“Someone asked me if I was thinking about going back to swimming,” he laughs. “Have I ever said anything like that? No! I’m fine the way I am! If I want to channel my competitive nature, I play golf with my friends.” Michael Phelps is in good spirits. Thinner than ever, his hair tied back with a ribbon and his long, straggly beard give him the air of a vagabond. chic when he enters the Poulpry Palace in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, home of Omega, the timekeeper of the Games since 1932.
The man who won the most medals (28) and the most golds (23) in Olympic history is escorted by what seems to be the court of a minister, but he assures that if he feels like it he puts the pool in a boil: “When we were in the trials My four-year-old son asked me if I could jump in the water and compete against these guys, and I said, ‘If I wanted to, I’m sure I could still do it. But then you wouldn’t see your dad. Your dad would be at the pool all day. He couldn’t take you to school, or pick you up, or make you lunch, or sit down with you at dinner. ‘ And he said, ‘I don’t want that, Dad! ‘ So I’m not going back.
Phelps was born in Maryland 39 years ago and has lived in Phoenix, Arizona, for the past decade, where he recovered from the depression he suffered while winning Olympic gold medals. In 2016, he became the first global sports star to admit to having suffered serious mental problems and encouraged his colleagues to share their experiences, while creating a foundation to help athletes. Since then, Tiger Woods, Naomi Osaka, Grant Hackett, Léon Marchand and Noah Lyles – the latter after winning gold in the 100-meter dash in Paris – have all acknowledged episodes of depression. “My phone is always open for the athletes on the American team,” he says. “Doing what Noah did, declaring it and opening up, means a lot. He exposed his vulnerability and was as happy as when I was winning medals. I hope we can all learn from that. During the pandemic, we are experiencing how loneliness breaks into our lives. Loneliness is the leading cause of depression. Opening up, being authentic and talking about it makes you stronger as a human being and helps you move forward.”
The idea of doping is shocking. The World Anti-Doping Agency’s failure to ban the 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for trimetazidine from the Tokyo Games in 2020 is a source of great concern to Phelps, who last week watched live as three of those Chinese swimmers – Zhang Yufei, Yang Junxuan and Wang Shun – won a total of nine medals in the pool at La Défense. “Anyone who tests positive should never compete in the Games again,” he says. “Once and for all. This is the Olympics! We’re supposed to come and compete together in a happy atmosphere. It breaks my heart to see athletes working hard to prepare and have their medals taken away by someone who has been cheating.”
“People called me a cheater throughout my career,” he recalled. “I had more tests than anyone else. Blood and urine tests weekly. Why? So I could say, ‘I don’t cheat and here are the results. ’ I won 23 golds cleanly. It can be done. And anyone who doesn’t have that mentality should compete in the Cheats’ Games! Let them go! We must preserve the integrity of the Games. Unfortunately, with this system of testing, I don’t think we’re playing on a level playing field. I don’t think I ever competed on a level or clean playing field throughout my career. I had suspicions about athletes I competed against. I don’t think they were clean.”
I won 23 golds with fairness. It can be done. And whoever doesn’t have that mentality should compete in the Cheaters’ Games! One positive and you’re out forever. Unfortunately, with this system of controls, I think we’re not playing on a level playing field. I don’t think that throughout my career I’ve competed on a level or clean playing field.
There are Chinese in the room. The conversation between Phelps and a group of journalists from around the world is amiable. The question of the astronomical record of the Chinese Pan Zhanle, 46.40s in 100m freestyle, comes up. He shrugs his shoulders. “It was like when I did 4m03s in 400m medley in 2008,” he replies. “A lot of people said I was doping. Some swimmers’ times are incredible. But until we prove something with facts we can’t point the finger at anyone. You can’t do that to a person. China is under the microscope because it has swimmers who tested positive before Tokyo, but you can’t point the finger at a swimmer who didn’t test positive.”
The turnout for Chinese swimming contrasted last week with the poor performances displayed by the US men’s swimmers. Outside of the podiums in the 100m and 200m butterfly, and outside of the podium in the 100m, in Paris the best group of swimmers on the planet were a shadow of what they were under Phelps. “The overall record of the United States is nothing to brag about,” he admits. “It was one of the worst performances in history. We missed out on gold for the first time in the medley relay, and we narrowly missed out on winning a men’s individual gold. We need to prepare better for the 2028 Games, because if we repeat in Los Angeles what happened in Paris it will be much more embarrassing. Then there were swimmers who stepped up and did great: Foster, Armstrong, Fink, Brooks… The girls did very well, but the men’s team had the worst performance I can remember.”
Phelps is a close friend of Bob Bowman, his childhood coach, who now coaches Léon Marchand’s career. “I wasn’t surprised by what Léon did because I talk to Bob every day,” he said. “Grandpa keeps sending me messages and asking me about the drills in training, what to do, when to take one step or another. The night he swam the 200m butterfly in 1m51s and the breaststroke in 2m05s an hour later, that was one of the greatest things I’ve seen in swimming.”
I am not one to judge whether an eight-year-old should or should not compete in the Games. I was a child when I went to Sydney at 15 and I learned a lot against stronger and bigger men. I would have liked to be faster. I wanted the medal. I wanted the opportunity to dive in with them.
Watching eight-year-olds competing in the Olympic skateboarding tournament on Place de la Concorde was amusing. “There are a lot of very young people who acquire talent very quickly,” he says. “I am not qualified to judge whether it is good or bad to allow a child to compete here, but my experience tells me that these children can learn. I went to the Sydney Games when I was 15 and it was my first trip abroad. I had no idea what was going on, but the learning carried me through to my other four Games. If you have a great passion, why not? I would have wanted to be faster. I wanted the medal. It was a child against 25-year-old men. People who were stronger and bigger and more experienced. But I didn’t care. I just wanted the chance to dive in with them.”
Michael Phelps retains the optimistic curiosity that his first Games inspired in him. He says he would never have gone to sleep outside the Village as many athletes have done in Paris, in search of comfort. “I saw Thomas Ceccon napping in the park of the Olympic Village and I thought: ‘If he can’t sleep in his room for whatever reason, he’s doing the right thing to prepare. He needed to rest in a quiet environment, he went, found it and rested. The Villages are always very tricky. I stayed inside at every Games I went to. I never slept in a hotel because I wanted to be part of the Olympic spirit. The beds are small? I always slept with my feet hanging down! I slept with three or four fans in the room because it’s so hot. You have to adapt. There’s nothing like being in a small city where you see people from all over the world. For me that’s one of the best things about going to the Games.”
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