Michael Phelps dropped a sweet reaction to his former coach, Bob Bowman’s, team, the Texas Longhorns, winning the 2026 NCAA Championships in Atlanta. The former swimmer and the coach were in partnership for almost 31 years.
Currently, Bowman is coaching the Texas Longhorns men’s swimming and diving team, who recently won the collegiate championships. They secured an overall score of 445.5 points to nab their 17th title in the program’s history. One of the significant performances was delivered by Hubert Kos, who won the 20-yard backstroke with a record-breaking performance.
This win marked Bowman’s third consecutive national. His and his team’s feat caught Phelps’ attention, who reshared their achievement on his Instagram story and lauded Bowman for guiding his team to NCAA victory.
“Congrats @coach_bowman!”
The legendary swimmer, Phelps, commenced his career under Bowman at the young age of 11. He won multiple accolades under his guidance, including 28 Olympic medals, World Championships medals, and several other major honors.
Their association came to an end when Michael Phelps retired after competing at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Following his five-medal win in Rio, the American formally ended their working relationship. Even so long after their partnership ended, the swimmer is seen appreciating Bowman for his achievements.
When Michael Phelps opened up about his relationship with his coach Bob Bowman
In 2021, Michael Phelps sat for an interview at Think Forum for the business community, where he laid bare various aspects of his life. From opening up about what excellence means to him to his swimming career, he spoke about multiple things. Along with this, he also made his feelings known about his relationship with his coach, Bowman.
Revealing how they pushed each other and how he knew how to encourage him to go that extra mile, he said:
“So for us (Phelps and Bowman), when we spend this amount of time around each other, we just know how each other work, 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.
“These goals are, I guess, a real shot to be able to be achieved, and I think just the dynamics that we have because it wasn’t the typical coach-athlete relationship.”
Talking about the confidence the coach had on him and calling him a ‘father figure,’ the Olympic champion added:
“I believe that he had confidence in me, and that was something that I really had never felt from a father figure, and just like that interaction and those emotions that we had and that passion that we had for what we were doing, I think If I swam for anybody else that just wouldn’t have been anywhere remotely possible to do what I was able to accomplish, what we were able to accomplish.”
In addition to this, Michael Phelps also spoke about their long partnership, highlighting their work ethics and how they navigated tough times together.
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