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12 Years After Michael Phelps’ Retirement, His Coach Bob Bowman Is Unstoppable as He Announces Paris Olympics 2024 Goals

Published 01/02/2024, 12:45 PM EST

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The 23-time all-around Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps credits a great deal of his swimming career to coach Bob Bowman. The champion coach who molded the US athletes for the Olympic years 2004, 2008, and 2014 was finally appointed as the head coach in 2016. Under Bowman’s guardianship, several swimmers of the Arizona State Sun Devils taste success now. But the guardian has a bigger fish to catch.

Functioning as the head coach at ASU since 2015–2023 has been phenomenal for the team-coach duo. In program history, the ASU men’s swimming and diving team made it to their first PAC-12 Conference Championship. Soon after, the team clinched silver at the NCAA Division I championships. In 2024, Bowman has a rough draft of his upcoming plans, and he did not shy away from sharing!

Michael Phelps’ coach, Bob Bowman, shared his 2024 goals.

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According to the 58-year-old’s X post, he posted an Olympic plan. From the looks of it, it sure gives away that he’s a planner. Captioning it as And so it begins. Happy Olympic Year! #Paris2024 @ASUSwimDive,” he sounded elated, especially on account of the quote written below. He quoted Confucius, penning, “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

He chalked this out on January 1, and the heading reads, “Happy Olympic Year.” The event categories looked like he was preparing to train the swimmers in a disciplined way this time.

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Having retired 12 years ago, Michael Phelps trained under Bob Bowman for over 20 years. In Baltimore, the two crossed paths when the former was just 7 years old. After spotting him in action at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, Bowman convinced the former Olympian’s parents to allow him to compete on a global level.

But the relationship between them wasn’t a ‘typical coach-athlete relationship’ moving forward. Shedding light on this, the two had engaged in a candid conversation with Sportslane in 2022.

Phelphs’ take on the bond he shared with Bowman

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“The longevity that we’ve had, it was just something that we both saw in one another,” said Bowman when talking about Phelps in 2022. Moving on, he further said, “For us, when we spend this amount of time around each other, we just know how each other works.”.

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He had further said, “He knows what buttons to press for me to be able to get that extra 10% that he needed, so that extra 20% out of that day that he needs from me to be able to have a chance to give.” After the 2012 London Olympics, Phelps announced his retirement. But willing to give it his last shot, he appeared at the 2016 Rio Olympics, only to add five golds to his purse.

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Now it’s Bowman’s time to find the athlete who nearly matches the record of his favorite homeboy.

Watch this story: Coach Jim Harbaugh Sets The Record Straight On Michigan’s Sign-Stealing Incident

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Written by:

Agnijeeta Majumder

826Articles

One take at a time

With a passion for sports and an active lifestyle, I delved into the world of journalism and here I am creating insights on various avenues of the sporting realm. In my school years, I could often be found loitering about with a throw ball in hand or maybe engaging in a tough bout. My active participation in both traditional sports and hiking escapades has considerably shaped my mind and its thoughts.
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Edited by:

Riya Singhal