Queen Ledecky and King Phelps, Putting in the Work

Commentary by Casey Barrett From Caps and Goggles

Katie’s the best ever and Michael’s at his best since Beijing… while a slew of questions remain for the rest of Team USA…

Adjectives fail us. Her times are too much to comprehend. After the Worlds in Kazan, Katie Ledecky is the Olympic story for next year’s lead up to Rio. 8:07 in the 800. 15:25 in the mile. Gold across the board, from 200 to 1500. I grew up in the generation of Janet Evans, when her times were in a different stratosphere. Katie’s made Janet’s old unreachable standards look quaint. Nate Silver’s always brilliant 538 blog posted a collection of charts and analysis that helps put Ledecky’s swims into context. Though, when you watch her, nothing really can. All respect to Serena Williams and Ronda Rousey, but right now Katie Ledecky is the most dominant female athlete on earth.

Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Rossiya Segodnya

Then there’s Michael the GOAT, seated comfortably back on his watery throne. There’s been some criticism of Phelps on these pages in the past. Hopefully fair and warranted, but some of it harsh nonetheless. Now some heartfelt praise where it’s due: Phelps’s performance at the U.S. Nationals in San Antonio last week was astonishing.

I’ll call it his third best meet ever – after the 2007 World Champs in Melbourne and the bounty of Beijing in 2008. This from a guy who’s been competing on the world stage for over half his life, since the 2000 Games in Sydney when young Michael was 15. Based on times alone, his 2009 campaign was pretty impressive too. Indeed, his butterfly world records still stand from those ‘o9 Worlds in Rome. But those were done wearing the silly super suits. I think Bob Bowman and Phelps would both agree that his 50.4 and 1:52.9 in the fly last week were both better swims than his 49.8 and 1:51.5 in Rome.

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Though for all the awe that these times inspire, USA Swimming’s reigning queen and king are leading by doing something else more noteworthy: They’re both putting in the work. The legend of Katie Ledecky extends beyond the records and the podiums, it points to her daily workouts – where she makes it a habit of thrashing the guys (some of whom are Olympians themselves) and posting practice times that few humans, male or female, have ever approached. That’s always been Katie’s m.o., and it used to be Michael’s too. But at some point over the last seven years or so, Phelps started to coast. He was already coasting in 2009 in Rome, but by then his base was so great, his confidence so impenetrable, that he remained unbeatable. The coasting – not to mention the less than healthy extracurriculars – began to catch up to him. Only Phelps could win six medals, four gold, at one Games and seem like he was underachieving, but that’s exactly what happened in London.

Then there came the retirement, the lost way, the comeback – at first still coasting – and then that life-shaking DUI last September. He could have drifted away after that, his legacy as the all-time greatest long secured. He could have hired a full-time driver and continued partying and gambling and generally living the reckless carefree life lived by countless retired professional athletes. Instead, he got his s#!t together and he went back to work. Doing real work, the kind that breaks you down and results in slow mid-season times and plenty of doubt. The kind that prepares you for breakthroughs when you rest and step up when it counts. The kind of work that paid off for him last week at Nationals.

It’s the kind of work that has been missing from too many top American swimmers for too long. After the World Champs got off to a troubling start for Team USA, alarms were sounding all over pool decks across the country. Ledecky aside, something was clearly very wrong with the Americans in Russia. The New York Times called the team’s performance “listless.” I’ll called it lacking confidence. That’s always been the secret sauce for Team USA. They believe in their greatness, their own inevitable success, even when there’s little objective reason to. Perhaps it’s a clueless kind of arrogance, but it works. It’s based on all the past success that their countrymen and women have achieved in the pool, through all the decades. And it’s also based on something else – swimming in America has always been about putting in the work. There may be many paths to success, a million different ways to train, but there are no shortcuts. If you want to do nothing but quality work, always stay fresh, never have a tired in-season meet, go right ahead. You might be able to fool yourself for quite awhile. You might even be able to fool an entire short course yards career out of it. But you can’t fool yourself forever if your goal is world class long course swimming.

