Michael Phelps is Coming Back
by Casey Barrett
Is it a rumor? Yes. Is it probably true? Also, yes.
Well, that didn’t take long. It’s been less than a year since London. A year of luxurious victory lapping on golf courses and at poker tables across the world… One could get used to that life of competitive leisure. Or maybe not. Maybe it doesn’t take all that long to get bored of such diversions. Because here’s the word:
Michael Phelps is about to launch a comeback. He’ll soon be returning to training; in fact, he’s rumored to be arriving in Colorado Springs, at the Olympic Training Center, in the next few days. Maybe he won’t show. Perhaps he’ll read these publicized rumors and get spooked and insist that he’s still happily retired on the links. The man has nothing to prove to anyone. He’s the greatest Olympian of all time, regardless of whether or not he ever touches chlorinated water again.
However, these rumors didn’t just come out of thin air. The upper reaches of the swimming world are swirling with the chatter. It’s like the CIA intercepting red flag chatter across Islamic websites. It might be nothing, it might be just talk, but when there’s enough of it, you have to take it seriously. That’s what’s going right now in swimming’s version of the CIA. The folks in-the-know, the top coaches and swimmers, the ones just a degree or two removed from Phelps himself, they’re all talking about it.
If I hadn’t confirmed the likelihood of these reports, I wouldn’t be writing about it. This isn’t April Fool’s Day again. It’s May 17, 2013, just ten months removed from Phelps’s final race in London.
After that race, Phelps did indeed file his official retirement papers. Many don’t. Aaron Peirsol didn’t, back when he hung up his goggles. Plenty of “retired” former greats leave the door open that way. It means they can return to competition anytime they damn well please. Phelps wasn’t like that. Last summer it seems he really did truly believe he was done. Or maybe he knew no one would believe him until he made it official with FINA. In any case, because he filed those retirement papers, he won’t be competing anytime this summer. He’ll need nine months to give birth to this comeback. That’s how long it takes to come out of retirement, before you’re allowed to compete in any USA Swimming or FINA sanctioned competition. Plenty of time for those comeback notions to gestate.
It’s easy to forget how hard it is to live and train like an Olympic champion. Who knows, Phelps may indeed come back next week. He may try to be quiet about it, and slip back into competitive waters to see how it feels. And he may scratch that itch for a month or two before he realizes how satisfied he was in repose, on the links and at the poker table. Then it will be back to caring about making par and hitting the flush on 5th Street.
These are nice pastimes. Sometimes, with just the right shot or luck of the draw, there will be moments when that spike of competitive adrenaline feels almost as good as the real thing.
But can anything ever really compare to gold around your neck and a national anthem played in your honor?
Cap & Goggles 
Maybe he is broke like Denis Rodman
That was cruel. People will believe you and hope for his return…
There was no cruelty intended. It is an accurate report. Everyone in the sport is hoping for his return regardless. Now it just appears that it is likely.
Is everyone in the sport hoping for his return? I’d think it would be the opposite.
Not overly unexpected, but after seeing his demeanor at the London Games, it seemed like he was really content to conclude his career. Kind of a dick move, to be honest, accepting that weird looking trophy on the pool deck for ‘Greatest Olympian Ever’, only to come back less than a year later. Again, not surprising but that award lent some finality to his career.
If it’s true, it’s just another example in a long list of athletes who missed the adulation their sport provided.
Adam Sioui, it was a GOAT award not a retirement award, so it was not a “d**k move” (are you 12?). So,the award did not lend finality to his career. I would like to see him back, he is beautiful to watch, but I doubt he is coming back. I doubt it has as much to do with adulation as whether he is willing to accept that he will not be as good as 2012. Losing may be hard to take for him.
Adam what’s so dick about accepting another award that somebody made up? It’s unrelated to retirement and besides it would be downright rude not to accept. Finality isn’t as black and white as we want, but I doubt he would come back just for adulation when, as the now G.O.A.T., he can get that any time by he wants by logging into Facebook or Twitter, or giving a talk or hanging with some kids at a swim clinic.
