In this Gold Medal Minute takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast with three-time 2016 Olympic Champion Ryan Murphy, we cover backstroke, but also hit on some interesting topics you might like.  For example:

• Do the Team USA backstroke legends get together and hangout? There are a lot of them, like Murph, Matt Grevers, Aaron Peirsol,  Lenny Krayzelburg, Jeff Rouse, David Berkoff, Rick Carey and John Naber.  (Who is the coolest and/or weirdest among them?)

In this podcast, we don't hold back, and Murph delivers. Murph even provides a backstroke clinic, and we learn what gains he's made while not training in a pool.  Is that possible? Yes. It is. Murphy's focused, positive, and he's made use of his COVID-19 shutdown time.

• Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

Olympic gold medalist Tom Shields was kind enough to talk to me (twice, my computer pooped out and didn't record the first time) about his last couple weeks. As reported yesterday, the Olympic Training Center was closed, and Shields was there when it happened. He just got back to his home in the Bay Area yesterday, and has been doing his part to help stop the spread of Covid-19 since.

As a swimmer, his heart goes out to all of the affected athletes who missed their championships and struggle training. Shields said he was particularly excited to watch Zheng Wen Quah, affectionately known as "Wangers", go for the 200 fly title as a senior. However, Shields stressed that the focus should now be turned to our public health, not just the athletic events we are missing. He said that the biggest struggle for him personally moving forward wouldn't be staying in shape, but making sure social interaction was a priority, now that it won't be automatic.

• Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

Originally published March 19, 2020.

I sat down with Mitch Dalton, the brand new assistant coach for the Texas women's swim team. Before that, Dalton was the Director of the National Jr Team for 5 years. Now, I understand what that is... but also, I don't. Is it a manager? A coach? Mitch broke down how he ended up in that position, what it actually entails, and why the NJT is so important for the future of USA Olympic success.

We ended our podcast with a game based off of James Cordon's 'Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts'.  As we didn't have any disgusting foods to eat, we decided to tweet rather outlandish statements, drawn out of a hat by the other person, if we didn't want to answer the question or didn't give a satisfactory answer. We each ended up tweeting once, and I have to say, Mitch's tweet was pretty golden.

• Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

Music: Otis McDonald 

2-time Olympic champion Maggie Steffens sat down with us to speak about a variety of topics. She filled me in on what a normal water polo training day looks like at the elite level (note, from the sound of it, it could be more hours than a swimmer!). During this pandemic, she's been able to stay busy by filming a lot of her at-home workouts, and sharing them to her social media as well as her water polo platform, 68 sports.

• Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

Originally published on March 24, 2020.

We sat down with Trevor Freeland, the 2nd black man to ever win an ACC championship in swimming. Freeland was a member of the famed PDR Swim Team of Philadelphia coached by Jim Ellis in the 1980s that was immortalized in the Lionsgate film Pride. Freeland spoke candidly on his time at PDR and the adversity he faced being on the first-ever all-black swim team. However, Freeland emphasized that he focused on the positive interactions he had with people, and learned from a young age to brush off micro-aggressions from outsiders.

Freeland went on to swim for the University of Virginia under Mark Bernadino, where he saw success in and out of the pool. Not only did he win a conference championship with UVA, but earned his bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering. Freeland went on to earn his MBA from Duke and is now the Managing Director of Deutsche Bank.

• Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

Music: Otis McDonald