The Week That Was: USA Swimming Hosts Annual Golden Goggle Awards In NYC

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Photo Courtesy: David Rieder

This week was highlighted by USA Swimming’s annual Golden Goggle Awards in New York City. Read below to see who the big winners were and catch up on the swimming world’s news during this Thanksgiving week in The Week That Was!

The Week That Was #4 – Steffen Deibler Announces Retirement

Photo Courtesy: Azaria Basile

Photo Courtesy: Azaria Basile

Germany’s Steffen Deibler announced his retirement this week through a Facebook post. The 29 year-old is the current world record holder in the short course meter 50 butterfly, a record he set back in November of 2009. Deibler competed in three Olympic Games: 2008, 2012, and 2016. His best Olympic finish came in the men’s 100 butterfly in London, where he finished fourth. The German found more success in the short course pool, which included four gold medals at the 2010 European Short Course Championships. All told, Deibler won 14 European Short Course Championship medals throughout his career. Steffen’s younger brother, Markus, competed alongside him at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. Deibler expressed a desire to start a new chapter of his life and expressed gratitude to all of those who supported him throughout his career.

The Week That Was #3 – Winter Nationals Psych Sheets Released

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Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

USA Swimming released the psych sheets for the 2016 Winter Nationals this week, an event that mix Olympians and top tier NCAA swimmers together in the short course pool at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The meet will take place Nov. 30 – Dec. 3 and will feature 6 U.S. Olympians, including Florida junior Caeleb Dressel who will be returning to the site of his record breaking NCAA performance last March. Other U.S. Olympians will include Kevin Cordes (2016), Melanie Margalis (2016), Tom Shields (2016), Amanda Weir (2004, 2008, 2016), and Breeja Larson (2012). The meet will also feature several Division I programs from across the country, including Florida, North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio State, Minnesota. Click here to view the full psych sheet for the meet.

The Week That Was

The Week That Was #2 – Michael Phelps Confirms Remove From USADA Testing

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Photo Courtesy: David Rieder

At last week’s Golden Goggle Awards in New York City, Michael Phelps confirmed to reporters that he had made his retirement official by withdrawing himself from the USADA Drug Testing pool. This is often seen as a major step toward retirement, as it takes nine months of testing up re-entering the pool to be eligible again for competition. While he had stated publicly many times that the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games would be his last, we’ve heard Michael Phelps sing that song before. Four years ago, London 2012 was seen as the Olympic legend’s last Games, with Phelps’ also taking himself out of the USADA testing pool following those Games. He re-entered the pool in early 2013 to return to competition in 2014 and make a historic run for a fifth Olympic Team. Phelps seemed to dispel any thoughts that he would do that again, however, telling reporters, “I’m still not coming back.” If this retirement sticks, Phelps will complete his career with an incredible 28 Olympic medals, with a staggering 23 of them gold.

The Week That Was #1 – 2016 Golden Goggle Awards

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Photo Courtesy: David Rieder

Speaking of Michael Phelps, he was one of the major award winners at the 2016 Golden Goggle Awards in New York City last weekend. The GOAT took home four awards at the event, including the Impact Award, Relay of the Year, Male Race of the Year, and the Male Athlete of the Year. The annual awards show brings together the best of USA Swimming to honor athletes and their performances throughout the year. Rowdy Gaines was the host of this year’s event, which included a total of 10 awards. The other award winners included Simone Manuel (Female Race of the Year), Elizabeth Beisel (Team Leadership and Inspiration Award), Lilly King (Breakout Performer of the Year), Anthony Ervin (Perseverance Award), Dave Durden (Coach of the Year), and Katie Ledecky (Female Athlete of the Year). The Relay of the Year Award was given to the men’s 4 x 100 free relay, which included Ryan Held, Caeleb Dressel, and Nathan Adrian in addition to Phelps. You can see a full recap of the event from our live coverage page.

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