Busch died on September 27, 2026, after suffering a heart attack at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport while returning from a fishing trip in Idaho, according to Arizona Daily Star. The news of his sudden passing came as a shock to the swimming community, including Gaines, who shared on X, “Heartbroken to hear about Frank Busch. One of the great coaches in our sport. Arizona legend, 2008 NCAA sweep, and NT director of perhaps combined Olympic team in 2016.”

He further added, “He made people better in the pool and out of it. Rest easy, Coach.” Gaines and Busch had known each other through years around USA Swimming. Busch served as the organization’s National Team Director from 2011 to 2017, while Gaines remained a major figure in American swimming and later became one of the sport’s best-known broadcasters. Their professional paths crossed several times.

In 2014, the two appeared together at the press conference announcing the qualifying standards for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials. A year later, Gaines hosted the announcement of the 2016 U.S. Olympic coaching staff, which Busch had selected, with Bob Bowman and David Marsh named as head coaches. They were also both featured at USA Swimming’s Adult Performance Camp in 2019.

Still, Busch’s story began long before his years with USA Swimming. Born and raised in Edgewood, Kentucky, he started coaching swimming when he was just 16 years old at the Brookwood Swim Club. He later swam for the Cincinnati Marlins, where he set national records, and attended Loyola University Chicago, competing in swimming and water polo. He was eventually inducted into the university’s Hall of Fame.

Busch continued building his coaching career in Kentucky before moving to the Cincinnati Marlins. From 1974 to 1978, he coached the Northern Kentucky Piranhas, then spent the 1979-80 season as an assistant with the Cincinnati Marlins. That club had an extraordinary run during his time there, sending six swimmers to the 1980 U.S. Olympic team and producing three world records.

In 1980, Busch took over as head coach at the University of Cincinnati. Over the next nine years, he coached more than 35 All-Americans before making the move that would define much of his career. Busch became Arizona’s head swimming coach in 1989 and spent the next 22 years building the Wildcats into a national powerhouse. His swimmers won 49 NCAA individual titles and 31 relay championships, while Busch earned NCAA Coach of the Year honors six times and Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors 11 times.

Then came 2008, one of the most memorable seasons in Arizona swimming history. Busch led both the men’s and women’s teams to NCAA national championships in the same year. Arizona became only the second program in NCAA swimming history at the time to complete that sweep under the same coaching staff. But Busch’s influence was never limited to the college pool.

He was part of the U.S. Olympic coaching staff at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Games before taking over as USA Swimming’s National Team Director in 2011. He remained in the role through the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympic cycles, helping oversee American teams that won 31 swimming medals in London and 33 in Rio. Those years also put him around some of the biggest names in American swimming, including Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky.

Ledecky won her first Olympic gold in London in 2012 at just 15 years old, beginning an Olympic career that would eventually make her one of the most decorated swimmers in history. ar

Arizona swimming and diving head coach Ben Loorz also remembered Busch after his death, “Coach Busch is a coaching icon in swimming circles, and his impact stretches throughout our sport, from the club level to the college level to the Olympics. Our program wouldn’t be where it is today without the foundation he created. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones.”

For more than five decades, Busch gave his life to swimming. He coached teenagers, college champions, Olympians, and some of the biggest names in the sport. His career was filled with records and championships, but Gaines’ tribute perhaps explained his legacy best. Busch did not simply make swimmers better in the water. He made people better outside it, too.

The post “Rest Easy”: 3x Olympic Champion Mourns Legendary US Coach Who Died at 75 appeared first on EssentiallySports.

The situation quickly became more than a result-sheet issue. Fabian took to Instagram to explain why she believed the decision was unfair. According to her account, officials checked her Hungarian racing cap during registration, allowed her to continue, and never gave her a replacement. She said she then completed the race without realizing she had been disqualified.

“I can accept losing. I can accept being beaten,” Fabian wrote. But she drew the line at being allowed to race the full distance and then having her result removed afterward. “Athletes deserve fairness. Athletes deserve accountability. And athletes deserve the truth.”

The Hungarian swimmer also disputed the claim that she had been told her cap was not compliant and refused another one. She said that conversation never happened. Her protest was subsequently rejected, leaving her even more frustrated. She ended the post with a blunt message to the continental governing body: “Shame on you, European Aquatics.”

The controversy did not stop with the 21-year-old Fabian. Her fellow Hungarian Olympian and an Olympic bronze medalist, Dávid Betlehem, found himself caught in a similar situation during the men’s 10km race. Like Fabian, he finished the race and only then did officials disqualify him over an issue with his cap.

Fabian’s second place would have brought €1,500 ($1708), while Betlehem’s third would have earned €1,000 ($1139). However, the dispute over swimming caps is not entirely new. A similar issue surfaced in South Korea in 2025, when the Seoul Administrative Court upheld the disqualification of a student-athlete during a university entrance examination.

