Michael Phelps’ coach Bob Bowman the one man the Aussie swim team fears
Australia’s swimming team stands on the brink of a record haul of medals, but one American could derail their grand ambition to be the No.1 nation in the world.
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The one American that the Australian swim team fear the most won’t be competing in any races at the Paris Olympics.
In fact, the man with the burning ambition and know-how to derail Australia’s goal to surpass America as the No. 1 swimming nation in Paris, won’t even be part of the official US team.
That’s because Bob Bowman, the revered coach of Michael Phelps, is working for the French, overseeing the preparations of home-grown superstar Leon Marchand.
But Bowman’s also got another major role with the US team, because he’s also the personal coach of Regan Smith, who could hold the key to determining whether Australia or the US comes out on top.
With the teams so evenly matched, one of the possible tiebreakers is the showdown between Smith and Australia’s Kaylee McKeown in the two women’s backstroke events.
Ranked first and second in the world with no one really close in either event, whoever comes out on top in their clashes will go a long way to helping their nation capture the most gold medals.
Unbeaten in 100m or 200m backstroke since 2019, the Australian has had the edge for the last four years, but Smith has just reclaimed the 100m world record, setting the scene for an epic battle in Paris.
A prodigiously talented teenager who was named world female swimmer of the year in 2019, Smith has been racked with self-doubt after McKeown went past her.
The game changer has been switching coaches to Bowman, which has already proven a masterstroke.
At last month’s US trials, the now 22-year-old Smith booked herself places on the American team for Paris in both backstroke races, 200m butterfly and the medley relay, then opened up about how her mental state had improved since joining Bowman.
“I’ve always had it physically. I think I’ve always had a God-given natural ability to swim backstroke but I just never believed in myself ever, and that’s always going to be a work-in-progress,” she said.
“But after 2019, and then heading into 2021 trials, I was at my absolutely lowest point confidence-wise. I just didn’t want to be there. I wasn’t excited. I had no faith in myself. I wanted other people to do it because I thought that they were going to be better off doing it than I was.
“It’s still a work-in-progress, right. So I’m not sure if there’s an ‘Ah-Ha’ moment, but I think just every meet that I’ve been to, I’ve been consistently feeling more confident in myself and more sure of myself, and I have less self-doubt in my head and I’m able to just look at things through a very logical and steady lens.”
Renowned as a master tactician and motivator, Bowman has a long track record of working successfully with swimmers who doubt themselves, including Phelps, who won a record 23 Olympic gold medals.
An old school coach with high intellect, Bowman absorbed everything he could from the best, including legendary Australian coach Bill Sweetenham, and continued to trade ideas with other Dolphins coaches, including Michael Bohl, McKeown’s coach.
Bohl spent five days with Bowman at his training base in Arizona in 2022 and was left with no doubt about his genius and aspirations to see the US remain on top in Paris.
“He’s very succinct with what he says, a bit like Wayne Bennett.” Bohl said.
“That’s what I saw about him. He’s very methodical. He knows exactly what he wants, he knows what he wants, why he’s doing it, what he’s doing it for.
“He’s very thoughtful, he’s very cerebral, the way he goes about things. He’s a student of music and a student of architecture, he’s got a psychology degree. So he’s a very well educated coach and just very well experienced.
“He’s very matter of fact with the way he speaks, he doesn’t sugar coat things. He’s very calm as well but if things aren’t being done like he wants to have done, he’s quick to make comments.
“Whether we admit it or not, the athletes that we have in our program, the really good ones, you learn from those athletes. I’m sure he learnt the good, the bad and the ugly from Michael Phelps and he’s able to use that with the crop of athletes that he’s got going now.”
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