Is Michael Phelps Retired? Why Swimming In 2020 Olympics Is Not Athlete's Plan

More than a year after announcing his retirement, Michael Phelps is standing firm on his decision to leave competitive swimming. The most decorated athlete in Olympic history is ready to call it a career and remains adamant that he won’t be competing in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games.

“I have no other goals that I want to accomplish. It’s safe to say I’m fully retired and starting the second chapter of my life,” Phelps told International Business Times.

Shortly after winning five more gold medals and one silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Phelps told Matt Lauer on the “TODAY Show” that his career was finished. It was an announcement that was met with plenty of skepticism, and one that Phelps had made before.

Phelps expressed a similar sentiment to Lauer in 2012, claiming he was done competing at the Olympics for good. He began training seriously again in 2013 and returned to competitive swimming in 2014.

During his first retirement, Phelps was bored. He didn’t have any children and he wasn’t married. He hadn’t even celebrated his 30th birthday when he decided it was time to compete in one more Olympics.

A lot has changed in the last four years for Phelps, who will be 35 years old during the 2020 Olympics. He’s married to former Miss California Nicole Johnson, and the couple has a son (Boomer) with a second child on the way.

With a record 28 total medals and 23 golds, Phelps has cemented his legacy as the greatest athlete in Olympic history. Having done just about everything possible on the grandest stage, Phelps is keeping busy now that his career as an athlete is over.

“Watching Boomer grow up over the last 18 months, and Nicole now pregnant with a second, our life is changing,” Phelps told IBT. “It’s very exciting, and I can honestly say it’s probably easier to train for an Olympic games than it is to do this. It’s basically jumping around on planes from city to city and doing a bunch of different stuff. But I’m somebody who understands that I’m better when I’m constantly moving and always on the go. It’s something that obviously is a challenge at times, but it’s super exciting.”

The latest venture that Phelps is involved in is his global ambassadorship with Colgate to inspire families to save water. The campaign began earlier this month, attempting to inspire 10 million youths to save approximately 80 million gallons of drinkable water each day.

It’s among several causes that Phelps has joined over the past year, including one to promote pool safety. After years of dedicating his life to training and being the best swimmer of all time, Phelps has new ways to expend his energy.

“Whether it’s stuff in my personal life with Nicole, or family life, or it’s stuff that I’m doing when I am traveling and when I am talking, it’s a lot,” Phelps said. “But it’s all stuff that I’m passionate about, and it’s something that’s exciting to me. My competitive side will always be there no matter what I do. I think some of the things, they come out on the golf course, or for me, I know how important working out is, and I know how much better I am when I do get some kind of workout in every day. So I’m a better husband, a better father, a better friend, and I’m a harder worker. I’m learning more about myself through the retirement process so far. It’s nonstop.”

A lot is different about Phelps’ second retirement compared to his first. When the swimmer first called it quits, he wanted nothing to do with the sport.

Now, comfortable with his decision and grateful for his career, Phelps still swims occasionally and is able to appreciate all that he's accomplished.

“In 2012 when I first retired, I hated the water and didn’t want anything to do with it. Now, I understand that it forever will be a part of me, and I’m just accepting the fact that I enjoy being in the water. Whether it’s alone splashing around for a mile or two, or I’m out with my son.

“The biggest thing is when I do jump in the pool, it’s basically just to clear my head and to kind of have some peace and quiet, and just to kind of let my mind escape things and relax.”

Plenty of athletes are forced to retire because they can no longer compete at a high level. That isn’t the case for Phelps, who still tried to work out every day and was at the top of the sport just a year ago.

While he admits going for more medals in his mid-30s wouldn’t be easy, Phelps is confident that he could still be the world’s best swimmer with the right motivation.

“I like to believe that if I wanted to I could do anything I put my mind to. I think a lot of the goals that I had throughout my career, people said I was absolutely crazy for wanting to accomplish them, but they were special and meaningful to me. So I didn’t really bat an eye. I wanted to be the best in every aspect, and I worked to get there.

"If I wanted to get back into swimming, I probably could, but I have no desire to. Putting my body through 20, 25 years of swimming, I’m kind of ready to move on and do something different.”