Michael Phelps Says Cate Campbell Missing Out on 2024 Olympics Shows 'How Cutthroat' the Trials Are: 'Younger Generation Is Really Hungry' (Exclusive)

Michael Phelps says there are “no hard feelings” toward Australian swimmer Cate Campbell.

After NBC Olympics and Team USA posted an Instagram video of Phelps getting riled up and stating he “would make them eat every word they just said about me” while watching a video of Campbell, 32, bragging about beating America at the 2023 World Championships, the 23-time gold medalist is letting bygones be bygones. 

“This is strictly just what we've done our whole life, right?,” Phelps, 38, tells PEOPLE while discussing his new ad campaign with OMEGA. “It's strictly been a USA-Australia rivalry for so long, as long as I can remember.”

On June 15, shortly after the video — in which Campbell called Team USA “such, such, sore losers” and complains about the U.S. tradition of ringing cowbells — went viral, the swimmer finished seventh in the 50m freestyle at the 2024 Australian Swimming Trials, missing out on a spot at the Paris Summer Olympics. 

Phelps says that Campbell not qualifying for the upcoming Games speaks to “how cutthroat Olympic trials are,” explaining that “we have a young new team and they have a young new team. We both have talented, excited kids that aren't going to back down from a challenge.”

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“So when we see these icons and these historic swimmers swim long careers and don't make the team, to me it shows the younger generation is really hungry and they're not afraid to step up against the best in the world or the best in Australia and beat 'em,” the American swimmer tells PEOPLE.

While Phelps might have been incensed by Campbell making fun of Team USA, he relates to her more than he initially let on. “I think Cate said it herself, when we are in the water, I don’t like anybody,” the gold medalist explains.

He adds, “I want to beat the living crap out of every single person that's in the water with me. Even if they're my own teammates, I want to win. But when we do get out of the water, we are friends, we're competitors, but we have a good friendship.”

The Australian team might be USA’s rival in the water, but Phelps says his “closest swimming friends on the planet” hail from down under, pointing out Australian swimmers Ian Thorpe — whom Phelps said in the viral video “talked s--- about me and I had the last laugh” — and Grant Hackett. “They are two of my closest swimmers that I’ve swam with and they were two of my biggest competitors and rivals,” he says.

Referring to Campbell, Phelps adds, “So we're both super passionate about [swimming]. We all want to win a gold medal for our country and the swimming does our talking.”

Phelps will be in the NBC broadcast booth during the Paris Olympics but is looking forward to keeping the rivalry between Team USA and Australia alive. “If I have the chance to get back in the team area, I will be ringing that cowbell as loud as I possibly can,” he says.

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