Michael Phelps Ends Retirement

Michael Phelps, the U.S. swimmer who is the most decorated Olympian in history (11 total medals, including 18 gold) announced he will be ending his retirement and returning to competitive swimming.  He will swim the 50 and 100 meter freestyle and the 100 meter butterfly at the Arena Grand Prix meet in Mesa, Arizona April 24th-26th. He has not competed in a race since the 2012 Olympics.

Phelps has not competed in a race since the 2012 Olympics, but he’s apparently been thinking about unretiring for a while.  He entered the U.S. drug testing program six months ago and finished the required waiting time before being eligible to return to competition, and he’s been training five days a week.  Phelps’ coach says he’s “testing the waters” (um, right, ha ha) to see how it goes and doesn’t consider it a “full fledged comeback”. 

That sounds about right to us.  After taking a break, Phelps is probably rested up and frankly, bored, and would like to see if he can still compete at a world class level in his best events.  And of course, the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro are in August 2016, so he’d have more than two years to train.  No one is saying he’s aiming for those, but it’s a slam dunk that if he’s back to his old form will see him in Rio for a couple of events.  If he does make the team, it would be his fifth Olympics; besides his medal winning Olympics in 2004, 2008, and 2012, Phelps was on the team at the 2000 Games in Sydney, where he placed fifth in the 200 meter butterfly.  He was 15 at the time.

Here’s a highlight reel of Phelps at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he won eight gold medals: