“I’m not. But I’m just going to say that”.
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The pick seemed obvious – Phelps, after all, is the most decorated athlete in Olympic history and will be competing in his fifth Summer Games – but he was clearly overwhelmed Wednesday after being selected in a vote of American athletes representing each sport.
The pair have qualified for one more clash in that event in Rio, with Phelps again finishing first and Lochte – the world champion and record holder in the event – second in one of the highlights of the USA trials.
Michael Phelps adjusts his goggles during a practice session for the U.S. Winter Nationals swimming event Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, in Federal Way, Wash. For Athens, I wanted to win gold for my country.
“But I would have to say from a personal standpoint, it’s very concerning to me that our governing bodies have dropped the ball in many ways on this”.
Asked what he would do to clean up the sport if he were running FINA, Phelps ducked the question but said he agreed with Bowman about the state of sport as a whole.
International Olympic Committee members voted unanimously to accept the five-sport package, which also includes karate and sport climbing.
Phelps, 31, initially retired after the London Olympics in 2012.
“And now, I want to walk in the opening ceremony, take it all in, represent America in the best possible way and make my family proud”. The last year leading into London I worked pretty hard, but the other three years I just joked around.
Phelps will swim in the 200-meter butterfly on Aug. 8, the 200-meter individual medley on Aug. 10 and 100-meter butterfly on Aug. 11. But this year, in a concession to age, he didn’t even try to qualify in the 400 IM, which gives him an extra day to recover before starting his Olympic program – which this year will feature no more than six events – Sunday.
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“The things I’ve done in my career have started to set in over the last two years, more than they ever have”, he said. For me I’m the only one I can control and I can control myself. “It’s just a cool feeling and an amazing, amazing, amazing honor”. It’s just unbelievable everything he’s done in the sport of swimming and for the USA.
