His glorious time at the pool seems to have come to an end, but his journey as a father has only begun. Michael Phelps, the vanquishing athlete has had a phenomenal career in swimming.
“Done. Done. Done,” Phelps said Monday, repeating what he said after the 2012 London Games. "This time I mean it. We talked earlier in the year and I wanted to come back and finish my career how I wanted. This was the cherry on top of the cake I wanted.”
“The biggest thing between now and London was that I was more emotional during these games and that showed on camera,” Phelps said, putting aside all doubt. “I knew this was the last time, the last race I’d ever have, the last Olympics I’d ever have.”
A career he declared that has come to retirement after he won his 23rd gold at Rio Olympics this Saturday. Four years ago, when he made the same decision to withdraw from the sport, he seemed certain about it. But the ace swimmer rose back from his retirement in the year 2014, when he participated and won the 100-meter butterfly event at the Arena Grand Prix in Charlotte.
Phelps not only became the flag bearer for his country in Rio, but also created history when he managed to secure 5 gold in various events, making an overall of 23 gold medals won by the athlete in Olympics history.
As Michael swam his way to history in his last 4x100-meter medley relay event, his 3-months-old baby son Boomer decided to stay asleep. Boomer Phelps, the newborn is the apple of his parents’ eyes and now the most adorable baby on the Internet.
The affectionate father that he is, Michael claims, “I picked him up after I was done and just held him, that’s something I’m really, really looking forward to, just watching him grow up.” Phelps foresees himself being a full-time dad as he states, “I don’t want to miss a thing.”
Boomer, on the other hand, has become a media sensation on various grounds. For starters, his (incredibly) adorable looks. He was also seen sporting clothes with dad’s initials in several events and Internet posts. The little one has also grabbed much attention on Instagram, where he enjoys a personal account with nearly 500,000 followers. The Instagram posts are all in Boomer’s narrative, often cheering and displaying time spent with his “daddy”.
Michael and his soon-to-be wife Nicole Johnson greeted each other affectionately after the swimmer won his last gold, while their baby boy was tucked in between his parents as the family embraced the special moment. Phelps plans to expand swimming as a more popular sport all around the globe as his future endeavor.
On a goodbye note to his fans and the media, he said, “You guys won’t see me at one of these things for a long time.”
Adieu, Champ.