The athlete, a water polo player, challenged the decision after officials disqualified him for wearing a cap bearing his high school emblem. He argued that the rules prohibited names or school affiliations on swimsuits, not specifically on swimming caps. The court, however, ruled that a swimming cap could reasonably be considered part of a swimsuit under the term’s conventional meaning.

That case involved a different competition and set of circumstances. But it showed how something as simple as a cap can become a serious eligibility issue when officials strictly interpret equipment rules.

In Razanac, however, the Hungarian swimmers’ frustration centers on something else: they maintain that they were either not properly informed of the cap issue or, in Betlehem’s case, were allowed to continue racing after the problem had supposedly been identified.

What did Bettina Fabian’s compatriot say about the decision?

According to the Hungarian Swimming Association’s account, Betlehem received a white cap containing the European Aquatics sponsor marking and wrote “HUN” on it. A technical delegate later indicated that the cap needed to be turned around because the sponsor inscription was required on one side and the Hungarian identification on the other. Betlehem said he did not understand the instruction before the start.

He then continued racing and was shown a red flag on the second lap while leading. The Hungarian federation said Betlehem eventually reached the referee’s boat, where he was told to continue. He went on to finish third, only to learn afterwards that he had been disqualified.

That detail became a major source of frustration for the 21-year-old. Rather than simply accepting the lost medal, Betlehem said he planned to consult lawyers about what happened.

Both swimmers also paid the €500 ($569) protest fee required under the competition rules and challenged the decisions. Their protests did not change the outcome.

For Betlehem, the disappointment went beyond losing a place on the podium. He questioned why he was allowed to finish the race after the officials had identified an issue with his cap.

The Hungarian Swimming Association said the European Cup rules require caps to meet international federation standards, while the official explanation for the disqualifications reportedly relied on information given during the technical meeting.

Fabian later shared her compatriot’s frustration on Instagram, pointing out that Betlehem had also lost both his medal and prize money. She said officials told them, “Don’t take it personally,” then added a laughing emoji before asking what the sport was coming to.

Meanwhile, the actual races had produced dramatic finishes. Italy’s Dario Verani waited until the final stretch before surging past the field to win the men’s 10km in 1:52:19.51. In the women’s race, Poland’s Klaudia Tarasiewicz pulled away late to claim victory.

Yet the podium celebrations were overshadowed by the Hungarian pair’s disqualifications.

Fabian had entered the race after winning European silver in Paris earlier this year, while Betlehem arrived with Olympic medal pedigree of his own. European Aquatics had promoted both as leading additions to the Razanac field before the event.

Now, instead of leaving Croatia with medals and prize money, the two Hungarians are left with an unresolved dispute over something as small as the positioning of a swimming cap.

And for Fabian, that is precisely what makes the episode so difficult to accept. She was not questioning defeat. She was questioning how the race was handled.
Her message was simple: if athletes are expected to follow every rule, they also expect the officials enforcing those rules to provide clarity before the race – not after the final touch.

The post Olympian Demands “Fairness” After DQ Takes Away Prize Money for Second Place appeared first on EssentiallySports.

“13 and 17. What is the world coming to? I didn’t even start swimming until I was 17,” Gaines wrote on X on September 24. The two ages he mentioned tell a story of their own. While Gaines was only beginning his competitive swimming journey at 17, Japan’s Shin Ohashi is already making history at the same age. And China’s Yu Zidi is doing it even earlier, with the 13-year-old putting together a remarkable run at the Asian Games.

Yu completed her three-gold run on September 23, winning the women’s 400m individual medley in an Asian Games-record time of 4:28.56. It was her third individual gold of the Games after victories in the 200m butterfly and 200m individual medley. Her first gold came in the 200m butterfly, where she clocked 2:05.08 to set an Asian Games record.

She then won the 200m individual medley in 2:06.10, breaking the Asian record and Asian Games record. The time also put her just 0.40 seconds away from Canada’s Summer McIntosh’s world record of 2:05.70. Yu then returned to the pool for the 400m individual medley on September 23 and produced another record-breaking swim. Her 4:28.56 was around 4.5 seconds faster than the previous Asian Games record set by China’s Ye Shiwen in 2014. With that victory, Yu completed a clean sweep of all three individual events she entered at her first Asian Games. 

While Yu was making her mark at 13 another teenager also set even bigger moment on September 24. Japan’s Shin Ohashi lined up for the men’s 200m breaststroke final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre with another Asian Games gold in sight. In the race, Ohashi broke the previous world record set by Chinese athlete Qin Haiyang, winning the race with a time of 2:04.83.

Qin had set the previous mark of 2:05.48 at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka. The Japanese teenager also dominated the final, finishing 3.84 seconds ahead of silver medalist Denis Petrashov of Kyrgyzstan. “My target had always been to break the world record, and I’m so happy to have done it,” Ohashi said after the race.

