This past weekend, he improved on that May meet by 7.7 seconds in the 200m butterfly, 2.14 seconds in the 100m butterfly and 5.5 seconds in the 200m individual medley. “I don’t care about his times, because I know my son is going to beat him”. This latest effort, though, might be just as epic. He emerged with what he said was a new outlook on life and a commitment to put in the sort of training that marked the peak of his career, when he was driven to break Mark Spitz’s 36-year-old Olympic record by winning eight gold medals in Beijing.
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Yes, for the greatest swimmer of all time, things have again been reduced that simply.
“Next year is going to be Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier”.
By the end of the season, Phelps was solid. The World Champs, though, have brought about a change, with Le Clos, Hungarian Laszlo Cseh and Singapore’s Joseph Schooling, among others, elevating the fly events to more impressive levels.
And then Sunday night came with the challenge of the 200-meter individual medley. But based on swimming the three fastest times in the world in the 100 and 200 fly and 200 IM, it’s a fair guess that he would be competing in those events.
Phelps is swimming at the U.S. Championships and not the World Championships this week due to punishment from his September 30 DUI arrest. Meanwhile, Phelps changed direction. “I can honestly say there aren’t many people who have seen who I really am”, Phelps said.
But he said he trusted longtime coach Bob Bowman would have him ready upon arrival in San Antonio.
“As there was not enough time to evaluate the situation or to check his medical condition, they decided to withdraw”, he said. That’s a unsafe combination.
“There’s a lot of things I could say, but I won’t”. No, the story is that next summer in Rio, Phelps, without question the greatest swimmer of all time, has the potential to be the best he’s ever been. I think that was something that had an impact on letting myself swim and race, and that’s something I got back to that I hadn’t done in a while. “Being able to do that right now, I m very, very pleased and it s something great to build off of”.
Looking strong and in control, he posted the fastest time of the year in the world to date (50.45) to claim the title over silver medalist Jack Conger (51.33).
Phelps said after that race he was frustrated to start off the Olympics on “a bad note”.
The National Championships in San Antonio is one of the biggest events he will be competing in ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
“I’m just happy that I got to show everybody that it didn’t make a difference if I lost the win in the 200m fly – I was going to come back strong”.
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“Definitely wasn t like this leading up to 12”. I definitely wasn’t like this leading up to 2012. No. I go to bed earlier. “It’s been a long time since I’ve done a swim like that”.
