CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – 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.

Thompson began serious competitive swimming in Dover at age 12.

About 50 members of the men’s and women’s swim teams and their supporters protested at the Statehouse.

They met with Gov. John Lynch, former chairman of trustees for the state university system, to give him a copy of a statement by Thompson that said: “How can the university honor me for accomplishments in an endeavor which they clearly do not respect?”

Lynch told them he was sympathetic, but they needed to make their case to the university trustees. The university has autonomy over its budget.

The alumni group was disappointed that Thompson decided not to accept the Pettee Medal.

, “but we respect her decision,” executive director Gregg Sanborn said. “Likewise, we are disappointed that the Pettee Medal has become politicized as a result of hard decisions necessary in UNH athletics.”

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.

“The men’s swim team doesn’t cost that much more money in the end” because UNH already has to provide facilities for the women’s swim team, said Michelle Garnsey, 21, a member of the women’s team from Lake Wylie, S.C. “We already have the pool time, we already have the coaches, and we’re already traveling to meets.”

Brian Lucey, a 2000 graduate who swam for UNH, said the university should not use Title IX to justify the cuts. Title IX is a federal law that requires parity in funding for men’s and women’s sports.

“They’re using it as an excuse, because it’s not the real essence of Title IX to decrease men’s sports – it’s to increase women’s sports,” he said.

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.

“No one wants to tell a kid, Your team’s cut,”‘ she said. “But we cannot sustain the number of varsity sports that we currently do. … We’ve really overextended ourselves and we’ve got to pull back.”

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

Thompson said she could not have achieved her dreams if she had not had the opportunity provided by swimming teams. She competed as a member of the Dover High School team and with the Seacoast Swimming Association, then went on to swim for Stanford University. A four-time Olympian, she owns an American-best career total of 12 medals, including eight gold medals.

“Having the men’s swimming team and other Olympic sports, such as crew and skiing, cut means less opportunity for people to achieve their dreams, not just for the current student-athletes but for future generations,” she said.

Thompson now is studying at Columbia University’s School of Medicine. In 2004, she retired from competitive swimming.