"Baby is going to add quite a bit of stress" - Michael Phelps' ex-coach reveals why he was worried about Olympian having his first son before Rio 2016

Michael Phelps is one of the greatest Olympians and has multiple world records under his belt. His ex-coach, Bob Bowman, who trained the legendary swimmer, has recently shared his thoughts on Phelps and him having his first child.

Bowman, who is an acclaimed swimming coach, is now the Director of Swimming and Diving and Head Men’s Coach at the University of Texas. He has also coached French rising star Leon Marchand. He recently appeared in one of the episodes of “Unfiltered Waters Podcast” with two Olympic champions, Katie Hoff and Missy Franklin and talked about Michael Phelps during 2016 and his journey of becoming a father for the first time.

“When Nicole got pregnant going into 2016, I thought well 'what a wonderful thing because they belong together and we went through this very long process to get them together’ and they finally were, it was amazing. And but in terms of the baby I was just like quite frankly I was worried on what kind of stressor that would be on Michael swimming going into the Olympics,” Bowman stated [44:48 onwards].

He continued:

“I just felt this huge responsibility to help him finish well because he come out of retirement, made a lot of changes in his life, gone through some hard things and I just wanted him to end up on a high note and I was like 'wow the baby's going to add quite a bit of stress' although it's great stress, it's good.”

Bowman mentioned what the 23-time Olympic gold medallist, Michael Phelps was going through as he was preparing for the Olympics coming out of his retirement and expecting his first child with his wife, Nicole in 2016.

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Bob Bowman reflects on structuring priorities for a successful journey with Michael Phelps

Bob Bowman at the Swimming - Olympic Games Paris 2024: Day 7 - Source: Getty

Bob Bowman coached Michael Phelps from a very young age. The legendary swimmer had shown promise for the sport early on. According to SwimSwam’s “MP Journey with Michael Phelps and Bob Bowman: Juggling Priorities,” Bowman shared how making priorities can make you succeed while handling multiple roles in your life.

“I tell my kids they come to college, you've got academics, swimming and social life, and you can only be good at two of them. So decide which two you're gonna be good at right, and it better be academics, better be one of them. And then if your swimming is not good, I won't have to deal with you anymore. But if your social life is in third place and you take the other two seriously, you're gonna do well and it's all about prioritization and also just believing you can do a lot of different things.”

Bob Bowman, the ASCA Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame inductee, revealed that if the upcoming talents prioritize correctly, they will do well in all spheres. He further reflected that “ones with good grades are at all the practices,” pointing out the fact that missing practice could be a limitation.