The only one I can think of who wouldn’t be happy with his return might be Ricky Berens, who mentioned in an interview about his own unretirement that he was looking forward to some slots opening up in in his individual events. But even he would admit that competing with Phelps, even if it’s usually for 2nd place, is a fantastic motivation.
Would be great to see him come back and sprint…drop the 400IM…just 100s and 200s…with an emphasis on speed and no 400IM to train for, he could put up some incredible swims…again! His American record in the 100 free leading off the relay in 2008 always seems to be an after thought…47.5 flat start 100 in the same meet he went 4:03 in the 400IM…it took a world record by Sullivan to beat him to the wall! 46+ may not be out of that guy’s reach. But I’m even more curious what he might be able to do in the 200 fly if he ramped up the speed work…1:49? Maybe even an unsupersuited 49 in the 100 fly too?
Also…Casey, are there any rumors or rumblings that he might be entertaining the idea of not training with Bowman…maybe a more sprint focused program/coach…i.e. Bottom, Durden, Reese, DeMont, etc?
The consensu had always seemed to be that the comeback would start late ’14/early ’15 so the surprising thing is how early it is. He probably just needed a (relative) break from the media so filing the papers gave his retirementmore credence and less media craziness for awhile.
[…] Casey Barrett, of the Caps & Goggles blog, posted on Friday that “the upper reaches of the swimming world are swirling with the chatter” that Phelps is mounting a comeback. “The folks in-the-know, the top coaches and swimmers, the ones just a degree or two removed from Phelps himself, they’re all talking about it,” wrote the blogger, whose bio says he trained at North Baltimore Aquatic Club, competed for Canada in the butterfly and co-founded Imagine Swimming in New York. […]
Phelps doth protest too much, me thinks… without actually saying no, which says it all. Last time I checked, in Celebrityville, that’s a big fat “YES”.
He didn’t protest at all. He just responded with a terse tweet. Maybe if people would leave the poor guy alone it wouldn’t have been so testy.
[…] I told you so…sooner or later lets all hope it’s true!capandgoggles.com/2013/05/17/mic… […]
Why would he need structure already? He sure didn’t seem to need it after 2008 when he had trouble getting going for London. I think he is tired of it.
Just saw him last night in Thousand Oaks, CA – he replaced Lance Armstrong at a Distinguished Speaker event. He sure talked as if he’s really finished training and competing, and not just toying with everybody. He seemed as if he enjoys the flexibility he has, desire to travel, involvement with other endeavors, etc.
Was is a set-up or ruse, in part to maintain control and to keep everyone guessing? Maybe. He seems aloof, independent, and stubborn enough to bail on such a plan if/when enough people expect him to do it. But whether or not it is part of an overall strategy to control an announcement, one cannot dismiss the opportunity it might represent sponsor-wise and media-wise if he were to attempt a come back. Would there be significant worldwide interest? Think so.
As he said, he wants to make competitive swimming a major sport, and not just every year (or every four years). This is one way he could help do that.
i always figured he’d be back. Why not? If all you do is swim and don’t have to really hold a 9 to 5 job he can find plenty of time to have fun playing golf or whatever. Yes, nothing to prove. But he really is physically just in his prime of the late 20’s and has had no real injuries so why not cement his name to the point that it will be next to impossible to accomplish what he had done?
[…] many years, an insider as the anchor of the Morning Swim Show. Casey Barrett, the voice behind Cap and Goggles, quickly followed up on the story, adding more depth. Barrett’s also an insider who works […]
Officially retiring on paper removes one from the drug testing field, no? Perhaps the guy just wanted to relax and have the freedom to enjoy some time with friends. A roundabout way of getting there, but can you blame him?
Exactly. And get the media off his back for awhile too.