About two months after turning 14 years old, swimming phenom Michael Andrew has made history by becoming the youngest swimmer to accept an endorsement deal and become a professional swimmer. By doing so, he forgoes any ability to compete in NCAA swimming, though indications are that Andrew had no intention of joining a collegiate swim program.
Andrew signed with supplement maker P2Life earlier this week, joining a list of Olympic athletes such as Tyler Clary and Davis Tarwater in the company that has enjoyed immense success in South Africa and is now establishing roots in the United States. Andrew isn’t the first teenage swimmer to go professional. Michael Phelps did it at 16 years old, shortly after breaking his first world record. Katie Hoff did the same at 15 years old after her Olympic debut in 2004. And Kate Ziegler became a professional swimmer as well in 2007. Chloe Sutton also eschewed collegiate competition by signing with TYR while in high school.
Andrew has been rewriting the USA Swimming national age group records since he was 10 years old. He currently holds three 10-and-under records and seven 11-12 records. Having just turned 14, he’s starting to gain on the 13-14 records. He set one last week in the 50 long course freestyle to kick off his summer season.
Andrew has been homeschooled by his mother, Tina, and coached by his father, Peter, at their home in Iowa. Michael essentially trains alone, though his sister Michaela often joins him. The family packs into an SUV to travel the country for swim meets, breaking records along the way.