Michael Phelps is the best swimmer in the world. Hands down. No question. Year after year, Olympics after Olympics, he has solidified his spot as the "winning-est" Olympian in the game. As a swimmer and avid swim fan myself, I love seeing Michael Phelps race, and I think he deserves all the credit he has received and more. Although Michael deserves his time in the spotlight, I've noticed something in this past Olympics that bothers me, especially in his relays, Phelps gets all the attention. For all you Phelps-obsessed fans, hear me out: Phelps is great, but the U.S. swim team is not a team of one.

Phelps, who anchored the 4x200 men's freestyle relay, won his 21st Olympic gold medal this past Tuesday. Although he himself gave the rest of the relay credit through Instagram and interviews, the post-race news reporters only focused on one thing: Michael Phelps. For those who don't know, a relay consists of four people. Those four people compete in the final event, and are usually the fastest swimmers in that event. But there aren't actually only four people—to get into the final for a relay, the team has to qualify for the semifinals through prelims. A lot of teams will put in their second-string team (the swimmers that are good at the event, but maybe not the best) so that the finals swimmers can rest for the race that counts. The one where you win a medal. So even though you probably saw Dwyer, Haas, Lochte, and Phelps swim, you almost certainly didn't see Lochte, Conger, Smith, and Bentz qualify Team USA for the finals earlier in the day. The entire team will receive a gold medal, because without the prelims swimmers, the big guys like Michael Phelps wouldn't even have had the opportunity to swim.

What bothers me the most is the post-race interviews. After the men won their 4x200 relay, all the attention was on Phelps. "How does it feel to win another gold?" "Let's talk more about your 200 fly earlier..." etc. All of these questions were asked directly to Phelps, while the other three men who swam in the relay (Dwyer, Lochte, Haas) all stood awkwardly, having just swum the same race as Phelps. I'm not blaming Phelps at all. He gave credit where it was due, and he simply answered the questions asked. But it baffles me that everyone forgets about the "little people" so quickly in favor of listening to Michael Phelps. Townley Haas, the University of Texas swimmer, who swam the fastest split in the relay out of anyone else in the pool, including Michael Phelps, was cut off by the interviewer when asked about how he felt after the race. Ryan Lochte, who is one of the most decorated male swimmers of all time, winning his 12th Olympic medal with this relay, was nearly skipped in terms of questions, eventually being able to speak and humbly giving credit to the guys who swam earlier in prelims. The interviewer eventually got to Conor Dwyer, but the camera was focused on one person only: Michael Phelps.

I saw a commercial today for an interview with Allison Schmitt, one of the world's top 200 freestylers, about this Olympics and her experience as team captain of the USA swim team. And then, of course, because America couldn't go five seconds without mentioning Michael Phelps, the interviewer teases, "And keep watching to see how Allison's career has been affected and motivated by one of the greatest legends in swimming!" as a picture of Michael Phelps hugging Schmitt (they're long-time friends, by the way) flashes on the screen. Does Allison Schmitt mind that Phelps is popping up in her interview? Probably not. She's probably happy about it, since they're friends and teammates. But was I happy about it? No! The interview was about her and her success, which was done on her own! What does Michael Phelps have to do with it? The women of the Olympics are already having a tough enough time being recognized for their own accomplishments, with Katie Ledecky, the best distance freestyler on the planet right now, being told she "swims like a man," and other female athletes receiving sexist comments from commentators. "She doesn't swim like a man, she swims like Katie Ledecky!" Rowdy Gaines, an Olympic swimmer himself, commentated. She's not the female Michael Phelps; she is Katie Ledecky, and she's earned the right to be recognized on her own.

I'll say it again: Michael Phelps is great. He has globally popularized the sport of swimming, encouraging more young kids to pick up the sport, which has decreased rates of drowning and promoted healthy living. For that, the swimming world can't thank him enough. But I think the media is overdue with credit for the other swimmers, too. Sure, Michael is doing well, but that doesn't mean that we should forget about the other swimmers who were on his relay, or that we have to mention him in every interview of every swimmer ever. Post-race interviewers, get a clue.