The SwimSwam Podcast

On June 22, 2024, SwimSwam reported that 2020 Olympian Michael Brinegar would not be competing in the 1500m Free prelims of the 2024 US Olympic Trials after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled in favor of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA)’s allegations of blood doping during a three month period in 2022. This means that Brinegar is facing a four-year ban. Hear Brinegar's side of this 2-year process and the effect it has had on this athlete who still claims his innocence in the situation.

Brian Benzing is an NCAA All-American for Towson in the 100 Breast, placing 2nd at the 2024 NCAA Championships in 50.59. After his first two years of high school in Maryland where he played Lacrosse, Basketball, soccer, and swam, Benzing's family moved to Norway where he spent the next 3 years and continued swimming while gradually stepping away from the other sports. Benzing ultimately returned to Maryland and attended college at Towson University, where he made huge improvements in the pool. Listen to Benzing's journey and the lessons he learned along the way.

On Monday, Todd DeSorbo sat down with the press to answer questions ahead of the 2024 US Olympic Team training camp that starts in Cary, North Carolina and will move to Croatia ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris. DeSorbo discusses the selection of the Olympic team coaching staff, UVA swimmers that made the Olympic team, and much more.

Join Coleman Hodges, David Clossey (aka The Swim Scribe), and NCAA Champ Brendan Burns as we do a deep dive into the 2024 US Olympic Trials.

Thanks to  @malmstenab3682  and the CEO of Malmsten Inc, Mikael Orn for this inside look into the company and team that has provided swimming's lane lines for the last ten Olympic Games! Malmsten has very deep roots in swimming. Tommy and Margareta Malmsten founded the Swedish company in 1974. Tommy, a former competitive swimmer and national Swedish coach, combined his love of swimming with his skills as an engineer to develop top-notch gear for the swimming community. Malmsten wanted to remain true to its roots, maintaining a family-oriented atmosphere while providing superior products for competitive swimmers. Mikael Orn swam for Tommy and went on to win an Olympic bronze medal at the 1984 Games in LA. Mikael - or Mike - heads up Malmsten Inc. which services the Americas, and Mike will be on the team that preps and supplies lane lines for the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.

Join us as we go down the psych sheet, event by event, and choose our picks for who will make the 2024 US Olympic team in Indianapolis.

https://youtu.be/k2vojNuX1Oc

Kensey McMahon is an NCAA Champion from 2023 and a world championship medalist. On June 4, 2024, it was reported that McMahon had received a 4-year suspension by USADA after testing positive for a banned substance (Vadadustat).

Kensey came on the SwimSwam podcast to give her perspective not only on the positive test and verdict itself but also on the process of trying to investigate this situation. McMahon speaks to the 2+ decades she's put into swimming, the recent doping scandal involving 23 Chinese athletes, and getting an invitation to compete in the Enhanced Games.

Jeremy Bagshaw had accomplished a lot in his 20+ year career in swimming. NCAA Champion at Cal Berkeley. Commonwealth and Pan American Games medalist. Multiple-time world championships qualifier. But one thing that had eluded him (4 times, going back to 2008) was qualifying for Canada's Olympic team.

Last month at the Canadian Trials, in what would have been his final race as a competitive swimmer, Bagshaw finished 4th in the 200 free, securing his spot on the Olympic team for the first time. Bagshaw had also just completed medical school in Ireland.

Listen to what the 32-year-old has to say about perseverance and challenging himself to strive for more in and out of the pool. Bagshaw turned his lifestyle of medical school and competitive swimming into a game for himself, always wanting to win the day whether in class or at training. In the end, it worked out well for Dr. Bagshaw, who will be competing in Paris next month.

Missy Franklin was a 5x Olympic gold medalist and world record holder in the pool. Now outside of it, Franklin is having just as much success. She's a parent (3-year-old daughter, Caitlin, with her husband Hayes Johnson), a member of the media (hosts the podcast Unfiltered Waters with fellow Olympian Katie Hoff), and an ambassador for the USA Swimming Foundation. In this episode, we discuss the upcoming Olympic Trials with Franklin, who will be in Indianapolis with the USA Swimming Foundation and as media. Trials are the most stressful environment in swimming and if you are there for more than a couple days, you ride the emotional roller coaster of someone chasing the Olympic dream whether you want to or not. Missy does a great job putting this into words and expressing her excitement at how the team looks to be shaping up as Trials loom. Outside of swimming, Missy has also been heavily focused on working with Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. to raise awareness of autosomal dominant kidney disease (ADPKD). Readers can learn more on DiveIntoADPKD.com.

Olympic Champion Betsy Mitchell is a renaissance woman in the sports world, a 2-time Olympian, gold medalist, 7-time NCAA champion, former college swimming coach, and the current Athletic Director of Cal Tech.   Betsy's roots run deep in sport, which is why she's co-authored her first book with Ann Worthington, MORE THAN MEDALS, Lessons From An Olympian.  I say "her first book" because a follow-up will be coming soon. Betsy's forthcoming in this conversation, bringing wisdom and perspective to the topic of youth and college sports, which, right now, is a very chaotic and rapidly changing environment of lawsuits and rule changes. I hope you enjoy it.