PHOENIX, Arizona, February 20. TODAY, Michael Phelps and Bob Bowman took the time to speak with the media on a USA Swimming teleconference call. Here are some of their thoughts on various issues:
Michael Phelps
On his 200 butterfly world record in Missouri:
"Going into the 200 fly, I did not expect to go that fast. I wanted to go 1:54 high and put in a solid time before Worlds. My reaction was a little crazy. I didn't believe it when I first saw it. I'm really excited to close out a good weekend. I'm pleased with how things are going. It gives me a confidence builder heading into Worlds. Right now, things are on the right track. We have a little bit less than a month to fine tune and prepare for a good week of competing in Australia."
On developing the FS Pro:
"Stu Isaac lives in Ann Arbor and has visited the pool a few times to allow us to try the suit out. I love the suit. From the first 50 when I dove in on the 200 fly, every wall coming off the wall of that race, I felt like I was exploding. The feeling I got off the wall and start was something I had never really felt before. I did only beat the world record by .09. The suit had an impact on the race. I'm happy to wear the fastest suit in the world."
On event schedule at Worlds:
"I will be swimming in the 100 and 200 fly; the 200 and 400 IM and 200 free. Those events are something my coach and I have decided we have the best chance to succeed at. After this summer, we can set up a plan and event program I will be trying next summer."
On not getting to compete against Ian Thorpe:
"I was looking forward to swimming against him in Australia. It would have been fun. I am not going to have that chance again. He is moving on with his life and has other things he wants to do. You have to respect him. He will go down as one of the greatest freestylers of all time."
On Katie Hoff:
"Whenever I do travel home for the weekend or for events and do see her at meets, she has grown up a lot. She has matured with how she acts. It is almost like a brother sister relationship. We give each other a hard time. She is putting up some fast times. In the next year, you can see her putting up times no one has seen before."
On swimming the 200 free:
"Every event I swim at a meet is important to me. For me, swimming so many events, once one event is over – I have to put it behind me. To be able to win the 200 free would be a big step for me. My freestyle has come a long way over the past few years."
On Ian Thorpe's 200 freestyle world record:
"I don't know if I can get to that. Anyone who does break that world record is going to be the first man under 1:44. The one thing about that record is how he split it. He pretty much dead-even split that race. He had a great last 50. With the help of the strength training, I don't know what I can go. I have been stuck at 1:45 for a few years. I think time will tell, and hopefully we can put together the fastest race that I can."
On eight event program at Melbourne:
"I think the biggest key is really not getting hung up on one race. If I start off with a bad race, I need to get to my next race to be able to manage everything. With the training I have done, I have been able to put my body through stress. Bob's program has put as much stress on my body as possible to help me get through situations like this. I just have to keep everything simple and stay on my pattern to stay focused."
On comparing Worlds to the Olympics:
"I look at them the same way. I understand that the Olympics are the biggest of the big, but each is the biggest of our year that year. This year's World Championships are very important. A good Worlds sends you into an Olympic year confident. You just want to keep things rolling. This is a really big year for me. It will set me up for a good Olympic Trials and Olympics after that. In terms of timing, this is one of the biggest meets of my career."
On Kate Ziegler:
"I follow swimming all the time. I am always on the web looking at web sites for results. I am constantly aware of the world of swimming. We do run into each other. Her times have been pretty impressive. She has a big career ahead of her and she is just warming up."
On Cullen Jones in the 400 freestyle relay:
"Cullen has really come out. He has had a great past year. He is a talented swimmer. I remember last year at Nationals, I said we need you on the 400 free relay. He was able to step up last year and put together a good 100. We need four guys that can go 48 flat start and add a relay start in there. He has impacted our relay. Being able to put together a solid race as one meant a lot going into the year."
On 2003 Worlds setting up 2004 and the Olympics:
"Being able to set five world records in one meet and doing the things I did in Barcelona, we wanted to try an event program like that in 2004. It gave us the confidence that we could do it. It is the same thing this summer. I am four years older, and we want to still put together an event program like 2003 to try something along the same lines next year."
On Australian freestyle relay:
"Whenever you have a big meet in your home country, you rise to the occasion. You are going to put together a fast relay team. Australia is known for that stroke. They have had a solid group of freestylers for awhile. Our job is to get in the water and swim as fast as we can and whatever happens, happens."
On renewed passion for swimming:
"After Athens, having the time and going through ups and downs and having the World Championships of 2005, I really started to grab a hold of everything. I made decisions that I knew would help swimming. It has been a learning process. I definitely want to turn this into something that will help me down the road and manage things. I have had a lot of growing up and my head is on the right way. I am more conscious of my decisions, and that is all a part of growing up."
Bob Bowman
On his reaction to Michael Phelps' world record:
"I was very surprised. I wasn't sure that Michael was going to be doing many best times this week. It was beyond my expectations. He did it in a way that I think he can go faster in Melbourne."
On whether Michael began his taper before the Grand Prix:
"Michael definitely did not start his taper before the Missouri meet. The Saturday, before we left, was probably as tired as I have seen him at practice. Michael is still in the weight room for the next few weeks and we haven't started tapering."
On Michael's strength training this year:
"It has been a lot more intense and a lot more frequent. A year ago, Michael had some injuries that kept him out of the weight room. This is his first real full year of strength training. The way we look at it. The training has been added because of Michael's growth progression he could benefit from being stronger. Previously, we were focusing on endurance building. He is at an age now where he can benefit from the strength and speed increase that will move him to the next level."
On how he heard about the world record:
"I was coaching the finals of the men's Big Ten Championships and I got a text message saying 1:53.71. I said ‘Wow! That is amazing.'"
On Katie Hoff:
"She is clearly an exceptional talent. She is a rare combination of talent and work ethic second to none. She has done a tremendous job of improving her stroke and training abilities. Paul Yetter has done a great job of guiding her career."
On Team USA men's team:
"As strong a team as we have ever put out. If everyone can stay healthy, we are going to be a formidable team."
On 2003 Worlds setting up 2004 and the Olympics:
"If the meet in Barcelona hadn't gone well, we would have thought seriously about cutting down the program. Because he handled it so well, we felt confident we could try something even bigger. That gave him a lot of options."
On Australian freestyle relay:
"They are going to be very competitive regardless of who they put on it. In front of a very partisan home crowd, you are going to have people lift themselves up to a new level. We are going to have to be ready to handle that challenge."
On renewed passion for swimming:
"I think one of the things we found out after Athens is that it is more difficult to survive success than failure. It was another part of Michael's growing up process. He had just accomplished an incredible feat. He had a lot of change in his routine that had been his stabilizing force for many years previous. That was a growing experience for him. He learned some lessons the hard way, and over the period of two years or so has developed more ownership over his swimming. He is showing more maturity about the decisions he makes regarding training and how he runs his life away from the pool."