'I Did it' Says Greatest Olympian Phelps
Michael Phelps walks away from the greatest Olympic career in history with no regrets, summing up a journey that yielded 18 gold medals in the simplest of terms: "I did it."
"Through the ups and downs, I have achieved everything I ever wanted to do," said Phelps, who has often voiced hopes that his legacy would be not just about medals, but about changing the face of swimming.
Longtime coach Bob Bowman said Phelps had achieved that aim.
"Over the last few years there have been so many people reaching out wanting to swim, wanting to find out how they can swim," Bowman said.
"It's incredible and the increase in participation and excitement about it is mainly due to him."
America's newest swimming star, 17-year-old Missy Franklin, said Phelps' accomplishments, including his stunning eight gold medals in eight events in Beijing four years ago, have inspired a generation.
"It has made people re-think the impossible and re-think what they can do," Franklin said. "When someone does that for you, it makes them such an incredible role model."
Once a restless kid who found an outlet for his energy in the water, Phelps matured into a cross-over star surrounded by all the trappings of modern celebrity.
But even before the London Games arrived, Phelps was speaking almost longingly of life after swimming.
His failure to win a medal in the 400m medley on the opening day of competition raised the specter of a disappointing send-off, a finale unworthy of his electrifying exploits in Beijing.
Instead, the 27-year-old swimmer reversed his fortunes and marked more milestones: surpassing Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina for most medals in an Olympic career with 22 and becoming the first man to win the same Olympic swimming event at three straight Games.
By the end, Phelps' London campaign yielded four gold and two silver medals and only served to underscore how brilliant his Beijing feat had been.
"I think the further away from it we are, the more we appreciate the difficulty of it and the incredible achievement which it is," Bowman said.
As Phelps put it, "Everything had to fall into place at the right time and everything had to be perfect. And it was."
For a time after his Beijing glory days, it was unclear if Phelps would even attempt to become the first U.S. man to qualify for four Olympics.
A tabloid photo fracas in 2009, when a British newspaper ran a picture of him with a marijuana pipe, created an outcry that had him reconsidering his plans to continue swimming through 2012.
Even after his mind was made up, Phelps found himself paying the price for his indecision and lack of motivation in training as rivals such as U.S. teammate Ryan Lochte surged to the top of the sport in 2010 and 2011.
Bowman said he doesn't think Phelps, more mature now than he was four years ago, will suffer from a lack of direction upon retirement.
"He has got a good plan for the next three months and I think that will give him time to let down into a more normal pattern," Bowman said. "He will be doing a lot of travelling, he will be doing lots of appearances and other things. It also has break times built in, which I insisted on."
Phelps has no lack of ideas for how to fill the time formerly taken up by training.
"I want to travel a bunch, something I've always wanted to do," he said. "I've seen so many amazing places in world but never really got to experience them."
But he won't turn his back on the sport that's given him so much.
"Even though I am retiring and the competitive side of my career is over, there are things I'd like to do around the sport," said Phelps, mentioning his charitable foundation and his swim schools.
Phelps was 15 years old when he surprisingly booked his first Olympic berth in 2000. He finished fifth in his lone event, the 200m butterfly.
By the time the 2004 Games rolled around, Phelps was a force, winning six gold medals and two bronze in a foreshadowing of 2008.
In London, he claimed his first two Olympic silver medals, in the 4x100m freestyle and his pet event, the 200m butterfly.
Gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay took him past Latynina, then came individual gold in the 200m medley and the 100m butterfly before the U.S. claimed gold in the 4x100m medley relay.
Bowman admitted that a new era was starting, for him as well as Phelps.
"It will be very strange to go to practice without him there."
Source: Agence France Presse
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