LONDON — The water had probably not even been drained from the Olympic swim trials pool in Omaha earlier this month when Tyler Clary took a curious public shot at teammate Michael Phelps — essentially calling him a slacker.
Phelps Thursday responded for the first time publicly to Clary’s comments.
“Some people like to express their feelings in words, some like to do it with their actions,” he said. “I’ve done it by swimming and that’s how I’ll continue to do it.
“I’ve gotten to where I am today from working hard. I know that, Bob [Bowman, his coach] knows that. If nobody else thinks that, it doesn’t matter. I’m happy with my career and what I’ve done. We’re going to see what happens the last week of it.’’
Phelps, who will retire from competitive swimming after this Olympics, has won 16 medals, including 14 gold — eight of which came four years ago in Beijing.
Phelps, who was a teammate of Clary’s for one year at the University of Michigan, said Clary came to him to apologize for the comments.
“He said something the next day and said it was taken out of context,’’ Phelps said, rolling his eyes. “He apologized and I said to him … nothing needs to be said. But he did come and apologize. He sat in my room for 20 minutes and talked to me.’’
Clary’s most damning comments were that he “saw a real lack of preparation” from Phelps.
“Basically, he was a swimmer that didn’t want to be there,’’ Clary said at the time. “They can talk about all of these goals and plans and preparation they have. I saw it. I know. It’s different. And I saw somebody that has basically been asking to get beat for the longest time.”
Clary spent three years as a swimmer at Michigan, where Phelps also trained and took classes from 2005 to 2008. Clary was named the NCAA swimmer of the year in 2009 and broke Phelps’ U.S. record in the 400 individual medley the same year.
According to some who are familiar with the U.S. swim scene, the two have never been close.
“The fact that he doesn’t have to work as hard to get that done, it’s a real shame,” Clary said. “I think it’s too bad. You see that all too often, where you get athletes that are incredibly talented that really take it for granted. I think the things he could have done if he’d worked as hard as I do would have been even more incredible than what he has pulled off.” Clary will swim the 200-meter backstroke and the 200 butterfly in these Olympics. In the butterfly, Clary finished second to Phelps at the trials, which means he will swim against Phelps here.
“The day that it happens, when I finally beat him, is going to be a huge deal in my mind because it would be complete satisfaction,” Clary said earlier. “And the only thing that would be better than that is breaking the world record.”
