Tokyo Olympics 2021

If Michael Phelps wants to live a normal life during his retirement from swimming, his name might prevent him from doing so.

The Olympic swimming legend was dubbed “The GOAT” on Monday during a routine visit to Starbucks. The barista issued Phelps his new title on his coffee cup, which basically doubles as an official proclamation. Phelps’ wife and a friend also basked in his deserved glory.

And who could argue with the barista’s assessment of Phelps? He won Olympic 23 gold medals, three silver and two bronze medals between 2000 and 2016. He holds records for most Olympic gold medals and overall medals among other achievements in his historic career.

Thumbnail photo via Erich Schlegel/USA TODAY Sports Images

Hilary Knight and the U.S. women’s hockey team are taking a stand against unequal pay.

Knight announced Wednesday in a statement on Twitter that she and her teammates will not be playing in the 2017 IIHF World Championship unless “significant progress” is made to settle a dispute with USA Hockey over unfair wages.

Team USA players informed USA Hockey on Wednesday that they won’t report to training camp next week or play in the tournament, which begins March 31, unless a deal is reached, per ESPNW.

“We are asking for a living wage and for USA Hockey to fully support its programs for women and girls and stop treating us like an afterthought,” USA captain Meghan Duggan told ESPNW. “We have represented our country with dignity and deserve to be treated with fairness and respect.”

According to ESPNW, USA Hockey has paid the women’s team just $1,000 per month during their six-month residency period at the Winter Olympics and “virtually nothing” over the rest of that four-year period, meaning they earn roughly $6,000 over a four-year span despite being asked to train full-time.

USA Hockey claimed in a statement that it’s prepared to pay each player much higher wages at the 2018 Winter Olympics, providing nearly $85,000 in cash for each player through “additional support stipends and medal incentives.” But John B. Langel, an attorney who is representing the U.S. women in contract negotiations, balked at that number.

“That is so incredibly misleading, and you can quote me on that,” Langel told ESPNW. “That couples the (U.S. Olympic Committee) money with their (federation) money and assumes the women win gold at the 2018 Olympics. That amount would only apply to the Olympic year. And more than $60,000 of it would come from the USOC.”

According to the players, USA Hockey also spends roughly $3.5 million on a national team development program for men, but there’s no comparable program for women.

USA Hockey says it still plans to field a “competitive team” if Knight and her teammates follow through on the boycott.

“Good luck getting a suitable No. 1 competition to represent our country on a world stage,” Knight said, via ESPNW. “I kind of dare them.”

Thumbnail photo via Richard Mackson/USA TODAY Sports Images

Michael Phelps finally has said what he always wanted to say about swimming cheats.

The Olympic swimming legend revealed his long-standing frustration over doping in swimming Tuesday during his testimony to the U.S. Congress. Phelps told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation, which is investigating the international anti-doping system, he has suspected opponents were breaking rules.

“Throughout my career, I have suspected that some athletes were cheating and in some cases those suspicions were confirmed,” Phelps said in his prepared statement. “I can’t adequately describe how frustrating it is to see another athlete break through performance barriers in unrealistic time frames, knowing what I had to go through to do it. I watched how this affected my teammates too. Even the suspicion of doping is disillusioning for clean athletes.”

Phelps, winner of a record 28 Olympic medals, retired permanently from the sport in November when he ended his participation in the drug-testing pool.

One of his first acts outside of the pool is to help clean up the sport he dominated for so long.

Donald Trump has been president of the United States for a little over a month, but one public figure believes his presidency already is a mess.

Caitlyn Jenner took to Twitter on Thursday to share a video message for POTUS. In the video, Jenner extends her support for the LGBTQ community, which she believes Trump has failed to do.

You can hear Jenner’s full message in the video below.

We’ll have to wait and see whether or not Trump responds to Jenner’s message.

Thumbnail photo via Crystal Chatham/The Desert Sun via USA TODAY NETWORK

Two-time Olympic women’s ice hockey silver medalist Hilary Knight and Red Bull brought the inaugural Open Ice tournament to City Hall Plaza in Boston.

NESN.com’s Rachel Holt caught up with Knight, who let us in on the growth of women’s hockey, being a Red Bull athlete and the Olympic aspirations for USA women’s hockey.

Find out what she had to say in the video player above.

Thumbnail photo by Marc DiBenedetto/NESN.com