Then Phelps, now Marchand: US swimming coach Bob Bowman is making champions the hard way | Paris Olympics 2024

While he loves the new challenges set before him by Olympic swimming sensation Léon Marchand, Bob Bowman approaches them with the rich experience of his relationship with Michael Phelps.

Naturally, he relished Léon Marchand's performance in the La Défense Arena pool. For Bob Bowman, who as a teenager imagined himself conducting an orchestra and following in the footsteps of Leonard Bernstein, it's a pleasure to guide the blue soloist who joined him in August 2021 in Arizona, followed him in the spring in Texas, and is forcing him to revise his classics.

Yet the American is used to these triumphs. There are countless water musicians whose scores have been rewarded with titles. In Paris, Hungarian Hubert Kos won the 200 m backstroke; in Tokyo, American Chase Kalisz preceded Marchand in the 400 m medley. And if he is associated with Allison Schmitt (4 Olympic golds), Bowman will forever remain Michael Phelps' mentor, discovered when the kid was 11. Together, they wrote the history of the Games and the legend of the swimmer with twenty-three Olympic titles. What makes me most proud is that our relationship has survived his career and his wanderings," says the coach. We form a hybrid family; I consider his four boys to be my grandchildren, and I teach them to swim, music,construction games..."

In recent years, he has made them his priority, spending all his late afternoons with them. And that explains why Bowman, before signing his contract with the University of Texas, discussed this project with the Phelpses. "They understand that this is a professional choice, a unique opportunity to live in the best place in the world to teach swimming. "My career is coming to an end, but I still want to take on challenges. And I won't stay in Austin forever. My employers know that I'm keeping my home in Arizona, that I'll be traveling there very regularly to see my loved ones." 

Among those challenges is this kid who became a star this week. For him, Bowman merges with this Prokofiev concerto No. 3 that fascinates him, never losing sight of the metronome, refusing to become soft, but accepting to adapt to Marchand's desires and talent.

Bowman has never been a virtuoso. Whether at the piano or in the pool. The modest swimmer soon turned to teaching while studying psychology. In 1996, he had already spotted Phelps, a boy with an atypical physique, who would serve his ideas well. A lover of mathematics, Bowman has theorized his sport. His science of technique and biomechanics is praised, and his warm-up and cool-down protocols, as meticulous as an architect's work of art, provide inspiration. We also point out his roughness. It' s true that I don't have much room for error with him," Marchand grimaces. As soon as I start messing about in the water, he sets me straight. But I think that's why he's good."

Bowman can be uncompromising, admitting that he was too hard on Phelps before the 2008 Beijing Games and that unrivalled golden coaster. Bob is more of a judge of his eruptive character," corrects Kalisz, who was only 6 years old when he crossed his path. He doesn't realize that he intimidates young people. They think:"Gee, Bob's mad at me. I feel obliged to disabuse them of this notion. He's just letting them know that they're not in the right. He tells them a bit firmly, it's true, but there's love in there." To convince them of this, Kalisz jokingly apostrophizes the coach: "Are we going to get the Bob of 2011 back?" A reference that wakes Bowman up. " That Bob doesn't exist anymore," he grumbles.

If they're accomplices today, Bowman and Phelps almost hated each other, even parting ways angrily after the 2012 London Olympics. "What a hell! He hadn't felt like it for months. He'd started going out, getting stoned and drinking," recalls Bowman, who feared the worst with every phone call. Looking back, he knows he almost broke his toy. "For the twelve years leading up to Beijing, I was obsessed with his success and my ambition, barely sleeping, looking for what would make him go faster," he regrets. In the end, Phelps went off the rails. "I saw him destroy himself. I was disappointed and angry. As parents can be. How could someone who has everything going for him act so stupidly?And then, you remember, this person who swims fast and makes a lot of money, has to deal with his flaws," Bowman excuses him.

After years of wandering between depression and alcoholism, this spiritual son finally took to the water again for the Rio Games. Finally at peace. And still with his surrogate father. "He never left me, I never kicked him out. It's a bit like being married, knowing that you can't get a divorce. We worked out our problems because we couldn't move forward separately. He always knew I'd help him," the technician told us in 2016.

Obviously, this experience shook him up and changed him profoundly. "It took me a long time to realize that my personal happiness wasn't always at the level of my swimmers' results. The fact that Michael achieved in Beijing what no other swimmer had ever done did not resolve my innermost questions. At the time, I would have said that this success was my best memory. Today, I'm proud to have contributed to it, but I'd rather remember the journey than the destination.

While he remains fully committed, and thanks Marchand for offering him new adventures, Bowman allows himself to experience them differently. "Swimming is no longer the focal point of my life. I have my family, I like to travel. For me, as a lover of France, coaching Léon gives me the opportunity to spend time there, enjoy the food, learn about the culture. It forces me to remain open-minded. A vision that delights Kalisz: "It's cool to see him like that. I don't think Bob has ever been so happy and in harmony with himself."

(L'Équipe)