Michael Phelps Ready to Swim; Plans to Retire After London 2012 Olympics
US swimmer Michael Phelps has announced that he will probably retire after competing at the London 2012 Olympics this summer. In an interview on "60 Minutes" on Sunday with Anderson Cooper, Phelps said that he will go for the gold again this summer and that if he can get three medals, he will be able to retire as the athlete to be decorated with the most Olympic medals. He already has an astonishing 16 Olympic medals.
He said: "Once I retire, I'm retiring. I'm done." He continued: "It was hard [after Beijing], because I didn't know if the passion or the fire was still inside of me. And it took a while for me to actually realize it myself. [Coach Bob Bowman] couldn't tell me, my mom couldn't tell me. They couldn't help me find it.
"I kind of feel like my old self again. I'm swimming times like I used to. I'm swimming races how I used to.
"I've been able to go to all these amazing cities in my travels and I haven't been able to see them at all. I see the hotel and I see the pool. That's it. And [after the Olympics] I'm just going to go and do whatever I want to do.
Phelps won eight gold medals in the Beijing 2008 Olympics, and six gold and two bronze at Athens 2004. He was given the World Swimmer of the Year Award six times and American Swimmer of the Year Award eight times. He also received Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year award in 2008.
