Janet Evans marvels over Michael Phelps' amazing Olympic accomplishments
Michael Phelps will make history this month in Rio, swimming in his fifth Olympic Games. And at age 31, the most decorated Olympian of all time is all but a lock to add to his unfathomable collection of medals.
For most fans who tune in once every four years, the calculus is easy: Phelps hops in the pool and he wins. That’s just how it goes.
There’s quite a bit more to Phelps’ prolonged run of dominance, according to Janet Evans, who herself is a four-time Olympic gold medalist who knows a thing or two about the immense pressure that comes with competing in the Games. In fact, Evans, now the director of athlete relations for Los Angeles’ 2024 Olympic bid, says Phelps has spoiled spectators with his supremacy in the pool.
“I think we’ve come to expect so many great things from Michael that I think we sometimes forget how difficult it is to continue at this level,” said Evans, who won gold in the 400- and 800-meter freestyle and the 400 IM in Seoul in 1988, then repeated as the 800-meter champ in 1992 in Barcelona, where she also took silver in the 400 free.
Michael Phelps is out for more gold in Rio.
“When we turn on the television and watch them swim at the Olympics, they make it look easy,” she continued. “So I think we have to remember what tremendous pressure Michael is under to continue to win, continue to be gracious, continue to do all the things that we’ve come to kind of know and respect him for.”
For most, that kind of weight can be too much to handle even once, much less five times. But Phelps, for more than half his life, has remained largely unruffled by magnitude of the stage.
In a TV ad earlier this summer, Phelps described his mindset at the Olympics succinctly, stating, “I just go out and do what I do. There’s nothing that goes through my head.” And as far as Evans is concerned, that’s the approach an athlete like Phelps has to take to stay at the top of his game for as long as he has.
“A lot of people can swim fast, but I think the great champions are the people that can pull it together when it counts, focus solely on their athletic pursuits and not really worry about all of the other pressures and expectations that come with that,” Evans said. “Block out the media, block out the television camera in your face, block out the fact that you’ve won however many gold medals and just focus completely on the race at hand. I’ve thought that for a long time about Michael — that’s what he continues to do so well.”
That’s the attitude Evans said she brought to Seoul, where she stunned the world as a unheralded 17-year-old known as “Miss Perpetual Motion.”
“In ‘88, when I was swimming against East Germans, people marveled that I could beat them, but to me it was just another swim meet,” Evans said. “And that’s kind of how it is with Michael. I feel like with the greatest athletes in the world, that’s what they do.
“It didn’t matter to me who was swimming next to me,” she continued. “It didn’t matter what stage it was on. It didn’t matter to me how many people were in the stands or how many people were watching on television. What really mattered to me was my race and my lane and the next 50 meters.”
And while it might seem obscure, Evans compares her and Phelps’ competition preparation to a student cramming for a test.
“I tell kids when I give presentations, it’s like that feeling when you’re in college and you did your homework, and when the professor hands out the exam, you get that feeling of, ‘I’ve got this,’ when the student next to you is pulling their hair out because they didn’t study,” Evans said. “I can only speak about my sport, but that’s the feeling that you have — ‘I’ve done this a million times, I couldn’t be more well-prepared, I know what I’m doing and it’s time to execute.’”
Janet Evans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 2007.
Evans also says she sees the traits that have made Phelps so great in another up-and-coming American swimmer as well.
“Look at someone like Katie Ledecky, who I’m a big fan of,” Evans said. “I think she’s going to be the star out of the swimming pool in Rio, and she reminds me of an athlete like Michael. She focuses on the task at hand, she doesn’t worry about any of the expectations. She doesn’t worry about the medal count, she doesn’t worry about making history. She just swims.”
At the 2012 Games in London, a 15-year-old Ledecky took home gold in the same 800-meter freestyle event Evans won twice. Now 19, the Washington, D.C., native enters Rio as the world record holder in the 400-, 800- and 1,500-meter freestyle and is coming off wins in the 200-, 400- and 800-meter freestyle at the Olympic trials earlier this year.
“Technically, she swims a distance race like it’s a sprint,” Evans said. “So she swims a 400 or 800 freestyle like it’s a 100 or 200 freestyle, and just keeps going. There’s a lot of swimming-specific stuff that she does that’s kind of unbelievable and amazing.”
Katie Ledecky after winning the women's 800-meter freestyle at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in July.
Like Phelps, Ledecky is also expected to compete for the U.S. in multiple relay races, and could take home as many as five gold medals. But Evans doesn’t expect the spotlight to change Ledecky’s approach.
“If anyone can handle, A) the pressures of being in Rio and, B) the pressures that come with success, it would be her,” Evans said of Ledecky. “She has great coaching, she has a great family, she has incredible support, and I can’t say enough good things about her.
“I think the test of a champion is someone who can go into a competition like this with expectations and come out better than they did when there were none,” Evans added. “She doesn’t have the veil of anonymity anymore. In London people said, ‘Oh yeah, she’s fast, she made the team,’ but whatever, she’s a kid, right? Here’s she’s going in as the favorite, and some people crack under the pressure, but I don’t expect that Katie ever would.”
But while Ledecky is primed to be the next Phelps, all eyes will be on the man himself, over the next couple weeks. And Evans says she likes the legend’s chances to add a little more gold to his trophy case in what he claims will be his last Olympic run.
“People ask me leading up to the Games how I think Michael is going to do, and my response is always the same: I think he’s going to do great,” Evans said. “From what I’ve read and seen and watched, he’s as focused or even more focused than he was before Beijing in 2008. And when that all comes together — watch out.”
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