Michael Phelps responds to Australian trash talk ahead of the Olympics and shows why he's the greatest of all time



Michael Phelps responded to trash talk on the part of an Australian swimmer who said that she was happy when she didn't have to hear "The Star-Spangled Banner" after beating Americans at the world championships.

Four-time Olympian for Australia Cate Campbell was giving an interview in 2023 regarding the country's medal totals in comparison to the United States. Australians won the 2023 World Aquatic Championship in Japan with 13 gold medals, but NBC made the point that the American team had more medals overall.

Campbell, speaking to Australia's "Today" show, expressed how much relief it gave her team to out-swim the United States.

'If somebody said that to me, I would lose it. I would literally make them eat every word they just said about me.'

"It is just so much sweeter beating America. The first night of the competition, we did not have to hear 'Star-Spangled Banner' ring out through the stadium. I cannot tell you how happy that made me," she explained.

"If I hear that song again, it will be too soon. Bring on Paris. That's all I have to say. To the U.S., stop being sore losers," she said in reference to the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Campbell added that the U.S. team has an "infernal" cowbell and noted how annoying she found it when the team chanted "U-S-A, U-S-A!"

"I've never wanted to punch someone more," she said.

Ahead of the summer games, Phelps was shown the video by the folks at the NBC Olympics channel.

"I'm just gonna ask you to see this. How you might have used it if this was said back when you were swimming," an NBC team member said, while handing a tablet to Phelps.

Phelps watched the video showing the anti-American sentiments and was barely able to contain himself.

"I appreciate your comments, Cate," Phelps said as he looked right at the camera. "If somebody said that to me, I would lose it. I would literally make them eat every word they just said about me. 'Cause people have done it. Chad le Clos? Ian Thorpe? You guys have all talked s*** about me, and I had the last laugh," he said in reference to other swimmers.

Phelps, who clearly still has a competitive fire burning in him as he prepares to cover the Olympics from the broadcast booth, gave advice to the U.S. swimmers.

"So, for the Americans, if you see what I just saw, that's the first time I saw it. I would watch that thing every single day to give me that little extra," Phelps said. "The good news is the Olympics will be here shortly, and we'll be able to see what the results are," he added.

Phelps last swam in the 2016 Olympics.

Australia's Campbell attempted to qualify for the 2024 games but failed to pass through the trials, missing out on the Australian final by just 0.01 seconds.

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Michael Phelps addresses transgender swimmer controversy, declares that sports must 'be played on an even playing field'



Swimming legend Michael Phelps addressed the controversy surrounding transgender swimmer Lia Thomas last week and expressed the importance of fair competition.

Thomas — a University of Pennsylvania swimmer who was born a biological male and competed as a male swimmer for most of her life — has dominated female competition in recent months.

Although Thomas took one year of testosterone suppression treatment in compliance with NCAA rules, critics believe that Thomas has an unfair competitive advantage. After all, Thomas was a highly competitive swimmer when competing as a male, even earning second-team All-Ivy League honors during the 2018-2019 swimming season.

What did Phelps say?

Speaking with CNN host Christiane Amanpour, Phelps said that sports must "be played on an even playing field," something critics of Thomas say is not possible when a biological male completes against biological females.

"Look, like, I will say — I can talk from a standpoint of doping. I don't think I have competed in a clean field in my entire career," Phelps said. "So, I think this leads back to the organizing committees again, because it has to be a level playing field."

"I think that's something that we all need, because it's — like, that's what sports are," Phelps continued. "And, for me, I don't know where this is going to go. I don't know what's going to happen. I believe that we all should feel comfortable with who we are in our own skin. But I think sports should all be played on an even playing field. I don't know what that looks like in the future. But it's hard."

Phelps, a 23-time Olympic gold medalist, described the situation as "very complicated" but emphasized fairness in sports competition.

"This has been my sport my whole entire career. And I — honestly, the one thing I would love is everybody to be able to compete on an even playing field. That's all I can say," Phelps said.

Reacting to ongoing debate over trans college athlete Lia Thomas competing on the women\u2019s swimming team, \u201cit\u2019s very complicated,\u201d says @MichaelPhelps. \u201cWe all should feel comfortable with who we are in our own skin. But I think sports should be played on an even playing field.\u201dpic.twitter.com/brsq7t2vJW
— Christiane Amanpour (@Christiane Amanpour) 1642099658

Thomas made headlines again last week after she allegedly compared herself to Jackie Robinson.