There was something missing from many Americans in Kazan, and it was that unshakeable confidence. The kind that comes from putting in the work, and knowing it.

This blog started four years ago with a piece entitled The Phelps Effect. Following the 2011 World Champs in Shanghai, it led with this question: Is the cupboard bare for Team USA? Back then I tried to outline that, aside from Phelps and Lochte, the Americans just weren’t very good overall at the moment and that there was something missing beyond the superstar surface. Needless to say, Team USA answered that challenge in London with a resounding total team success. Yet here we are four years later and the same questions remain. Phelps and Lochte remain the faces of the franchise for the men. While Katie Ledecky is currently the only American woman in 2015 with a number one world ranking and an individual world title to her name.

They’ll be better in Rio. There’s little doubt of that. And this isn’t to say that there aren’t scores of swimmers out there doing insane work and paying the prices that must be paid. There have also been major breakthroughs by monster talents just beginning to come into their own. Witness Ryan Murphy’s 52.1 in the 100 back, leading off that mixed medley relay. Witness Caleb Dressel’s 21.5 in the 50 at Nationals – at age 18. Check out Katie Meili’s 1:05.6 in the 100 breast at Pan Ams in Toronto. Or the fact that six of the top twelve 2oo IMer’s on earth are American women.

No one despaired four years ago in the lead up to London, and few should be shaken now. However, with Michael now in his 30s and back on the prosperous path, the Phelps Effect remains.

As for Ledecky, Serena and Ms. Rousey should be paying their respects.

The above commentary is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.

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21 Comments

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Bill Bell

8 years ago

Still think your ” fellow” Trojan is on the sauce?

Chrissy Palmisano Urian

8 years ago

Love this article. Good advice for all athletes.

Chrissy Palmisano Urian

8 years ago

Love this article. Good advice for all athletes.

Yossi Lugassi

8 years ago

…and princess franklin obviously 😉

Viet Nu

8 years ago

Reply to Yossi Lugassi

yes. i love Franklin. she always smile.

Steve

8 years ago

I didn’t think Phelps was wearing a tech suit when he set the records in ’09. His sponsor didn’t produce tech suits. I specifically remember after he won the 100 fly, pulling on the front of his swimming suit as if to say, “And I did it without a tech suit!”

ARA

8 years ago

Reply to Steve

Phelps was wearing the LZR, so not a polyurethane suit like some others, but a tech suit that would be outlawed nonetheless.

Steve

8 years ago

Reply to Steve

Thanks for the clarification on Phelps’s suit in the 2009 Championships! I knew Biedermann had a superior suit which allowed him to beat Phelps in the 200 free, but didn’t realize Phelps’s LZR was also considered a “tech” suit.

Andree Reed

8 years ago

Great!

Becky Lambert Schoeppner

8 years ago

Love!!

Swimming Winner

8 years ago

Who else loves this

Moni De Narvaez

8 years ago

Wow

Tuan Tran

8 years ago

Jenelle Proudlock

8 years ago

We love you Katie from Australia

Atef Swimming Usb

8 years ago

good look

Bill V.

8 years ago

Yes to putting in the work.
No to referring to swimmers as royalty.

Coach Mike 1952

8 years ago

Reply to Bill V.

Agreed. Also, what’s the evidence by the author of this article for the comment “It’s the kind of work that has been missing from too many top American swimmers for too long.”?

Caitlin Garrison

8 years ago

Reply to Coach Mike 1952

Yeah Coach Mike, I was wondering where that evidence was myself. Maybe could be found in the same place as the evidence about Katinka Hosszu and her amazing races, eh Mr. Barrett?

Betsy Huebert Connelly Brown

8 years ago

Always look forward to the Summer Olympics and the swimming events!

Kaden

8 years ago

How much do we really know about how these athletes are training? So let’s not criticize(phelps section “coasting”).

Jordie Knisely

8 years ago

Please look closely at this horrible photoshop travesty. They didn’t even delete the old backgrounds between his arms or her fingers.