The victory was Ohashi’s second individual gold medal at the Asian Games. Earlier in the competition, he won the men’s 100m breaststroke after tying with China’s Dong Zhihao in 58.64. The two swimmers shared the gold after finishing with exactly the same time. For Gaines, the performances of the two teenagers offer an interesting contrast with his own path.

The late start that eventually took Gaines to Olympic glory

Before Rowdy Gaines seriously tried the sport, he had already attempted football, baseball, basketball, tennis and golf, only to be cut from all five. Swimming was almost an afterthought for the teenager who would eventually become an Olympic champion. It was not until his junior year of high school, at 17, that Gaines finally turned to swimming. The change was dramatic. He improved so quickly that within about two years, he had earned a swimming scholarship to Auburn University, where he trained under coaches including Eddie Reese and Richard Quick.

At Auburn, Gaines quickly established himself as one of the school’s top athletes. He won eight NCAA championships, including five individual titles, became a 22-time All-American and won 14 SEC championships. As a senior, he was also named the SEC Athlete of the Year. His rise continued at the international level. By the time the 1980 Moscow Olympics approached, Gaines had become one of the world’s leading freestyle swimmers and had broken 11 world records. He was expected to challenge for multiple Olympic gold medals, but the United States boycotted the Games following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The boycott hit Gaines hard. After finishing his senior season at Auburn, he initially retired from competitive swimming, unsure whether he could continue without the Olympic opportunity he had spent years chasing. His father encouraged him to reconsider, and with support from Richard Quick, Gaines returned to training in 1981 and moved to Austin, Texas, to prepare for the 1984 Olympics.

Three years later, Gaines finally got the Olympic moment he had missed in Moscow. At the 1984 Los Angeles Games, the 25-year-old won three gold medals, taking the 100m freestyle and helping the United States win the 4x100m freestyle and 4x100m medley relays. The teenager who had been cut from five sports had become an Olympic champion in Los Angeles.

His career later took another difficult turn. In 1991, Gaines was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, but he eventually recovered and returned to the pool. At 35, he qualified for the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials, becoming the oldest swimmer to do so at the time, although he ultimately chose not to compete at the Atlanta Olympics.

Gaines later became one of swimming’s most recognizable broadcasters. He has worked as an NBC swimming analyst for decades and has remained involved in the sport through appearances and work with young swimmers, including at Auburn’s swim camps.

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In an Instagram post announcing his retirement, Armstrong reflected on his career. He thanked the New York Athletic Club, USA Swimming, and World Aquatics, writing, “There are few things harder than saying goodbye to something that has been your entire life.”

He called it the end of a chapter filled with gratitude, pride, and memories, while making one point clear: “This isn’t goodbye to swimming. I’ll continue racing, but my focus is shifting as I begin a new chapter.”

That shift is significant. Armstrong is only 25, but he has already lived a career many swimmers spend a lifetime chasing.

He won three Olympic medals across Tokyo and Paris: two gold, one silver. World Aquatics credits him with 20 major medals, 15 from World Championships

The move also changes the picture around LA28. Earlier this year, Armstrong entered the inaugural Enhanced Games as a “clean” athlete, choosing to remain in the WADA and USADA testing pools despite competing in an event where performance-enhancing substances are permitted.

At the time, he insisted his Olympic ambition had not disappeared: “I WILL be continuing my path to win gold on home soil in LA.” His latest announcement makes that path far less certain.

He has now confirmed to SwimSwam that he will be focusing 100% on the Enhanced Games moving forward.

What really pushed Hunter Armstrong into the Enhanced Games?

The answer goes beyond medals. For Armstrong, it was about keeping swimming as a full-time career.

Despite his Olympic résumé, the economics of elite swimming had become difficult. Armstrong previously said joining Enhanced was his only realistic way to continue swimming full-time after losing a major sponsor. “If I don’t join Enhanced, I lose everything. If I do join Enhanced, I have a chance at not losing everything,” he said.

The Enhanced Games offered a stark financial alternative. Individual winners could earn $250,000, while certain world-record performances carried bonuses of up to $1 million. Armstrong chose the 50m backstroke and 100m freestyle, and at the inaugural Games in Las Vegas, he won the 50 back and finished second in the 100 free, collecting $375,000.

Yet Armstrong deliberately kept one foot inside the traditional anti-doping system. Enhanced announced him as a non-enhanced athlete, and Armstrong said he would race naturally while continuing to meet international testing standards. After the Games, he said he had undergone repeated drug testing and argued that staying clean preserved a possible route back to Olympic swimming.

“If I really just wanted money and didn’t care for the Olympics or Team USA or anything like that, I would have just retired,” Armstrong told SwimSwam. “The whole reason that I did the Enhanced Games clean was so that I could continue.”

