The US women’s swimming team had an impressive showing in the Paris Olympics. The team accounted for 18 of the 28 medals won by USA in swimming, with Katie Ledecky making history of her own. Apart from individual glory, Ledecky helped the women’s team finish with a silver medal in the freestyle relay after closing the gap and leaving behind her Chinese opponent. Even though the 27-year-old has received plaudits for her effort, she acknowledged that her task was made easier by her teammates.

Despite Team USA’s 28 medals, legendary Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps was less than impressed with the performances, and maybe he had a reason for that. For the first time in 20 years, the United States did not reach 30 medals in swimming. On top of this, their tally of eight gold medals was their lowest number of wins since the 1988 Olympics. Not holding back, Phelps told USA Today on August 5, “For me as a whole. I was pretty disappointed to see the U.S. swimming results.” 

Phelps doubled down on his criticism and added “The rest of the world is catching up. I think, a lot of the things that we’ve done as a country for so long, the other people are catching up.” However, Ledecky defended the US swimming contingent against Phelps’ blunt criticism and now, yet again, Katie has given an example of the fine performance given by the Stars and Stripes in the pool of Paris La Defense Arena. 

Appearing on the Unfiltered Waters podcast, Ledecky broke down her Paris performances in a conversation with Katie Hoff Anderson and Missy Franklin Johnson. She talked about her performance in the 1,500-meter freestyle prelims and how she captured the gold after being stressed after the prelims.

But in the 4×200 freestyle relay event, she didn’t have to shed much sweat despite the Australian and Chinese presence in the pool. According to her, the other members of the relay team had already lowered the pressure on her by giving an exceptional performance on that day. Ledecky mentioned, “I think I probably had the weakest leg kind of comparatively of the four of us.” As part of the relay leg, she jumped into the pool as the third swimmer. 

She added, “I was just really happy that I was able to come down to the 200 and be on that relay again and do it with those three.” Before her, Claire Weinstein and Paige Madden had already pushed the team to a respectable situation. As per Ledecky, their legs were the stepping stone on which she had to further cement the winning chance.

Ledecky closed the gap on Australia’s lead in the third leg and put them ahead of the Chinese team, which had snatched the gold from them in Tokyo by a mere 0.4 seconds. She mentioned that she had to ensure she did her job well as the others had done their part well and that she knew Erin Gemmell “is an amazing anchor.”

However, in the final leg, Australia’s anchor Ariarne Titmus prevailed over the Gemmell to win gold. The US team finished 2.78 seconds behind the top team, Australia. It’s worth noting that this was quite a young US women’s team that delivered this result. Claire Weinstein is 17 years old, Gemmell is 19 and Paige Madden is 25.

Through her comments, the Bethesda native aimed to highlight the excellence of the current American team despite their relatively young age. Last month, Ledecky also chose to respond to Phelps, the swimmer she looked up to as a child, after his criticism of Team USA.

In an interview with Sports Seriously last month Ledecky highlighted Phelps’s comments about the rest of the swimming world catching up to the USA and said, “USA swimming topped the medal count again. Both in golds and total medals, which is fantastic. But yes, the world is getting faster, pushing all of us to train harder and smarter.”

She did clarify that Phelps’s criticism wasn’t directed at the women’s team but chose to emphasize the team’s performance and noted, ” “It’s great to race against the best of the best. It raises everyone’s level.” The silver medal in the relay freestyle was Ledecky’s 13th career Olympic medal, the most by any U.S. female Olympian. But she didn’t stop there.

She would win her fourth successive Olympic gold medal in the 800-meter freestyle. Her Paris haul also meant she became the most decorated female swimmer in Olympic history with 14 medals to her name including 9 golds.

In comparison, the USA men’s swimming team, traditionally a powerhouse, won just one individual gold in Paris, thanks to Bobby Finke’s world-record-breaking 14:30.67 in the 1,500-meter freestyle. The men’s team won only 8 medals at this year’s Olympics. So was Phelps’s criticism warranted? Another former Olympian didn’t think so.

Michael Phelps’s complaint faces no ground in front of one of his ex-colleagues 

Throughout the US Olympic swimming trials and the Paris Olympics, Rowdy Gaines’s insightful analysis captured attention. With three Olympic gold medals in swimming, the veteran is well-equipped to engage in any debate on the topic. In one instance, he dismissed Michael Phelps’ claim about the lack of new talent in the American swimming team. Instead, Gaines expressed gratitude to the Paris Olympics for introducing a new wave of athletes who could carry the torch of Phelps and Katie Ledecky.

In his interaction with Rick Doll, on August 12, Gaines said, “The men are gonna be just fine. It’s a young team.” The average age of the men’s swimming team was 23 years, 277 days, making it the youngest team in recent Olympic competitions for the USA.

Moreover, he highlighted teenage sensation Thomas Heilman, who secured his first Olympic medal in Paris. According to Gaines, swimmers like Heilman will develop further over the next four years, posing a fierce challenge to their opponents at the LA Olympics.

Thus, he remains optimistic. In the French capital, he saw a spark in the American swimmers, much like Katie Ledecky did. It will be fascinating to see how their potential unfolds in the coming years.