Michael Phelps is right. The failure of American swimming is deeper than medals | Swimming

IOver three years, the LA Olympic swimming program will unfold nine days and nights on the sport’s most grand stage ever. Inglewood 38,000 capacity open air natureturning the $5 billion homeland of NFL Rams and Chargers into the largest swimming place in modern history. For the United States, a rare summer match on the ground should be a coronation ceremony, an opportunity to showcase its talents in the country’s most spectacular arena. However, Michael Phelps is one of the most popular Olympic athletes, and he fears the U.S. swimming program doesn’t catch the moment.

Phelps Has launched a withered attack Under the leadership of Swimming in the United States, it accused it of “weak” management, “poor operational control” and presided over the organizational drift for years. The Olympic gold medalist has won 23 times, and he will think twice before he can let his son join the system in his current state. He said his concerns can be traced back to his own competitive career, when athletes’ voices were often thrown aside in the name of maintaining peace and presenting a united front. “It’s not on the athletes,” he wrote. In lengthy Instagram statements. “This is the leader of American swimming.”

What he saw was cultural and structural competitiveness. In 2016, Phelps was part of a swimming team in Rio, and his measure was “arguably the most successful in the sport’s history”, winning 57% of the medals available in the pool. Eight years later, in Paris, that percentage dropped to 44%, the lowest stake in the U.S. since the 1988 Olympics – he cited evidence of the widening of the cracks in the system. He sent an open letter to the United States earlier this year swimHe said it was ignored that it was signed by other medal winners, world record people, coaches and staff. His prescription is clear: independent review of the board, improved athlete services and new grassroots investments to reverse membership.

Other great people share his alert. Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte A meme was recently releasedalso shared by Phelps, swims the United States into a corpse, while three-time Olympic champion and NBC analyst Rowdy Gaines has revealed his concerns In a specially edited Swimming World Magazine. Gaines called the organization’s one-year CEO “ineffective leadership” for the worst. He warned Nine gold medals on the desktop Winning at the World Championships in Singapore this summer – though serious Gastritis outbreak This seriously hurts the U.S. team – “the deeper structural problems under the surface” should not be masked. Both view Los Angeles 2028 as a deadline: the last chance to fix the system before the Inglewood lights rise.

It is worth noting that Phelps’ wide edges do not directly solve the most destructive areas of swimming in the United States Recent History: Dealing with sexual abuse, harassment and athlete handling. Earlier this year, the upcoming CEO Chrissi Rawak resigned just nine days later, when the organization learned from her coaching days that she had filed an undisclosed Safeport complaint against her. The center of the US SafeSport itself has been dealing with such allegations Continuous turmoil: In the review of employment practices, its own CEO was dismissed, including investigators He was later charged There are multiple sexual offences, including rape, sexual trafficking and solicitation of prostitution. Survivors reported that through the flawed investigation report reposted, their trust in SafeSport and the review process for U.S. swimming remains fragile at best, if not irreparable.

These disputes form an unspoken backdrop to the governance issues of Phelps and Gaines. Their focus is on performance, leadership, and resources, but the weaknesses they describe – negligence, slow action, lack of accountability – critics have long identified the same flaws in organizing the handling of abuse cases. If American swimming cannot convincingly solve both sets of problems, the sport risks reaching a once-in-a-lifetime home gaming platform, not only having a competitive deficit, but also a credibility deficit.

The Family Olympics are an extraordinary moment for any sport. For American swimming, Los Angeles 2028 offers the opportunity to inspire a new generation, enhance grassroots participation and consolidate the sport’s position in the crowded American sports landscape. As Gaines points out, this is also a single opportunity: Missing it can lose momentum for decades. That’s why there is a lack of a clear vision, especially a permanent leader, involving those who understand both the bet and the clock. Sofi Stadium may promise the grandest stage in Olympic history, but whether American swimming will be ready for it remains an open question.