American swimmer Michael Phelps has announced that he’s retiring—and he’s serious this time. The most decorated Olympian of all time (with 28[!!!] medals) had made the same claim four years ago, but the Rio Olympics could really be the end of his professional swimming career.
The Rio Olympics were special for Phelps, because, as he said himself, “I got to do it with my son here,” referring to his three-month-old son Boomer. “We’ll be able to share these memories with him when he grows up.”
It looks like fatherhood has really transformed the 31-year-old athlete.
After winning gold in the 4x100m medley relay, Phelps forwent the victory parties at the athletes’ village to spend the night with his fiancée, former model and Miss California Nicole Johnson, and their son.
“Being apart from him for the last three weeks, four weeks from when I saw him last, he’s grown so much,” Phelps said. “I changed a diaper last night. He was just sitting there looking at me, smiling the whole time. It brought a tear to my eye, just because he hasn’t seen me in a while and it was so cool to see him smiling back at me and laughing and giggling.”
Boomer was asleep when Phelps got to the hotel after his final race.
“I picked him up after I was done and just held him,” Phelps said. “That’s something I’m really, really looking forward to, just watching him grow up.”
Why does Phelps want to dedicate himself to being a full-time dad? Click to the next page to find out.
Phelps said he’s looking forward to doing everything he can to be a great dad.
“That’s number one for me,” Phelps said. “I want to be there every step of the way. I don’t want to miss a thing. I’ve had so many people say to me, ‘You blink an eye, it’s over.’ They grow up so fast. Next thing you know, they’re going off to college. I don’t want to miss anything.”
“I wanted to come back and finish my career how I wanted and this was the cherry on top of the cake,” Phelps said on Today.
Though he plans on continuing to be involved with the sport, his days as a professional athlete are over.
‘This is the part of my life where I get to start a whole new chapter, which is getting to build a family with Nicole,” he continued.
When he was a child, Phelps’ parents divorced, and the swimmer had a strained relationship with his dad for years. Only after a second DUI arrest and therapy did Phelps patch things up with his father.
READ: What’s keeping dads from being more involved parents?
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