That calculation now appears to have changed.

Armstrong still raced at the U.S. Nationals in July, placing 30th in the 50m butterfly and 10th in the 50m freestyle. But he has now confirmed that his focus will be 100% on the Enhanced Games moving forward. That decision matters because World Aquatics has rules addressing athletes who participate in or support competitions built around scientific enhancement. The federation has said eligibility can be considered on a case-by-case basis, leaving Armstrong’s long-term standing in traditional international swimming unclear.

For someone who once said the Olympics “was never really on my radar,” the journey to two Games and three Olympic medals was already an exceptional one.

Armstrong grew up with interests ranging from musical theatre and choir to football before swimming became his full-time pursuit. He eventually became a world-record holder in the 50m backstroke, stopping the clock at 23.71 in 2022 before Kliment Kolesnikov lowered it to 23.55 the following year.

His Olympic story followed the same unexpected script with multiple medals. Those achievements once pointed naturally toward another Olympic chapter in Los Angeles, especially after the 50m strokes were added to the LA28 program.

But Armstrong is now choosing a different lane.

His retirement announcement does not explicitly close the door on the Olympics. It does, however, move him away from the conventional route to LA28 and toward a competition built on a fundamentally different model of elite sport. For now, the swimmer who once hoped to chase Olympic gold on home soil is choosing to chase something else, and that makes his Los Angeles future one of the biggest unanswered questions surrounding his next chapter.

The post US Olympian Who Competed at Doping Olympics Makes LA28 Path Uncertain appeared first on EssentiallySports.

On September 22, Betlehem spoke to M4 Sport’s Sports News about what he still wants from his career before retiring. The FTC swimmer said, “Two more medals, from two competitions. It remains to be seen how many opportunities I will have for this. Hopefully one next year and one in 2028, and then I will say a fond farewell to the sport and hand over my place to the young,” Betlehem said.

Betlehem already has an Olympic medal from Paris 2024, although it was bronze rather than gold. He finished third in the men’s 10km open-water race behind fellow Hungarian Kristóf Rasovszky and Germany’s Oliver Klemet. The race came down to a tight battle for the final podium place, with Betlehem holding off Italy’s Domenico Acerenza by just 0.6 seconds at the finish.

Rasovszky won the Olympic title in 1:50:52.7, followed by Klemet in 1:50:54.8. Betlehem finished in 1:51:09.0, while Acerenza was only six-tenths of a second behind him. The Hungarian also competed in the 1500m freestyle in Paris, finishing fourth and setting a national record of 14:40.91.

Even his World Championship record is just as impressive, although a gold medal has still escaped him. Betlehem has collected five senior World Championship medals, including two silver and three bronze. His first came at the 2022 World Championships in Budapest, where he won silver in the mixed 4x1500m relay. He then added bronze medals in the men’s 4x1500m relay at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka and the 2024 championships in Doha.

In 2025, he added two more medals in Singapore. He won silver in the 3km knockout sprint behind Wellbrock and later took bronze in the mixed 4x1500m relay. His form continued to improve in 2026. Betlehem won the overall Open Water Swimming World Cup title after a strong season and sealed the trophy at the final in Setúbal, Portugal, where he won the men’s 10km race by just 0.2 seconds.

Earlier in the year, he also won both the 10km and 3km knockout sprint in Ibiza. Betlehem then produced another strong performance at the 2026 European Aquatics Championships in Paris. He collected a medal in all four open-water events he entered, taking silver in the 10km, silver in the 5km, gold in the 3km knockout sprint and bronze in the 4x1500m relay. He later finished sixth in the 1500m freestyle final.

For now, Betlehem remains focused on the 2027 World Championships and Los Angeles 2028. But his journey to this point has not been straightforward.

Betlehem’s difficult road back to the biggest stage

Before becoming an Olympic medalist and one of the leading open-water swimmers in the world, Betlehem went through a period in which he was not even sure he would continue swimming. The most challenging time early on in his life was in 2020 when he became ill and started to experience severe mental health issues. 

“Deep down, but I also stopped swimming because I felt like I wanted to live a normal life,” he said in an interview. At the time, Betlehem’s idea of a normal life was far removed from competing on the biggest swimming stages. He spoke about wanting to be able to enjoy simple things again, such as spending time in the garden when the weather was good or occasionally going out with friends. He also recalled travelling from Zalaegerszeg to Budapest with his parents to see a psychologist as he tried to work through the difficult period.

Betlehem later described himself as being in a very dark place, saying, “I was in a very deep state, I didn’t even give myself much of a chance.” However, he eventually recovered and returned to training. His comeback completely changed the direction of his career. Just four years later, Betlehem stood on the Olympic podium in Paris, winning bronze in the men’s 10km open-water race. 

