to race the best in the world is what I most look forward to. This is the Olympics. That’s where the best athletes are.
Q: Coach- [inaudible…] If you could choose to have trials – do they have an advantage?
BB: I love the trials because the athletes get a true test of what it’s going to be like at the Games. I like them being on one day and one event where there is no tomorrow. The timing is ideal. If you look at performances of last seven Games, we’ve improved on performances from trials and, at worst, maintained. I am happy with the trials.
Q: What is the greatest challenge to coaching a phenom like this?
BB: The biggest challenge with Michael is making sure I’m one step ahead of him. He has a keen understanding how my program operates and how it is put together. To keep it fresh I have to find ways to change it up so there is variety in it and I also have to find ways to keep him focused on the task at hand which is often monotonous laps in a pool which are necessary for success. It’s hard to keep that interesting.
Q: [Inaudible] – There is an Olympian at age 41… What will you be doing at 41?
MP: Not swimming. I have no idea what I’ll be doing. It’s weird to even think about. Hopefully I’ll get a degree from college but I don’t know what I’ll be doing at that time. My swimming career will be over by then.
Q: At this time four years ago you were getting used to your newfound fame. How has your life changed since then? Living away from the pool what do you do?
MP: Every now and then we’re recognized in public, but nothing too big. It’s kind of cool, as a kid I had always dreamt of that. Right now I’m more relaxed than I was in ’04 and going through everything in the past four years has helped me prepare better for these Games coming up and really understanding [what happens there]. Last time I was a deer in headlights and had never gotten that much attention from media or anything really. When I am away from the pool usually it’s on my couch watching TV playing video games and sleeping. I live a pretty boring life away from the pool.
Q: You’ve raised the bar so high that now you’re expected to set records. Do you ever feel you’ve set the bar so high that it’s hard on yourself and how do you get around that?
MP: I don’t think anything is too high. The only way to think that is if you put limits on yourself. The more you use your imagination the faster you go. If you think about doing the unthinkable you can. The sky is the limit. That’s one thing I’ve learned from Bob, anything is possible. I set very high goals for myself and I work hard to get there.
Q: People have looked at drops in times – swimming has escaped a lot of questions about doping, but would we be naïve to think it doesn’t happen?
MP: I like a clean sport. I get tested all the time and the only person I can worry about is myself. I know I’m clean and that’s all that matters.
Q: In what areas has Michael improved? Has there ever been a time, Michael, where you did find it hard to get motivated?
BB: The two areas where Michael has improved most is his physical strength, which is from a more intense training program since Athens. It gives him another element of power and speed to go with stamina. And also he has improved his breast stroke which was weak in Athens to being a strength of his which we saw in Melbourne.
MP: I’m not always motivated. There are days still, even recently. When I get tired and grouchy is the time I’m not always motivated and that’s the time where he [Bob] pushes me even harder. I have to force myself to go through something that is not comfortable so I can be ready for anything that comes my way. It’s not easy to get up early every day and go get in cold water but it’s times like that when you are negative, if I get that way, all I have to do is look at one of my past races or look at my goals and if I do look at those, they are what really get me back on track and refocused and ready to reach my goals and ready to get back to racing like I have in the past.
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