How did he feel this morning?
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But Phelps said he felt differently competing during Rio.
After London 2012’s unforgettable defeat in the 200m butterfly race by 5/100ths of a second against Le Clos, Phelps announced his retirement of swimming.
Phelps’s personal struggles and sporting triumphs have endeared him like no other swimmer to the public around the world.
“That is my home, that’s where I grew up, that’s where I learned how to swim”, said Phelps.
“It’s really special and the fact that I can do it with a relay is incredible”, she said after the USA women beat Australia and Denmark.
“I didn’t want to feel like I was forced to do something”. If I hadn’t had come back, I wouldn’t have know what to do with myself and would have been frustrated with myself for not giving myself a chance.
“I can look at that race and say it was one of the best races of my life”.
Nicole and Boomer have been a constant poolside presence at Rio 2016 and Boomer has become a social media star in his own right.
Phelps capped off his final Rio competition with a gold-medal earning performance in the 400-meter medley relay.
He said he started to tear up even before he put his googles on on Saturday night. “I know Nicole and I are so excited to be the best parents we can be”, Phelps added Saturday. “Being able to walk out like this – I am proud of me”.
“No, I’m done”, he said.
Michael Phelps’ fiancee Nicole Johnson and son Boomer. “I wanted to hold my son”.
“When I chose to come back I wanted to do it the right way”.
“After the relay last night, that’s why I was hunched over and more emotional than I was in London, because it actually meant something”.
“If you would ask me if these results would have been good a year ago or two years ago, then I would have said yes”. Russia, the Soviet Union and and the 1992 Unified Team (made up of the 15 former Soviet republics) account for three more countries ahead of Phelps.
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The options he ran through Sunday included growing the sport of swimming, teaching more children to be water safe, and growing his family.
