Bored with Retirement: Michael Phelps Pursues Rio Comeback

Olympics’ most decorated athlete, Michael Phelps, after an aborted retirement, is set to compete in four events at the 2014 Phillips 66 National Championships in Irvine, CA, Aug. 6 - 10.

In November 2013, Phelps rejoined the U.S. drug testing program, required for entering international competitions, according to a previous Patch story. Rumors sparked that Phelps planned to make a comeback at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

He told USA Today that retirement was boring.

“Retirement was pretty boring, to be honest,” Phelps, 29, told the newspaper. “It’s funny — I literally would do nothing. If I was at home, I’d always try to, like, golf, or do something with friends, but everyone was working. Everyone had a job. I’d call and text people. I’d either go to the range and hit balls by myself. It got really boring. I’d never be home. I was always on the road traveling and seeing different people.”

Phelps now has eyes set on the Rio Games, according to a WTOP story. Phelps told the Associated Press it’s important for him to remember his roots -- swimming and training at the Meadowbrook-based North Baltimore Aquatic Club. He still swims and trains at the club where children can be seen doing cannonballs into the pool.

“It’s funny,” Bob Bowman, Phelps’ longtime coach, told the AP. “When I come out here and see kids playing around, that’s just what Michael did every day when he was a little kid. When I first met him, he was just playing around in the pool, playing games with his friends.”

Phelps, now 29, is not in nearly the same shape as he was when he claimed eight gold medals at the Olympics in Beijing in 2008, taking the world record for the most medals in a single Olympics, or when he took six more medals home at the 2012 London Olympics.

To get back into shape, Phelps is putting in half the amount of laps he used to do (up to 16,000 meters a day) and spending longer sessions in the weight room. According to the AP, Phelps’ body does not recover nearly as quickly as it did before. He will not be swimming the 40-meter individual medley at the U.S. National Championships or the 200 butterfly, one of his signature events.

The training for the Rio Games may not come easy for Phelps, who now trains against heavy competition at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club. World-class athletes Yannic Agnel who took two golds at the London Games, Allison Schmitt who took five medals at the last Olympics, Lotte Friis a bronze medalist from Denmark are some of the athletes Phelps is training with.

“It used to be if Michael was on fire, nobody could beat him,” Bowman told the AP. “Now, if Michael’s on fire, there are maybe a couple of people who can still beat him. They’re that good.”

At the U.S. National Championship Phelps will compete in the 200 IM and three 100s -- freestyle, backstroke and fly, according to the WTOP story.

Phelps holds 18 gold medals and 22 medals overall from the last three Summer Games.

>> Michael Phelps has his eyes set on the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. File|Patch