Rowdy Gaines: USA Swimming ‘Rudderless,’ American Team ‘Far From Killing It’ at Worlds
The American team has struggled compared to expectations at the World Championships after most of the team contracted acute gastroenteritis at the conclusion of their training camp. In response, Olympic gold medalist and NBC Sports commentator Rowdy Gaines has become the latest big-name figure in the sport to criticize USA Swimming and call for change.
Gaines attributing the struggles in part to well-publicized issues within the organization, in particular the organization failing to find a CEO to replace Tim Hinchey, who resigned last August. In an interview with the Associated Press, Gaines called USA Swimming “rudderless” and asked, “Can you imagine any corporation going for a year without a CEO?”
Gaines believes that inserting new, strong leadership from the top of the organization will help steer the U.S. team toward better results by the time the Los Angeles Olympics begin in 2028. “I do think changes need to be made, there needs to be a complete reset,” he said “But I don’t think the sky is falling. But there needs to be some great leadership. Whoever they hire as CEO needs to be the leader that is sorely needed.”
Illness has been cited as the cause for poor performances for many American swimmers at these World Championships. The swimmers have recovered at varying rates, with many losing significant strength and endurance as they struggled to consume calories and maintain their regular workouts. But Gaines connected these setbacks to similarly-rough performances at major meets in recent years. The Americans lost the gold-medal count to Australia at the 2023 Worlds and then finished with only eight gold medals in Paris, their lowest total since 1988.
“We’re far from killing it,” Gaines told the AP. “It’s a major struggle and we can’t hide our heads in the sand and say this is just a blip.”
Gaines did offer praise for Greg Meehan, who was appointed as national team director in April. He believes Meehan simply needs time to make his impression on the national team division, but for this ongoing World Championships, “he’s just walking into a bit of a landmine.”
The interview contained a quote from Gaines describing “an entitlement for a lot of these kids.” Gaines told Swimming World that he was not describing a widespread attitude problem but an outdated expectation of being able to cruise through preliminary and semifinal rounds with no concern. Rough performances in early rounds have kept several swimmers from advancing, and the team assembled for the U.S. mixed 400 medley relay was unable to finish in the top-eight.
“I think there needs to be a more focused attitude on the task at hand,” Gaines said. He later clarified to Swimming World that he believes this focus must come from team leadership.
Gaines also expressed displeasure with USA Swimming picking Phuket, Thailand, as the team’s pre-meet training camp destination. It was there that swimmers originally picked up the virus that has spread throughout the group. He did express optimism for the future of the American team between the women’s squad that has won a medal in every event thus far in Singapore and a men’s group with emerging stars such as 200 butterfly world champion Luca Urlando.
These comments come just one day after all-time American swimming greats Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte shared an AI-generated image of a gravestone for USA Swimming. The duo claimed that the organization once had a “high bar” but “stopped reaching for it.”
