Swimmer Jenny Thompson, America's most decorated Olympian, is rejecting a high honor from the University of New Hampshire to protest the school's decision to cut its men's swimming team.

Thompson said she is turning down the Charles Holmes Pettee Medal, the highest honor given by UNH's Alumni Association. Thompson did not attend UNH.

"I grew up in New Hampshire and was proud to be an Olympian from the state. The message from the largest university in the state is that it doesn't support Olympic sports, and I can't really accept an award from a university that does such a thing," she said Tuesday in a brief telephone interview.

…The university also is eliminating men's and women's tennis and women's crew and cutting the men's ski team in half as it tries to erase half of a $1 million annual shortfall.

A review of UNH athletics showed the program was stressed because it had too many teams -- four more than the average Division I school, Athletic Director Marty Scarano said when he announced the cuts in late January.

Several protesters said Tuesday that UNH's football and men's basketball teams both run huge deficits, while the men's swim team only costs $56,000 a year.

…University spokeswoman Kim Billings said the cuts were painful, but the university needs football and basketball to maintain its Division I status and remain in America East, which are priorities. She also said the university will honor the students' athletic scholarships if they want to remain at UNH and help them transfer if they don't.

Right now, every student pays an annual fee of nearly $700 to support the athletics program, although only 675 of about 10,500 undergraduates play varsity sports, she said.

…The university predicts more cuts if it cannot close half the annual deficit with better fundraising and ticket sales, she said.