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David Johnston of the United States competes in the men's 1500-meter freestyle heats at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. (AP Photo)
Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte have roasted USA Swimming’s performance at the ongoing Swimming World Championships in Singapore by posting a meme of a funeral. USA are currently third in the Aquatics World Championship medals table with just six golds out of 23 medals. The medals table is led by China, who have claimed a whopping 14 golds in their tally of 31 medals. Australia are second in the standings with nine golds and 20 medals overall.
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This is worrying news for USA, who are hosting the next Olympics at Los Angeles in 2028, who have been a giant in the pool. But in recent years, this domination has started to wane. The Americans were underwhelming at the Paris Olympics last year where they led the medals table, but won only eight gold medals, the lowest total since the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Coming into the World Championships in Singapore, Team USA has been battling a case of “acute gastroenteritis”, which was picked up at training camp in Thailand. While the official number of athletes affected by the issue was not released by USOPC, it seems to have had an effect on results. But outside the pool too, there are issues for USA Swimming, with the American governing body for swimming not having a CEO for a year now. Tim Hinchey resigned as the CEO a year ago. He was replaced by Chrissi Rawak, who stepped down after just a few days.
This under-par performance in Singapore has not gone too well with American swimming legends like Phelps and Lochte, who have taken to Instagram to make their displeasure known.
It was six-time Olympic gold medallist Lochte who initially shared a meme on his Instagram Stories on Friday depicting a funeral where a tombstone was inscribed with the words: “In loving memory of United States Swimming.”
“They set the bar high — until they stopped reaching for it,” the inscription also said.
To this, Lochte added the caption: “Call it a funeral or call it a fresh start. We’ve got 3 years.”
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Phelps too shared the meme on his Instagram handle with the caption: “Is this the wake-up call USA swimming needed?”
Rowdy Gaines, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, also did not mince words when he spoke to The Associated Press.
Gaines called the body ”rudderless.”
“Can you imagine any corporation going for a year without a CEO?” Gaines asked. “We’re far from killing it. It’s a major struggle and we can’t hide our heads in the sand and say this is just a blip.”
(With inputs from AP)
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