Swimmer Bobby Finke sends out a warning as he aims to carry his champion’s swagger to Paris 2024 after shock gold medal wins in Tokyo: ‘I’m going NOWHERE!’

Before Bobby Finke took to the water in Tokyo for the 800-meter freestyle, the American swimmer had a relatively modest barometer for his own individual success.

Reaching the finals was the original goal. Medal, a bonus. Gold? Unthinkable.

Two Olympic gold medals (the other in the 1500 metres) and a subsequent world championship later, Finke’s own expectations have been emphatically raised – and he enters this summer with a swagger to match his ever-expanding CV.

“I know I kind of belong there,” he told Mail Sport exclusively at Team USA’s Media Summit. “Because I have the qualifications to compete in that human race.”

‘I’m here. “I’m not leaving anytime soon,” he added. “I’m coming the exact same way and you guys have to deal with it.”

Finke poses on the podium during the medal ceremony for the men’s 1500 meter freestyle final

Finke went from a relative unknown to a two-time gold medalist at the Tokyo Olympics

Speaking about the Tokyo 1500m, he continued: “The second event was a bit different. Because at that point you’ve already won one. And going into that race, I felt pretty confident that as long as I stayed with my competitors, I could win again.”

That mentality has been carried into the preparations for this summer’s Olympic Games, for which Finke wants to qualify through the American trials in June. If he succeeds, he will fly into France more well-travelled, both in and out of the water, than three years ago.

When he won the 800- and 1,500-meter freestyles in 2021, Finke was still a student at the University of Florida — someone who had never left the country for a non-swimming trip.

Both facts have now changed as he graduated in December 2023 and enjoyed a holiday to Italy after last year’s worlds in Fukuoka.

He also won gold at the 2022 World Championships in Budapest in the 800m, along with silver in the 1500m, and added silver and bronze to his collection in 2023.

The weight he carries on his shoulders will become heavier this summer, but the focus is exactly the same.

“To possibly take that to Paris… it’s a badge of honor,” he said in the latest Ralph Lauren collection for Team USA. “But the best thing I can do is race people. And that’s really all I think about at the end of the day.

Finke obviously still has a long, long way to go to soak up the achievements of American swimming legends Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.

The pair earned 28 and 12 medals respectively and are considered the titans of American men’s swimming.

Finke will compete in the TYR Pro Swim Series men’s 800m freestyle final on April 13

Finke credited Michael Phelps (left) and Ryan Lochte for “pav[ing] the way’ for swimming

But Lochte isn’t so untouchable in real life.

Finke still sometimes sees the Gainesville native around the UF campus — a reminder of the impact he and Phelps made in the sport.

“They really paved the way for not even just Americans, but the whole world, just like a whole bunch of other countries are really getting into the sport of swimming,” Finke said.

“You know, we call it ‘swimflation’ because everything is getting so much faster now.”

If Finke surveys the competition this summer, that could very well be true.

But now his goal is to lead that platoon.