Michael Phelps Coming Back For 2020 Olympics? ‘I’m Not 100 Percent Done With Swimming’
Michael Phelps ended his historic run at the Rio Olympics with more gold medals than anyone in the history of the games.
While the swimmer already announced his retirement, he hinted that his time in the pool isn’t over yet.
Will Phelps return for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo?
According to E! News, Phelps will continue to be a part of the swimming community, but he won’t be competing in any more events.
“Even though I’m done in the pool, I’m not 100 percent done,” Phelps shared. “Being able to teach kids, not only water safety but healthy and active sports.”
Phelps originally announced his retirement after the 2012 Olympics in London.
“With everything that I’ve done. This is how I wanted to go out. I wanted to go out on top, and on my terms,” he explained. “After seeing everything that went down here, hasn’t really sunk in fully yet, but I have a feeling over the next months, years, it will sink in and I might be able to believe.”
For Phelps, the number of medals he has won in the Olympics — which now stands at 28 — has not sunk in yet.
For now, it doesn’t look like Phelps is interested in competing in the 2020 Olympics.
In fact, Phelps is happy with how everything turned out, especially in regards to his growing family.
“Nicole [Johnson] and I are in a better place now. We have Boomer. Everything turned out perfectly. In 2012, I kinda stiff-armed my career, I just wanted to be done with it. But now I’m happy, and this is exactly what I wanted it to feel like when I retired,” he stated.
Speaking of Boomer, Phelps’ newborn son stole the show in Rio.
According to NBC Olympics, Boomer quickly won the hearts of fans during the games while snuggling away in his mother’s arms.
“I don’t think we realized how much Boomer would become a star,” Johnson admitted. “It’s fun to watch as a mom.”
Even Michael Phelps’ record-setting performance didn’t hamper the attention on Boomer, who adorably sat with his mom throughout the games wearing an array of patriotic outfits and a pair of noise-cancelling headphones.
Boomer’s newly created social media account has been blowing up with followers.
In fact, the three-month-old already has over 500,000 followers on Instagram.
For Phelps, he is more than willing to satisfy Boomer’s fans with fresh batches of photos.
“I’ve got to keep everybody happy,” he explained. “It’ll be fun to share this experience with him. Hopefully, in four years he’ll be able to understand a little bit and I’ll get a chance to take him to Tokyo.”
Phelps’ planned appearance at the next Olympics isn’t to compete. Instead, he will be traveling to Japan to promote his newest endorser, Krave Jerky.
Considering Boomer’s rising star, People is reporting that Phelps and Johnson have plans to expand their family even more.
“We’ve talked about more [children]. We don’t really know how many more we want,” Phelps revealed. “I think we’re gonna have some fun with Boomer before we make that next choice of trying for another one.”
“We would love a girl,” Phelps said. “Love, love, love a girl. We wanted a boy first, just in case we did have other children, [so] he could be the protector of his younger sibling or siblings.”
On whether or not Phelps will push Boomer to start swimming, he revealed that he’s okay with the idea but will not put any pressure on his oldest son.
Tell us! Do you think Michael Phelps will stay retired this time? Let us know in the comments and check out the video below to see what he has to say.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFEGi2xa88o
[Image via NBC Universal]
