|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
U.S. TEAM OLYMPIC TRIALS: SWIMMINGJuly 1, 2012Bob BowmanMichael PhelpsOMAHA, NEBRASKA THE MODERATOR: We have Michael Phelps. Q. Talk about the difference between four years ago and heading to Beijing and this time around. MICHAEL PHELPS: I think the only thing that's different in my eyes, really, is this is my last one on American soil, my last Olympic Trials swim. That's it. It's kind of weird. Bob and I, when we walked into the pool, we said this was our last Olympic Trials swim, and it's crazy to think about 12 years ago I made my first team, and I was standing there watching Katie tonight, and same kind of thing, she went out there and put it on the line and swam a great race. Definitely a lot of memories and I guess emotions running through my head. Q. Michael, you've always been motivated by challenges, and Ryan obviously put up challenges this week. There was discussion about it leading up to this event. How do you use that? How much did you enjoy it? Bob, can you talk about did you use that as motivation? MICHAEL PHELPS: I always love competition. I'm always a fan of quotes, statements, whatever you want to say they are. So it was a fun week, and I guess same thing, I want to try not to play cat and mouse over the next three weeks and try to swim my own races, and you can probably count on there will be some other close races in the next couple of weeks. BOB BOWMAN: (Away from mic.) MICHAEL PHELPS: Like Summer said earlier, no more‑‑ and I thought about Ian Crocker's 1/100th of a second, and I'm going to keep him over the 1/10th barrier. BOB BOWMAN: That would be nice. We mainly focused on trying to make him the best he could be. Even though I see some things in the Google search that comes up, I'll pass them on to him, I think they might fire him up a little bit, but it's not a big part of the program. We're mainly focused on trying to correct things that he needs to correct and sort of work on things that we think will make him fast in the meet. Q. Michael, can you talk about the program? Will there be any scratches? And Ryan talked about that he wasn't fully tapered, rested for this meet. Where were you as far as your conditioning? He said he used it as a training meet. MICHAEL PHELPS: I don't have anything to do with that; that's his call. He takes care of all of that. It's just going to be what we think we can do. Once we move forward and we start training, we'll know exactly what we're going to be able to handle at that level, a high competition level. Like I said to you guys before, over the last four years, I haven't really done anything, so I haven't been able to handle too much. So being able to handle or have what happened this week shows I can handle a little more, but there are still some things that need to be perfected over the next couple of weeks. Bob and I know what those are. BOB BOWMAN: I think we have to talk about the program. I wanted him to get through tonight so we could see how it went, and we'll decide what he should do. I don't think‑‑ one of the things that I can answer is he is definitely not fully rested for this. He wasn't sharp here, he didn't feel like he had any speed, so I love that he did some decent times and there is room for improvement. Q. Michael, as you mentioned, you have had three close races here. It's likely that there will be close races again, and you have a great record in getting those on your side. What is it that you concentrate on in the last 10 meters of the race that gets you to the wall first? MICHAEL PHELPS: The easiest thing to say is hitting the finish. I think one thing that we do a lot of in workout is working on stroke control and counting strokes, and I know how many strokes I take for each lap. Ever since 2008 200 Fly in Beijing when I pretty much swam blind the whole race, I find myself in a pattern of counting every butterfly, especially. I count every stroke. It's just sort of‑‑ I know what I do, and it just happens, I just hit the wall. I want to see tonight‑‑ I haven't seen the have from tonight's race but Bob said the glide was‑‑ BOB BOWMAN: He glided but it was a smart glide. Unlike Beijing, if he had taken a stroke here, he would have been beaten. MICHAEL PHELPS: So I want to look at that and see. I trust him, but I like to see it for myself. BOB BOWMAN: He always likes to see it for himself. MICHAEL PHELPS: I didn't know if that was the right decision, but once you make that decision you have to go with it. Q. What are your expectations in London with only being three medals away from the all‑time record? MICHAEL PHELPS: The goals I have, and that's the only thing I have in my head. I can ask you guys what your expectations are for me. I'm sure I will read about it. (Laughter.) The goals that I have are something that are exciting for me and something to make me motivated. Being able to come here and have the week that I did I was very pleased with, but watching the races there are a lot of things that I can improve on, and like Bob said, I told him‑‑ we were texting each other the other night and he asked me how I felt, and I told him, "I don't feel as peppy as I usually do at big meets," and he was asking why that was, and I said, "I don't know." BOB BOWMAN: I know why that is. MICHAEL PHELPS: So like I said, I leave everything up to him trainingwise and preparing me. He's done an amazing job for my career, and I trust him fully. We will work on things over the next couple of weeks and hopefully they will make a difference in London. Q. You obviously have found success in multiple events in the Olympics. I wonder if you could talk about Missy, what she is doing right now, going to the Olympic Games. MICHAEL PHELPS: Not only for Missy, but for our whole team. We have so many young people on the team. I was walking past one of the swimmers after they made the team and jumping up and down crying, so excited. That's awesome to see, and I think it's going to be amazing for us to have on the team that level of excitement. You know, I remember when I made my first team it was the coolest feeling in the world. So I think for‑‑ I don't want to call myself "old" but for the old guys we will be able to use their energy and get a little more fired up. I think our team is going to be great, and Missy, coming into a meet like this, it is very stressful and challenging, and this being her first Olympic Trials, I think she did a great job. With the double and the triples or‑‑ 15,000 events she was always running back and forth, she handled herself great. I think the biggest thing when you're swimming events like that is controlling your energy both emotionally and physically. A week like that, there are so many warm‑downs, warm‑ups, recovery, takes a lot out of you. She seemed to do a great job, and I think she was right after me the other night in the ice tub, and she was asking how it was, and I think my toes were cold for an hour after I got out, and I'm sure she felt the same way, but she is on top of things, and I think it's going to be amazing for her to come back in a couple of weeks and do the same thing if not better. Q. Michael, you said you weren't feeling as peppy in the event as you had. Are you feeling as passionate about the Olympics as you had, and are you aiming for eight events? MICHAEL PHELPS: Yeah, I'm still excited about the Olympics. It's the biggest stage to perform at. You get to go out and wear the star and stripes and the red, white and blue, so, yes, to be able to be an Olympian, not many people can say that, and I think that's something that I will be able to say for the rest of my life. The experiences that I have had not only being on the National Team but also the Olympic Team have changed my life. I'm looking forward to‑‑ saying this makes me feel really old. It's nuts! It's going to be fun, and I'm looking forward to it. BOB BOWMAN: Right now we're looking forward to dinner. MICHAEL PHELPS: It's not cold in here tonight, which is good. Q. Bob, considering what the last four years, things that went on or didn't go on and the fact that it's already been done, is this almost to you more impressive? BOB BOWMAN: It's impressive that he's here at all, in some aspects, that he would feel desire to come back and lay himself out there, particularly with a program like this. So, yeah, I think it's a tremendous statement about his ability to compete and also about his desire to promote the sport of swimming, which I think was a big part of this. As you can see, it's working. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, and congratulations, Michael and Bob. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|