There was another setback after his breakthrough Olympic campaign in 2024. Betlehem moved to the U.S. to study and train with other Hungarian swimmers, including Bettina Fábián, at NC State. However, the agreement began to fall apart quickly, especially with regard to the athletes’ commitment to continue in open-water racing and NCAA competition.

In December, Betlehem withdrew from the Short Course World Championships in Budapest. The Hungarian Swimming Federation said discussions over the 2025 season had revealed disagreements about Betlehem and Fábián competing in the Open Water World Cup while at NC State. The situation eventually led Betlehem and Fábián to return to Hungary. The federation also said the swimmers had been unable to train normally during their final weeks in the United States.

However, NC State coach Braden Holloway strongly disputed that version of events. He said, “Absolutely none of this is true,” and argued that the Hungarian federation had put pressure on the swimmers to return home. Holloway also maintained that NC State did support athletes competing in open-water events.

With both sides offering different accounts, the episode became another interruption in Betlehem’s career. Still, the setback did not derail him for long. Betlehem returned to Hungary, continued developing his open-water career, and entered 2025 with the chance to challenge for major international medals again.  By 2026, he had gone on to win the overall Open Water Swimming World Cup title, adding another major achievement to a career that had already come a long way from the difficult period he faced in 2020.

The post Olympian Hints at Retirement After Fulfilling Two Major Wishes in Next 2 Years appeared first on EssentiallySports.

The former American swimmer launched a petition calling on the WNBA to establish what she describes as ‘female-only’ eligibility criteria and clearly define what “woman” means for players competing in the league.

Hogshead knows the world of elite women’s sports firsthand. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, she won three gold medals and one silver medal in swimming for the United States. She later became a civil rights lawyer and has spent years advocating for women’s opportunities in sports. Her petition, launched on August 14, argues that the WNBA should restrict eligibility to biological females who have been female since birth.

Hogshead also points to her own Olympic experience, saying, “I underwent s*x verification myself. It was a simple cheek swab, and I know firsthand why clear eligibility standards matter. I only wish we’d had similarly effective safeguards to catch the systematic doping of East German women swimmers in my era.”

The campaign has since attracted support from several high-profile names, including tennis legend Martina Navratilova, former NBA star Charles Barkley, former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom, and Lara Trump. The petition had passed 21,000 verified signatures by September 23. However, Hogshead’s move also comes as the WNBA faces pressure from Capitol Hill.

Rep. Marlin Stutzman and four other House Republicans recently sent a letter to WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert asking how the league defines “women” under its eligibility rules. The league’s collective bargaining agreement states that only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA, but the lawmakers have questioned why the agreement does not publicly provide a more specific definition.

For Hogshead, the answer is clear. Her petition asks the WNBA to define the female category in biological terms and establish clear eligibility standards. But the debate over eligibility in women’s sports is not limited to basketball. 

IOC’s new Olympic eligibility policy draws criticism

The International Olympic Committee added to that discussion in March 2026 when it announced its Policy on the Protection of the Female (Women’s) Category in Olympic Sport. The policy will take effect from the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and applies to female-category events at IOC competitions. Under the new rules, eligibility for the women’s category will initially be determined through a one-time SRY gene screening.

But this policy has also drawn opposition from human-rights and LGBTQ+ organizations. There were concerns that mandatory genetic testing could discriminate against women with naturally occurring s** differences, according to Human Rights Watch. ILGA World and the Sport & Rights Alliance also expressed concern about the issue of s*x testing and the exclusion of transgender and inters*x athletes from the women’s category.

The dispute touches upon the broader debate about women’s competition in sports. The IOC states that its policy is designed to uphold fairness and integrity in the women’s section, but its critics believe it may disqualify some participants and that it has raised human rights issues.

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The two-time Olympic champion has ended her retirement and is setting her sights on the 50m breaststroke at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. Her return begins at the South African Short Course Championships in Pietermaritzburg from September 24 to 27, where she is entered in the 50 m, 100 m, and 200 m breaststroke.

“Never say never…” Smith wrote on Instagram while announcing her comeback. “I genuinely thought my swimming career was over. But somewhere along the way, I started missing the water. The training. The nerves. The racing.”

It was an unexpected turn for an athlete who had seemingly closed one of the most successful chapters in South African swimming history.

Smith retired after Paris with four Olympic medals to her name. She won the 200m breaststroke in Tokyo under her maiden name, Tatjana Schoenmaker, before adding 100m breaststroke gold in Paris. She also claimed silver in both Games, putting her alongside Chad le Clos as South Africa’s most decorated Olympians by total Olympic medals.

Yet the medals failed to mask the exhaustion that had accumulated beneath them.

Smith’s retirement stemmed from multiple pressures: burnout, financial disputes, and systemic frustrations. For years, Smith’s life revolved around the pool. The relentless training, travel, and expectations eventually left her questioning whether she still wanted the sport that had defined her since childhood.

