Photo Credit: Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images
Looks like he could not stand to be out of the pool for too long after all! Despite announcing his retirement from competitive swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Michael Phelps has decided to dip his toe back in the water. The 22-time Olympic medal winner has announced that he will compete at a meet in Mesa, Arizona later this month.
He is expected to join fellow Olympians Ryan Lochte and Katie Ledecky. Phelps has been planning this return for a while as he has already entered and completed the U.S. Drug-Testing Program. Competitors must wait six months before they are eligible to compete.
Could this be Phelps test to see if he can compete in the 2016 Summer Olympics? One could certainly infer that, but Phelps is now 29 years old and may not want to compete if he is no longer at his peak.
Oh Please! Did anyone really believe he retired?
The word “retirement” may be a part of an athlete’s vocabulary, maybe even his head. It certainly, however, is not part of his heart. It’s more like, “I miss the limelight and adrenalin. Wonder if I can do it again? Even though ‘m pushing eighty.”