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U.S. TEAM OLYMPIC TRIALS: SWIMMING


June 27, 2012


Bob Bowman

Michael Phelps


OMAHA, NEBRASKA

THE MODERATOR:  We're going to get started.

Q.  Michael, could you take us through the race, the 200 Free?
MICHAEL PHELPS:  After watching the semifinal last night, there were a couple of things that were pretty terrible.  Getting in and out of the turns were pretty bad.  Ryan seemed to pick up a lot of time off the walls yesterday, and I thought we were taking it out faster, but clearly we were still out fairly slow tonight.
It was a pretty slow 200, so I just wanted to try to step on it and try to nail a finish, but also try to build speed going in and coming out of my walls.
They were a little better but still not where they should be.  I guess coming into the wall, I just kept saying to myself, "Put my head down," because last night my he had was‑‑
BOB BOWMAN:  Up.
MICHAEL PHELPS:  ‑‑ looking at the scoreboard about 5 meters out from the wall, so I definitely wanted to correct that.

Q.  Michael, one of your big opponents in London on the 200 free is going to be Paul Biedermann.  What do you expect from him?
MICHAEL PHELPS:  Like I said, I was pretty upset with the time.  It was pretty slow.  I think I swam faster than that earlier in the year.
BOB BOWMAN:  Yeah.
MICHAEL PHELPS:  Keennan just said one of the GrandPrixes I went 1:45.6, so the time was slow.  It's not only Paul but Tae‑Hwan and any number of people out there that are going to be tough in that race.
In my eyes, 1:45.7 is not going to make the medal podium.

Q.  Ryan has said, as you are well aware, "This is my time."  I know top‑two get to the Olympics, but how important it was for you to remind everybody it's also your time?
MICHAEL PHELPS:  I mean, you guys have heard me say this so many times, neither one of us likes to lose.  I think the biggest thing is you never say never, because anything can happen at any given day.  We're going to have a lot of races like that, over the next couple of weeks and probably a couple more this week.  That's how it seems to shake out whenever we're in the water.
I think one of the things that I always do is I race as hard as I can in the pool.  I race from start to finish of a race, and I never let up.

Q.  Michael, Ricky Berens was probably the closest thing to a pure sprinter in the field tonight.  Would it have been nice for you to have, for lack of a better word, a rabbit out there to set the pace?  Can you talk about the makeup of that?
MICHAEL PHELPS:  When I think of the 200 Free I think back to the Olympics in 2008.  I always like to set the pace as much as I can.  Ryan said to me up on the award‑‑ I don't know what you call that‑‑ whatever that thing is‑‑
BOB BOWMAN:  Floor?
MICHAEL PHELPS:  He said "I guess we're going to have to take it out a lot faster."
So we both knew that we were out fairly slow.
              I find that when we're next to each other we kind of play cat and mouse, you know, like we don't just sort of jump out after it.  I guess, like we have in the past, we kind of see what each other does and play it out by feel the first couple of laps, and then when it comes down to we just put every ounce of energy into the last 50 that we can and need to.

Q.  Going off topic from tonight a little bit, working myself with college athletes for years you two have a unique relationship.  A lot of college athletes have a mediocre to negative relationship with their coach, often, and good relationships are few.  Can you comment on your relationship and what advice you might give to other athletes and coaches about their relationships?  (Laughter.)
MICHAEL PHELPS:  We have a great relationship.  Obviously we have our days on and off where we're‑‑ we can get at each other, but I think the biggest thing is we're both very passionate people, and that's why we've worked so well together over the last couple of‑‑ well, long time, geez.
BOB BOWMAN:  Decades!
MICHAEL PHELPS:  But, yeah, we both love what we do and we want to be the best that we can.  I trust him and when I was 11 years old I trusted him.  I don't know why I did then but I did.
BOB BOWMAN:  You were brave!
MICHAEL PHELPS:  It works, and it's worked in the past.  I have full trust in him, and he has been the one person that's got me where I am today.  He's the best coach for me.
BOB BOWMAN:  I would say that the reason we have done so well together is that we are both absolutely honest with each other all the time.
MICHAEL PHELPS:  More now than we were before.
BOB BOWMAN:  Pretty much, we've always pretty much laid it‑‑ we know exactly where each other stands at all times.  That can mean some fire works sometimes because neither one of us likes to back down on anything, but I think that's the deal.  We don't really play any games.  We just keep it simple.
I wanted to comment on that previous question because I've seen it here, can't imagine how it got to this situation, but now Ryan and Michael when they're next to each other they are so focused on racing each other, they do stuff like tonight, not take it out so fast, because tonight Michael got ahead, and he was like, "Well, I'm ahead of Ryan, I'm okay," and then Ryan is just waiting to make his move, and he makes his move and they do the cat and mouse stuff, and in the process of that they forgot to swim fast.  Thanks guys, I appreciate that.  You helped us along with that!  (Laughter.)

Q.  Along the lines of what Bob was saying, I'm wondering if the cat and mouse thing is a sign of mutual respect for the other guy's abilities?  And yesterday you said you would have preferred to be in lane three so when you were breathing you could see him.  Were you tracking him even though he was on the other side of you?
MICHAEL PHELPS:  I think every race I track where everybody is.  Yeah, and I feel more comfortable breathing toward the right looking at everybody the last 50.  So I like that side of the pool for freestyle.
It is what it is.  I put myself in that spot so I just tried to, like I said, put myself in a good position going the last 50 and tried to stay under water and had a good finish.  We have a great field, and I think it's going to be interesting and exciting to have some of those guys on that relay.  We're going to have some fresh faces and it will be good to get some of those guys up there and put a good team together.
THE MODERATOR:  Thank you, Bob and Michael, congratulations.

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