“I think probably everyone would think that the timing [of retirement] was the worst. But I absolutely 100% believe it was the best decision at that time,” she told the BBC World Service.

The break gave Smith something she had rarely experienced: distance. She spent time away from swimming, explored life outside elite sport, and even tried an Olympic-distance triathlon. But whenever she returned to the pool simply to stay fit, something familiar began to surface.

“Every time I went back to the swimming pool and I dived in, I was like, wow, I really miss that quietness,” she said.

Slowly, the idea of racing again stopped sounding impossible.

There were other factors behind her original retirement, too. Smith has spoken openly about financial pressure in swimming and her frustrations with aspects of the system surrounding athletes. A dispute over prize money from her 2023 World Championships campaign also became a major issue.

Smith and her husband and manager, Joel Smith, have pursued the matter legally, seeking interest connected to prize money that was delayed after the federation imposed a penalty that was later withdrawn. The dispute has added another layer to Smith’s complicated relationship with the sport she once walked away from.

But her comeback is not about settling old scores. It is about choosing swimming again.

Tatjana Smith opens up about her LA28 goal

“I’ve learned that I don’t have to choose between being an athlete and having a fulfilling life outside of sports. I can have both,” Smith said. That philosophy is also shaping the way she intends to race.

The 50m breaststroke gives Smith a new target.

Smith is not returning simply to recreate the career she had before. Her biggest change will come in the event she wants to pursue.

The 50m breaststroke is set to make its Olympic debut at LA28, giving Smith an opportunity to build something completely new rather than chase the same races that defined her first career.

“I thought, ‘Why don’t I try? Why don’t I give myself that challenge? Reinvent myself,'” she said.

The difference is significant. Smith has spent much of her career as an elite 100m and 200m breaststroker, events demanding a blend of endurance, efficiency and speed. The 50m is almost entirely about explosiveness, with little room for mistakes.

“One length, no turn, no room to settle, almost no time to recover if the start, pull-out, breakout, or touch goes wrong,” Smith explained. “Everything happens now. It scares me, but it also excites me.”

Her training has already changed dramatically. Instead of the enormous workload she once carried, Smith is now training around three swimming sessions a week, compared with as many as eight previously.

She will also begin this chapter with a new coach, new training environment and new city. Smith is working with Karin Hugo at Lane Leader in Stellenbosch after previously training with Tuks Swimming Academy in Pretoria.

“I’m not returning as the same athlete, nor as the same person,” Smith said. “It’s a new chapter, a new challenge, a new race, a new training group, a new city, and a new coach.”

The first test comes this week in Pietermaritzburg. It will be Smith’s first official competition since the Paris Olympics.

And while LA28 is firmly in her sights, she is refusing to treat the destination as a guarantee.

“LA 2028 is the goal. It is not a promise,” Smith said. “I still have to build a race, qualify and earn my place back on those blocks.”

That distinction says plenty about why this comeback feels different.

Smith already has the Olympic medals. She has broken world records, won world titles and reached the summit of her sport. There is little left to prove.

Now, for the first time, she says the decision belongs entirely to her. “I’m choosing swimming,” Smith said. “I’ve achieved way more than I ever dreamed in my whole life, so I have nothing to prove.”

The blocks are waiting again. This time, Tatjana Smith is diving in because she wants to find out what happens next.

The post Two-Time Olympic Champion Ends Retirement as She Sets Sights on LA28 Glory appeared first on EssentiallySports.

His son, Eric Burton, announced his death on Facebook, saying, “My dad, Mike Burton, has passed away after a grueling battle with Alzheimer’s and dementia,” Eric wrote. “My dad was by far the toughest man to have ever lived. He always inspired me to greatness.”

That toughness was visible throughout Burton’s life. Long before he became an Olympic champion, swimming was something he turned to after a serious childhood accident changed the direction of his life. Burton was born in Des Moines, Iowa, on July 3, 1947, and moved with his family to Sacramento, California, when he was young. He loved sports growing up, particularly football and basketball, and was developing into a talented athlete.

That changed when he was struck by a truck while riding his bicycle. The accident left him with serious injuries and ended his chances of continuing in contact sports. Swimming became an option because it was something he could do while recovering. Even doctors allowed Burton to try swimming but warned him not to expect much from it. But that pushed the teenager to prove them wrong. He joined the Arden Hills Swim Club, where legendary coach Sherm Chavoor took him under his wing.

Then, Burton began swimming competitively at 14 and quickly started making a name for himself. During his time at El Camino High School, he won 10 AAU titles. By 16, he was competing at the Nationals, and by 17, he was swimming internationally. Interestingly, Burton had been swimming competitively for only about three years when he qualified for the 1964 U.S. Olympic Trials. He entered the 1,500-meter freestyle and finished fifth, narrowly missing a place on the Olympic team.

