“Such competitive people,” she said of the United States. “It’s fine if Australia comes out on top, but it’s even better if they beat the USA.” She said she was tired of the Americans ringing “hellish” cowbells and chanting “USA! USA!” and was happy she wouldn’t have to hear “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the medal ceremony. “Win Paris,” she concluded. “That’s all I want to say to the USA.”
About 11 months later, Paris is essentially here.
The U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials concluded on a high note at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday night, with Simone Manuel and Bobby Finke winning the final two events, the women’s 50-meter freestyle and the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle. For the 46 swimmers selected to represent the United States (26 men, 20 women), attention will soon turn to the Paris Olympics and the Australians who await them at the Paris-La Defense Arena.
On Sunday night, in the tournament’s sparsest final, held for the first time at an NFL stadium, five-time Olympic medalist Manuel defeated Gretchen Walsh in the 50-meter freestyle, 24.13 to 24.15 seconds. It was a repeat of the 2021 trials, when Manuel, who had struggled to perform to her full potential while battling a condition called overtraining syndrome, persevered to win the 50-meter freestyle and make the team in the women’s final race of the tournament.
Manuel, who has already been selected for this year’s national team as a relay swimmer, said Sunday night that she was feeling unsure after her mediocre performance in Saturday night’s semifinals, but that she had rewatched old race videos of herself at the peak of her career. “I really wanted to emulate Simone, because I know I’m a winner,” she said.
In the men’s 1500m, Finke, a two-time gold medalist at Tokyo 2021, pulled away from his competitors as usual in 14:40.28, but the drama came over who would come in second for the team. David Johnston (14:52.74), who narrowly missed out on qualifying after coming third and fourth in the other two finals here, held off a fierce charge from Luke Whitlock to take second place by 0.26 seconds.
“I had to fight as hard as I could to get there,” Johnston said. “I’m glad I made it to the tournament. I told my dad, ‘I’m in the football stadium and I’m down 2-0, so I’m going to throw a Hail Mary.’
The U.S. team is packed with title-winning legends — Katie Ledecky, Caleb Dressel, Ryan Murphy and Manuel — and precocious debutantes. The category also includes up-and-coming sprinters Walsh and Chris Juliano, and 17-year-old butterfly swimmer Thomas Heilmann, the youngest American man to make the team in 24 years. Multi-stroke standout Kate Douglas, who could compete in six events in Paris, looks to be one of the American breakout stars at the Olympics.
American athletes like to say the Olympic Trials are tougher and more mentally demanding than the Summer Olympics, but what awaits the athletes in Paris is sure to be at least as tough a test of mental fortitude. They’re no longer competing against each other, but against a doping-embattled Chinese team, a host of international stars looking to make a breakthrough, and, of course, the Australians.
Australia held its swimming preliminaries a week before the U.S. Games, which gave the Americans a convenient benchmark by which to measure their performance here. The results were promising. When the times from Brisbane and Indianapolis were lined up, the overwhelming conclusion was that the Americans were in a favorable position, just as many had promised following Fukuoka a year ago.
Of the 28 individual events held at the two venues, American winners had faster times than Australian winners in 18 events. Of course, comparisons on paper are meaningless. Aside from the variable of human athleticism, there is also the matter of swimmers from other countries that may affect the composition of the medal table. In that sense, it is noteworthy that the best all-around male and female swimmers in the world were not American or Australian, but French (Leon Marchand) and Canadian (Summer McIntosh).
Few Americans are sure to win gold in Paris. Even Ledecky comes into the Olympics ranked No. 2 in the world. She finished behind McIntosh in the 800 freestyle and behind Ariarne Titmus of Australia in the 400 in two of her three individual events. Her only season best time is in the longest race, the 1500. Ledecky is not ranked No. 1 in the world, as is the case in previous years.
“I know who my competitors are. I know where I am. I know what I need to do. I have a pretty good understanding of my capabilities,” said Ledecky, a seven-time Olympic gold medalist with other historic milestones within reach. Ledecky is just two more gold medals away from becoming the most ever by a female swimmer. “I’m just as excited for this tournament as I have been for the last three, and that’s the most important thing. That’s what always gets me the most performance out of me.”
There was very little coverage of Campbell in interviews leading up to the Olympic Trials and early in the tournament, as everyone was far more focused on making the team, but as the squad began to solidify and attention turned to Paris and the showdown with Australia, the rivalry came to the fore.
NBC aired a segment in which 23-time gold medalist Michael Phelps was shown the footage of Campbell’s comments for the first time, and Phelps’ reaction showed the dangers of providing message board fodder for a group of ultra-competitors.
“It’s amazing,” Phelps said. “I look at that every day. [motivation]. “
U.S. swimmers will have about a week and a half to regroup before participating in a national training camp in Raleigh, North Carolina, on July 2. On July 11, the team will travel to Croatia for a second camp before arriving in Paris. Training camp is essential for performance and team bonding; there are team meals, skits, memes and loads of training.
And one other thing we can be sure of: there will be cowbells.
