Bobby Finke Hits Back at ‘Stupid’ Criticism of U.S. at World Championships
Olympic champion Bobby Finke is the latest American to hit back at criticism of the United States’ performance at the World Championships, calling it “weak” and “stupid.”
Finke has defended the performance of Team USA, which dealt with a team-wide outbreak of acute gastroenteritis at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. He capped the meet Sunday with a bronze medal in the men’s 1,500 freestyle. It’s an echo of the Paris Olympics, when his gold (in a world record) saved the American men blushes as its first and only individual Olympic gold medal.
“There’s a lot of people who want to comment on what they think is going on behind the scenes, and some of what they said is true,” Finke said. “We should probably have a USA Swimming CEO by now, but it’s not going to change how we’re going to compete here. And personally, I have to disagree with what some say, that our swimmers are entitled. I think that’s a weak statement.”
The U.S.’s world record medley relay of Regan Smith, Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
The U.S. got criticism from all sides. Ryan Lochte posted a meme on social media showing a gravestone with USA Swimming’s name on it, indicate the death of the program as the world leader in swimming. No less a legend than Michael Phelps reposted it. Olympic gold medalist and NBC commentator called USA Swimming “rudderless,” alluding to a CEO search that is nearing its first birthday.
The U.S. has also struggled in the pool. The once-vaunted American men’s team won six individual medals in Paris, with Finke’s gold augmented by two silver and three bronze. They won gold in the 400 free relay and silver in the medley and 800 free.
Singapore got off to a disastrous start, with two gold medals from the first three days of competition. But the U.S. rallied to top the medal table with nine gold (one more than Australia), 11 silver and nine bronze for 29 total. Most of that was on the women’s side, accounting for 18 medals (seven gold, eight silver, five bronze).
“We definitely heard about that, and that’s really disappointing,” said Jack Alexy, who won bronze in the 50 free, silver in the 100 and anchored the men’s medley relay to bronze. “As I said, there’s a standard of excellence for this team and when we don’t meet that standard 100% of the time there’s going to be some criticisms and that just motivates us for the future. I think it fired us up a little bit and it’s going to motivate us for the future.”
Finke is one of many who have clapped back at the criticism. Lilly King pointed out on social media, after an impressive Night 6, that Phelps and Lochte were quiet that day, tagging both on Instagram. Regan Smith’s post-Singapore Instagram post was captioned “USA Swimming is alive and well” after she was part of a world-record-setting 400 medley relay. (Smith won relay gold plus four individual silvers in another excellent meet.)
“It’s not over till it’s over,” Smith said after the medley relay. “I’d say Team USA always knows how to finish with a bang. And I think it just sends a really positive message out to the viewers at home who didn’t really believe in us. This is the beginning of a very long quad, and it’s going to be a very successful quad, and we prove that we had a higher gold medal tally than we had in Fukuoka under insanely terrible circumstances, to put it bluntly. So I’m so excited for our future.”
“I don’t understand why people are mad,” Finke said after his bronze, which came after he’d finished a distant fourth in the 800 free. “We went to Thailand too, that resort had a very good history of stuff. And I don’t think it was the resort’s fault. It’s just, you can’t predict everything that’s going to happen. Shit’s going to happen. That resort’s got a great reputation. It’s like, why not go there?
“You’re never going to win with those people. So I have a lot of thoughts. My brain has just been spiraling. I’m just disappointed, but I’m going to back these boys no matter what they say.”