Instead of ending his Olympic dream, the experience gave him another target: the 1968 Games in Mexico City. At UCLA, Burton continued to develop into one of America’s top distance swimmers. He won five individual NCAA titles between 1967 and 1970 and set records in freestyle and butterfly. He also won the 1,500-meter freestyle at the 1967 University Games in Tokyo.

Before the 1968 Olympics, Burton spent 40 days training in Colorado Springs to prepare for the altitude in Mexico City. The hard work paid off. He won the 400-meter freestyle in 4:09.00, beating Canada’s Ralph Hutton in a close race and setting an Olympic record. Two days later, he returned to the pool for the 1,500-meter freestyle and produced an even more dominant performance, winning by 18 seconds over fellow American John Kinsella. Four years later, Burton returned to the Olympics in Munich with another challenge in front of him.

By 1972, Burton was no longer entering the Olympics as an unquestioned favorite. He had dealt with a vitamin deficiency and struggled at the U.S. Olympic Trials. He failed to qualify for the 400-meter freestyle and 200-meter butterfly, leaving the 1,500-meter freestyle as his only route back to the Olympic team. He made it.

Burton then defended his Olympic title in Munich, winning the 1,500-meter freestyle in 15:52.58 and setting a world record. He became the first swimmer in Olympic history to win the 1,500-meter freestyle at two different Games. That victory gave Burton his third Olympic gold medal and made him the first American to successfully defend the Olympic 1,500-meter freestyle title. Decades later, Bobby Finke matched Burton’s feat by winning the event at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.

And then, at the age of 25, Burton retired from competitive swimming. But swimming was never really something he left behind.

Mike Burton kept his connection to swimming alive for decades

After retiring, Burton moved into coaching. He spent about 35 years coaching, working with swimming programs in Iowa, Washington, and Montana. He also coached at BYU, where he was part of a program that won an NCAA national championship.

His years as a coach allowed Burton to pass on what he had learned during his own career. The Sacramento Sports Hall of Fame also credits him as a trailblazer for a number of Sacramento swimmers who went on to make their own mark in the sport, including Debbie Meyer, Jeff Float and Summer Sanders.

While coaching became a major part of his life after competition, Burton’s achievements in the pool continued to earn recognition. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, the UCLA Hall of Fame and the Sacramento Sports Hall of Fame.

By the time his swimming career was over, Burton had collected three Olympic gold medals, seven world records, 16 U.S. records, 10 AAU titles and five NCAA individual championships. 

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The revelation adds another layer to a turbulent period for USA Swimming, which brought in Hilliard in December 2025 as one of the first major hires under new CEO Kevin Ring. By then, however, concerns about Hilliard’s handling of university funds had already surfaced.

Hilliard had spent nearly two decades at Colorado, eventually becoming Senior Associate Athletic Director for Business Operations and CFO. But in July 2025, his career there took an unexpected turn when Athletic Director Rick George alerted the university’s Department of Internal Audit about “concerns regarding possible fiscal misconduct.”

At the center of the investigation was Colorado’s Nike Elite program. Hilliard was its designated administrator, meaning he was responsible for managing employee product benefit allocations. Under the university’s agreement with Nike, employees received an annual allocation of $625 for Nike products.

According to USA Today Sports, Hilliard had the ability to adjust his own allocation without anyone else’s knowledge. Records reportedly showed that he exceeded his allotment every year from 2022 through 2025, including by $6,011 in 2025 and $2,304 in 2024. The total amount identified in the investigation was $9,510.50.

Then came the moment that reportedly changed the direction of the investigation.
On July 30, Hilliard told the university’s audit department, “I did it. I admit it.” Initially, he reportedly explained that the excess purchases were made to buy Christmas gifts for staff members.

But the explanation began to unravel when auditors examined the orders more closely. The purchases reportedly consisted largely of men’s pants and shirts in the same sizes. When questioned about that detail, Hilliard admitted that the items had been purchased for himself.

The university’s report said Hilliard acknowledged that he had access to excess Nike Elite funds and described the spending as an error and a misjudgment. He also reportedly appeared remorseful and told investigators that he was willing to be taxed on the amount he had spent beyond his allocation.

Just over four months later, Hilliard was hired by USA Swimming.

A hiring decision followed by an arrest

Hilliard joined USA Swimming in December 2025 as CFO, becoming one of Ring’s early hires after he took over as CEO. At the time, his extensive experience in collegiate athletics administration made him a notable addition. He had previously spent more than 17 years at Colorado, following eight years in athletics administration at the University of North Dakota.

Swimming itself, however, was not Hilliard’s professional background.
That hiring would come under scrutiny in August 2026, when Hilliard was arrested in Colorado. The Boulder County District Attorney’s Office charged him with theft, embezzlement of public property, and first-degree official misconduct over the alleged misuse of university funds.

