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Michael Phelps is the most decorated athlete in the history of the Olympics. He started swimming when he was only seven and has amassed a total of 28 Olympic medals over the course of twelve years.
Due to his immense achievements, many were of the opinion that Phelps should have been given the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the highest civilian honor in the United States of America) this year. The legendary American swimmer has long since retired, and rumors suggesting that he would make a comeback once again at the 2020 Summer Olympics did not come to fruition.
Michael Phelps on his retirement and comeback
Michael Phelps was just 27 when he decided to call time on his professional swimming career. At that point, he had won a total of 22 world medals (including 18 gold medals).
At a post-conference ceremony after his stellar performance at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Michael Phelps stated:
“I would not change anything, I did not miss anything, I have had these opportunities to do some things that nobody else had done before so I am very very happy with that.”
He also commented on how pleased he was to see upcoming swimmers like Katie Ledecky and Allison Schmitt perform to the best of their abilities regardless of the number of times they have participated in the Olympics. When it came to the topic of his retirement, Phelps said:
“I am a lot more relaxed than I thought I would be at this moment... It will probably hit me hard in the next couple of days."
Michael Phelps also stated the following in an interview with TODAY, back in 2012:
“I’m done. I’m finished. I’m retired. I’m done. No more.”
Despite his farewell at the conference, sports enthusiasts would see him take part in the 2016 Summer Olympics. The Baltimore Bullet clinched five gold medals (200 metres medley, 200 metres butterfly, 4x100 metres freestyle, 4x200 metres freestyle, and 4x100 metres medley) and a silver one for 100 metres butterfly.
Four years later, he spoke to TODAY once again and stated:
"Done, done, done — and this time I mean it. I wanted to come back and finish my career how I wanted and this was the cherry on top of the cake."
