20 years ago today, the sport of swimming changed forever.
On the 3rd day of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, there were 3 Olympic Records broken, and a World Record tied by Pieter van den Hoogenband in the 200 free final. But none of those swims are the pinnacle moment of history that I’m referring to.
Rather, it was a simple preliminary heats swim by a 15-year old named Michael Phelps that will most make September 18, 2000 remembered in swimming. He won his heat, cruising to a comfortable 1:57.30, and qualified 3rd from the semi-finals.
A day later, Phelps would actually miss the podium altogether in his first Olympic final, finishing 5th. And yet, in spite of not a medal to show for his effort, that day 20 years ago was the day that launched the most storied Olympic career in history. That’s a career that would eventually see 23 Olympic gold medals and 28 total medals across 5 Olympic Games.
But Phelps’ career was more than the medals and records, though it was plentiful there. It showed what a swimmer, and what swimming, could be in the increasingly-crowded modern landscape of professional sports in the western world.
Phelps got paid. Phelps was highly visible, even between Olympic years. It wasn’t all glowing reviews all the time outside of the pool, but when Phelps got in trouble, people cared, when Phelps thrived, people cared, and even after he’s gone, when Phelps speaks, people care.
A transcendent figure in the sport of swimming, he showed that an athlete in a sport where the pinnacle is the Olympic Games could be one of the biggest sports stars in the world. He paved the path that has since been followed by the likes of Usain Bolt and Simone Biles to the land beyond the niches of Olympism.
Everything big development in the professionalism of swimmingthat we see today owes a huge debt of grattitude to what Phelps accomplished. The Olympic Trials being held in basketball arenas, not permanent swimming halls; the glimmers of hope and possibility in the International Swimming League; and even your favorite swimming website, SwimSwam.com, probably wouldn’t be what they are today without what Phelps brought to the sport.
There was swimming before Phelps, but since this date 20 years ago, it’s never been quite the same. His first Olympic swim wasn’t an eruption, per se, on its own, but it was the first glimmer of an oncoming explosion quite unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.
Michael Phelps‘ First Olympic Race:
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Great article.
Well written.
And yes SWIMSWAM would probobly not be here without Michael’s economic ‘stimulus package’.
What I am left with more than anything is an image from a mental health awareness commercial where Michael is sitting in an empty pool on a chair with this incredible message of reachout.
Thankyou Tom Shields so much.
Swimming is a great sport but lets face it it is a masochistic lonely ride at times that I personally survived and excelled in only because of the incredible teamates and coaches.
Peace and Love to all of you and Michael thankyou!
We both are Meadows ‘survivors’.
The real shift was Phelps/Bowman deciding to go all-in exclusively on the LCM and the Olympics. No elite American swimmer had ever (or since) decided to screw NCAAs and SCY and just go for LCM WRs and Olympic glory.
If he did it and no one has done it since, how can you call it “the real shift”? If no one has done it since, what has shifted?
Sydney was not about Phelps at all!
People who don’t swim yet know his name. This is what he has done for us.
Thanks for the reminder we’re not having an Olympics right now.
It’s mid-September. We almost never have the Olympics right now. If didn’t have the pandemic, we would have had an Olympics . . . 6 weeks ago.
Yeah, but we’d still be talking about Lochte and a gas station.
Still have this on VHS somewhere….
And yet he became a mentally ill alcoholic. Role model. Paved the way for alcoholic Ryan Lochte and mentally ill Alison Schmitt. And USA Swimming’s beer sponsor. Yep, swimming has never been the same.
…you ok?
Don’t see what the issue is here. It’s all true. Phelps has been dining out on his mental health issues and ongoing rehabilitation. He has an endorsement from, makes commercials for and perhaps has an ownership share of a mental health provider company, and he produced an HBO movie on his mental health issues and those of other Olympians. Lochte and Schmitt are both open about receiving advice from Phelps. He has been arrested at least twice for DUI infractions. Should that just be ignored for hagiography purposes? Phelps wants to be remembered for his mental health work.
You are completely delusional to ignore what he’d done for the sport…..not to mention his story of turning his life around and end his career on a high note.
How TF does this have 32 ups? This is fu**ed!