USA Swimming said it learned of the arrest around 11 a.m. Mountain Time and immediately placed Hilliard on leave. The organization also removed his access to its data and financial systems and said it would conduct its own investigation into whether any impropriety had occurred during his brief tenure.

The following day, Hilliard resigned.

USA Swimming maintained that the information uncovered at Colorado had not emerged during its hiring process. In a statement to USA Today, the organization said, “USA Swimming engaged an independent search firm and conducted its own due diligence, including speaking directly with CU Athletics. The information now being raised was not disclosed to USA Swimming during that process.”

Hilliard, through an attorney, declined to comment. He is expected to be arraigned in a Colorado court in October.

The controversy arrives during a particularly unsettled period for USA Swimming. In early 2025, the organization had announced Chrissi Rawak as its incoming CEO, only for her to withdraw from the position less than 10 days later after USA Swimming said it learned of a report filed with the U.S. Center for SafeSport that had not been disclosed during its vetting process.

Rawak had been expected to lead the organization toward the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Instead, Shana Ferguson remained interim CEO while USA Swimming continued its search.

Now, months after making Hilliard one of its early leadership appointments, the organization is once again facing questions about a hiring process that failed to uncover information already known to his previous employer.

For Hilliard, what began with an internal audit at Colorado eventually followed him into a new job, and ended with his resignation from USA Swimming.

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Shaine Casas confirmed to SwimSwam on September 9 that he is no longer training with the University of Texas professional group led by Bowman. The decision comes less than two years before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and after a disappointing stretch for a swimmer who had recently established himself among the world’s best in the 200m IM, where Casas lowered his own American record in the short-course 200m IM to 1:49.43.

The move is all the more interesting because Casas had previously spoken highly of Bowman’s coaching. After Bowman took over the Texas program from Eddie Reese in 2024, Casas said the new training system “really complements the swimmer that I am and want to be.” Even after his breakthrough performance at the 2025 World Championships, he explained that Bowman had helped him deal with the pressure of racing alongside some of the best swimmers in the world.

“There’s no magic with Bob,” Casas said. “He instills in you competitiveness, determination, and the guts to own who you are.”

That’s why his departure from the group is even more notable. Casas first moved to Austin in 2022 after spending three years at Texas A&M. He had been just outside of the U.S. Olympic team for the 2021 Olympic Games and decided to enter the professional ranks and train with Texas legend Eddie Reese.

The new plan was quickly in effect. Casas was selected to the World Championships team for the 2022 season and claimed bronze in the 200m backstroke. He kept adding to his international medal count until finally he was a member of the first Olympic team in 2024. Reese was already retired, and Bowman was running the Texas program by this time. But still, Casas continued winning medals.

However, 2026 ushered in a different phase. At the Pan Pacific Championships, Casas had a bad showing and didn’t medal. His best individual result came in the 100 butterfly, where he finished fifth in 51.24. The bigger setback came in his signature event, the 200 IM. After winning silver at the 2025 World Championships, Casas finished 12th in 2:01.08 and failed to reach the final. Now, he has decided to make a change.

Casas is leaving Bowman’s professional training group, but he is not leaving Austin. He plans to continue training in the city for now, while keeping his next coaching arrangement private. “Time will tell,” Casas said about his future. “For now I’ll be in Austin training and focusing on what’s best for me as an athlete and a person.” Casas may be stepping away from Bowman’s training group, but the coach still has plenty to be proud of.

Marchand remains one of Bowman’s biggest success stories

One of the biggest success stories of his coaching career continues to be Léon Marchand, who has flourished under Bowman and remains one of the biggest names in swimming. At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Marchand finished 6th in the 400m Individual Medley, and he was soon making his mark as one of the world’s best swimmers.

After relocating from France to the United States following the Tokyo Olympics, Marchand started working with Bowman at Arizona State University. His ascendance in Bowman’s hands was spectacular.

His breakthrough came at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, where he won the 400m individual medley with a time of 4:02.50, beating Michael Phelps’ previous world record of 4:03.84. Then, at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Marchand found even more success. He won four individual gold medals and became the first Frenchman to win four gold medals in one Olympic Games.

He also had a strong relationship with Bowman after the Olympics. In 2024, Bowman transferred from Arizona State to Texas, and Marchand followed him. Marchand started trainin in Austin with some of the best athletes in the world. The decision, however, paid off at the 2025 World Championships in Singapore. Marchand prevailed in the 200m individual medley and Casas settled for the silver and Hubert Kós for bronze.

All three were training at Bowman’s in Austin, which meant that the coach had one of the biggest events in the meet to himself. While Casas has now decided that a change is what he needs heading toward the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Marchand continues to train under Bowman, with their partnership still producing major success.

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