Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps said last night that he is starting a new endeavor involving a pool he and coach Bob Bowman are purchasing in Baltimore.
"My goal is to change the sport of swimming," Phelps told NBC's Nightly News anchor Brian Williams in an interview broadcast last night. "Bob and I are starting up a new business back in Baltimore with the pool that we just bought, so we're going to make some adjustments and see what we can do to take that sport to the next level."
The 23-year-old swimmer's declaration comes amid rumors that he and his representatives are in negotiations to buy North Baltimore Aquatic Club's Meadowbrook facility along with a neighboring ice skating rink and post office in the Mount Washington community.
One rumored proposal has Phelps and his management group turning the area into an Olympic training center. In April, it was announced that Bowman would be NBAC's chief executive officer.
Several skating instructors were informed Wednesday night that the Northwest Skating Rink would be closed at the end of the month, according to one coach who did not want to be identified out of deference to the business' management. The coach said that the chairwoman of the nonprofit organization that runs the rink told the instructors at the meeting that she has agreed to sell the property to the NBAC, the swimming club that developed Phelps.
The coach said that Jackie Eliasberg, the chairwoman, swore all the instructors to secrecy but that word leaked out anyway. Eliasberg did not respond to numerous requests for comment.
Murray Stephens, CEO and founder of the NBAC, denied a deal was finalized with the skating rink or Phelps. Stephens, speaking by phone, said he had not heard Phelps' television comments and "can't comment on what Michael Phelps said. I'm not in a position to talk about anything that I don't know is happening."
Stephens declined to comment further.
In late April, NBAC announced that Bowman, 43, would become its CEO after the Olympics, and Phelps said he would follow his coach back to Baltimore. For the past four years, Bowman has coached at the University of Michigan, and Phelps has trained with him in Ann Arbor.
Bowman will take over from Stephens, 62, who founded the club in 1968.
The modest facility is known for producing elite swimmers, including Phelps' fellow Olympian Katie Hoff. Phelps' older sisters, Hilary and Whitney, also trained there. Bowman began coaching Phelps at NBAC when the Olympian was 11.