"She compares herself to Jackie Robinson. She said she is like the Jackie Robinson of trans sports," one of Thomas’ teammates told the Washington Examiner.

"She laughs about it and mocks the situation. Instead of caring or showing that she cares about what she’s doing or what she’s doing to her teammates, she’s not sympathetic or empathetic at all," the teammate added. "Lia never addressed our team. She never asked if it was OK. She never asked how we felt. She never tried to explain how she feels. She never has said anything to us as a group. She never addressed anything."

Piers Morgan tears into transgender college swimmer: 'If Michael Phelps began competing as a transgender woman, all hell would break loose'



British broadcaster Piers Morgan blasted transgender college swimmer Lia Thomas after she dominated earlier this week in collegiate meets, smashing records previously held by biological women.

Thomas, a 22-year-old enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, previously competed for three years in men's swimming under the name Will Thomas.

She was required to undergo one year of testosterone suppression treatment in order to qualify for the women's events.

What are the details?

In a lengthy essay published in the Daily Mail, Morgan said that if Olympic gold medalist swimmer Michael Phelps decided to compete as a transgender woman, "all hell would break loose."

"If Michael Phelps began competing as a transgender woman, all hell would break loose," Morgan began, "so why is nothing being done to stop trans athletes like Lia Thomas from destroying women's sport?"

According to Morgan, Phelps, who won 28 Olympic medals — including 23 gold medals — "achieved this staggering statistical dominance through a combination of physical prowess, dazzling skill, and a uniquely steely work ethic and determination to be the very best."

In short, Phelps was an incredibly talented, young, fit male who trained seven days a week and competed against fellow male swimmers who — while undoubtedly talented — were simply not in his league.

"Now imagine what would have happened if Phelps had transitioned into a female when at the peak of his powers?" Morgan added. "He, now she, wouldn't have just dominated women's swimming – he, now she, would have smashed all the women's records by such vast margins that no woman born with a female biological body would have ever come close to beating any of them ever again."

This, according to Morgan, is happening on a much smaller stage.

Thomas on Sunday competed at an event in Akron, Ohio, demolishing her fellow swimmers in the 1,650-yard freestyle event. Thomas took a 38-second lead by even her nearest rival, collegiate swimmer Anna Sofia Kalandaze, setting a pool, meet, and program record all in one shot.

Saturday saw Thomas clinch the 200-yard freestyle at 1:41:93 — seven seconds ahead of her closest rival — which has been the fastest finish in the United States.

On Friday, she won the 500-yard freestyle event by 14 seconds, setting a new Ivy League record.

Morgan added that Thomas has an obvious — and grossly unfair — advantage over her female rivals who are now no longer able to swim at the same competitive level in their sport.

Allowing transgender women born in male bodies — which Morgan insisted have "hugely superior physical advantage[s]" — to compete in women's sports will do nothing more than vaporize the viability of natural-born women's records.

"It's happening in myriad sports now including sprinting, cycling and weight-lifting — and I don't care how loudly the woke brigade squeals, it's just plain unfair and is crushing the hopes, dreams, and hard work of so many female athletes," Morgan added.

Thomas, Morgan pointed out, will continue to demolish women's swimming records not because she's a brilliant and talented swimmer, but because she's a man competing against women.

"Lia Thomas is on her way to irrevocably disintegrating women's swimming records," he wrote. "Not because she's a natural-born brilliant swimmer, because when she competed as a man, she was mediocre at best. No, she will do it because she's got a hugely advantageous physique over her female rivals."

He reasoned, "What will it take to stop this transgender sporting madness? Does Floyd Mayweather have to identify as a woman and get into the ring as a female boxer? Or Usain Bolt come out of retirement to compete on the women's springing circuit? Or perhaps Michael Phelps really should transition and jump in the pool against women half his size and with a fraction of his speed?

The broadcaster concluded with a warning: "Stop this insanity now, before it's too late."

Anything else?

In June, Thomas told the school newspaper that being able to continue swimming despite transitioning is "very rewarding."

"The process of coming out as being trans and continuing to swim was a lot of uncertainty and unknown around an area that's usually really solid," Thomas said at the time. "Realizing I was trans threw that into question. Was I going to keep swimming? What did that look like? ... Being trans has not affected my ability to do this sport and being able to continue is very rewarding."

