Michael Phelps stated on twitter following his DUI arrest that he’ll be taking time away from swimming in order to attend a program, raising questions whether it will be the end of a recent comeback, however, fellow Olympian and American swimmer Ryan Lochte doesn’t believe that this is the end.
“The number one thing that he’s doing right now is to making sure that he’s healthy and everything, but there’s no doubt in my mind that he will be back in the water,” Lochte said.
Lochte, whose career has been intertwined with Phelps’ spanning a total of three Olympic Games, four World Championships, and three Pan Pacific Championships, believes that his love for the sport will once again drive him into the pool.
“He loves this sport, he loves the excitement of just getting on those blocks and racing,” Lochte said. “I think I was like the only one that said after London when he said he retired that he was going to be back because once you’re in that racing mode…it’s hard to get rid of and I think that’s the reason…because he missed that excitement of racing the best people in the world.”
Phelps definitely had his fair share of excitement in the pool this summer at the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships where he won three golds and two silvers including a victory in the 100m fly where he ended the season ranked first in the world.
He qualified to swim at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, Russia, however following his arrest USA Swimming decided to withdraw him from the roster and hand him a six month suspension from competition.
Fellow national team member, Natalie Coughlin, who will be attending short course worlds this December, said she spoke to Phelps, “I reached out to him…just to tell him how much we care about him and we want him to be well.”
Coughlin didn’t predict whether or not Phelps will return to the pool, but she is hopeful, “hopefully we’ll see him back in the pool…for us to see him race whenever he can, it’s incredible.”
For now, Phelps’ future holds a trial date on December 19th, but Lochte still remains positive that the most decorated Olympian of all time will return, and will do so in top form to race the world, “there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll be ready for Rio.”
Another question is who will be training with him. What remains of the NBAC training group after this falls’s departures?
These are exactly the kind of comments that will fire Phelps up, particularly Justin’s comments. More negative pessimistic blogging please!
As much as the idea of a Phelps Olympic comeback is fun to think about, I still believe his overall stability and we’ll being should come first. One day soon, even the great Michael Phelps will have to find a life outside of competition. And I would hope gambling and/or drinking is an occasional recreation done with thought. Not a big problem or bad habit.
I would love see him give it a go in Rio, but i don’t see it happening. He had a hard time with motivation after 08 and not being able to swim at worlds leads me to believe he’s not going to put in a good year of training. He really needed these next two years of solid training and progression to be where he wanted for Rio. Leclos and Hangino will be to much for him to handle in 2016 with less than a100% effort.
As for Located comments I’m sure he would like to see Phelps swim, but I doubt he’s even spoken to him so it’s just opinion.
It’s very hard to focus on that one big competition, with nothing else of sizeable importance along the way, knowing that it will be your last and you’ll have one only chance. Very hard. I dont know …
I was not a big fan of his comeback because, as a huge MP fan, I thought his retirement went at a perfect moment after London when he was still at the best.
He decided to come back and it has been a success in the water.
And then that incident happened. He made a mistake but the suspension is stupid in my opinion.
Now, I hope he will not end his glorious career on that note. It would be awful.
Hopefully Michael has Rio in mind and will be even more angry and even more motivated to prepare 2016.
I am positive that he will be back in the water for Rio. He has been a huge inspiration to so many young swimmers and I can’t imagine an Olympics without him.
I think he proved he can do it just by coming back this year already. I’m not a phelps fan but in the interest of USA I am glad he is on our team.