USA Swimming concluded the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in record-breaking style. The final night saw the American women’s 4x100m medley relay squad setting a new world record of 3:49.34. In fact, the United States emerged at the top of the swimming medals table with 29 medals. However, despite the success, criticism from personalities like Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte followed. But not everyone seems to be in line with their opinions. For example, medley relay team member Torri Huske voiced her perspective on the scrutiny that Team USA received.

Speaking to Mel Stewart of SwimSwam, she reflected on the challenges the team endured, especially after the entire team got impacted by ‘acute gastroenteritis’ during the Championships. Team officials confirmed that the illness was originated during a pre-meet training camp in Phuket, and has compromised multiple performances during the event. In fact, a few swimmers had to reschedule their travel plans in the wake of illness. Speaking about the same, Huske stated, “Yeah, I feel like I was in like the middle wave that got sick. If I’m being honest, I think probably like 90% of athletes got sick. Like it was pretty rare to not be sick at all or have any signs of illness. But I was like in the crew that had to stay back and travel a day later because I got it like the day before, like two days before. And yeah, it was tough, I’m not gonna lie.”

Huske’s account emphasized the resilience and dedication behind the medal counts. She elaborated on her personal experience in the meet, highlighting both struggle and recovery. “I definitely could have handled it better, but it could have been a lot worse. So I’m, I’m happy with the result. Like overall, I think that if people could see what our team was going through, they would be very impressed with the way that we handled it. So I am very proud of like myself and the team for like staying positive and pushing through.”

Huske did acknowledge that a lot of the swimmers had bad days. But she also re-iterated how some of them were able to recover from the setbacks and come out on the bright side. But such a performance was not enough for the likes of Phelps and Lochte.

Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte criticize USA Swimming’s struggles ahead of 2028 Olympics

Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte took to social media to address the poor performance of USA Swimming. Lochte shared an AI-generated image. It showed a gravestone attended by mourners, as the epitaph read, “In Loving Memory of United States Swimming.” Lochte also added a quote saying, “They set the bar high — until they stopped reaching for it.” The caption read, “Call it a funeral, or call it a fresh start. We’ve got three years,” emphasizing the period leading up to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. 

US swimming legend Phelps immediately weighed in and wrote, “Is this the wake up call USA swimming needed? Let’s find out…..” The statements from Phelps and Lochte carried weight given their unparalleled achievements in the sport. Phelps captured 26 gold medals across six World Aquatics Championships, while Lochte amassed 18 golds in his six appearances. 

Their commentary implicitly underscored the distance between the historical dominance of the United States and its current standings in Singapore, where the team had secured nine golds out of 29 medals. Not only Lochte and Phelps, Rowdy Gaines too, pointed to organizational instability and health challenges among the swimmers. Gaines mentioned, “USA Swimming has gone an entire year without a Chief Executive Officer. That’s not just an oversight – it’s a failure of leadership.” Perhaps, with things looking tricky, it remains to be seen how the situation pans out.