Trans Athlete Shatters Records In This Sport, Can Women's Sports Survive? | DM CLIPS | Rubin Report www.youtube.com

Fearless: Olympians Sha’Carri Richardson, Michael Phelps, and Ryan Lochte expose myths about racism and incarceration



The Sha'Carri Richardson story tells us far more about social media's ability to stir racial division than allegedly outdated Olympic drug rules.

Richardson, a favorite to win the women's 100-meter dash at the Tokyo Olympics, is a cause celebre across corporate and social media because she was handed a one-month suspension for a positive marijuana test. The suspension will prevent her from competing in track and field's star-making event.

Richardson has indicated she smoked marijuana to cope with the news of the death of her biological mother.

Social media quickly turned Richardson, who is black, into yet another victim of America's "systemic racism." Users, big and small, across all platforms claimed the U.S. Olympic Committee and Anti-Doping Agency treated Richardson more harshly than white swimmers Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was predictably hyperbolic and stupid.

"The criminalization and banning of cannabis is an instrument of racist and colonial policy," she tweeted. "The IOC should reconsider its suspension of Ms. Richardson and any athletes penalized for cannabis use."


So, in 2009, Phelps was pictured sucking on a marijuana bong. The USOC suspended him for three months and several of his sponsors, including Kellogs, dropped him. Phelps never tested positive for marijuana. A picture caused his suspension. No one accused the IOC, USOC or the Anti-Doping Agency of racism.

In 2016, Lochte was ensnared in a media-generated "white privilege" controversy during the Brazil Olympics. Lochte and three other teammates, after a night of drinking, stopped at a gas station to use the bathroom. The bathroom was locked. They peed in bushes next to the bathroom. Two men claiming to be security and/or police, drew guns, accused the American Olympians of vandalizing the bathroom and demanded cash for the damages.

Lochte told his mother what happened. His mother repeated it to a reporter. The reporter tweeted out that Lochte and friends had been robbed. Lochte was then forced to retell the story to the media. Brazilian government officials were embarrassed. You spend billions of dollars to host the Olympics and the last thing you want is an international story that exposes how tourists are exploited when visiting your country.

So Brazil went on the offensive, disputed Lochte's story and charged him with filing a false police report. Because Lochte is white, America's corporate media shredded Lochte as an ugly American. NBC weatherman Al Roker led the charge. In an infamous viral video, Roker not only ambushed Lochte, he attacked white co-worker Billy Bush.

The USOC suspended Lochte for 10 months. Sponsors dropped him. The American media framed him as a symbol of white privilege.

USA Today eventually published an investigative story that backed Lochte's version of events. The swimmers couldn't have vandalized the bathroom because they never entered the locked bathroom. The USA Today story quoted a Brazilian judge and a lawyer calling bull$h*t on the whole thing.

A year later, Brazilian authorities dropped their charges against Lochte.

Are we sure Sha'Carri Richardson has been treated in a racist manner? Are we sure?

Or maybe social media's main purpose is to promote racial animus and racial disinformation.

Let me add one more thing. As the lone sports journalist to ever write and report substantively on the negative impact of America's drug war, I think we've gone overboard in portraying marijuana as harmless. It's the equivalent of portraying alcohol as harmless.

Marijuana and alcohol are not harmless, and I have a long history with both. My dad owned a bar most of my life. In college, I was a casual marijuana user and a frequent drinker.

I'm not some uptight prude.

But studies have shown that 60% of violent criminals test positive for illegal drugs. You toss in alcohol and the overwhelming majority of violent crime can be linked to a perpetrator in an altered mental state.

Marijuana and liquor are crime's best friends. Talk to any gangbanger — and I have through my relationship with Jim Brown and his Amer-I-Can program — and you will learn that most gang violence is done under the influence of "sherm," marijuana cigarettes dipped in PCP.

America's prisons are not filled with drug users. They're filled with violent criminals fueled by drugs. There are approximately 120 federal prisons and 1,700 state prisons. In general, federal prisons house drug offenders and white collar criminals. In general, state prisons house murderers, rapists, robbers and other violent criminals.

There's a myth that non-violent drug offenders jam our prisons. Nope, it's the violent drug users who have overcrowded our prisons.

Marijuana use is not harmless. It's another tool in the satanic promotion of a "do as thou wilt" American society.

I don't feel sorry for Sha'Carri Richardson.