In the 2024 Olympics, Leon Marchand broke the 200 IM Olympic record that Michael Phelps had set in 2008. Many people see this as a beautiful passing of the torch. On the Exponential Athlete podcast we see this as the continuation of a legacy. Leon and Michael don’t just have olympic gold medals and records in common. Both of these athletes are disciples of the legendary coach Bob Bowman. His methods have been proven at all levels of swimming and have stood the test of time.
He is the current coach at the University of Texas and has held head coaching positions at Arizona State, and the University of Michigan. He was also the US Olympic team head coach in the 2016, and has been involved USA swimming since 2004. In this past Olympics, he also coached Leon on the French team.
Bob is the author of the golden rules, one of my favorite books about creating systems for success in sport and in life.
Today, I had the pleasure of interviewing Bob about the similarities and differences between Leon and Michael, his coaching philosophy, creating resilience on his teams, and the fine details that make champions. If you’re already a fan of the pod, you know that I’ve already done extensive study into Bob and Michael. It was amazing to be able to learn from him in person.
00:00 Intro
01:33 Similarities Between Leon and Michael
05:08 Creating Adversity
08:08 Goals
13:10 Differences Between Leon and Michael
25:04 What is the role of a coach
28:34 Experimentation
32:48 How did Bob Study?
40:57 Lactic Acid Testing
43:41 Visualization
49:06 Biofeedback
Books Referenced:
The Science of Winning: https://amzn.to/3VK9zpF
The Power of Now: https://amzn.to/3ZFIe93
Finding the Winning Edge: https://www.scribd.com/document/212816221/Finding-the-Winning-Edge
The Football Coaching Bible: https://amzn.to/3ZWGQQSThe
Swimming Coaching Bible: https://amzn.to/4gEl3mw
Keith Bell Book: https://amzn.to/4gZHy5JExponential Athlete
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Website: https://exponentialathlete.co/
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