Phelps ‘happy’ being out of the pool

CHICAGO — Michael Phelps pumped his right fifist upon completing the fifinal leg for the winning relay team ahead of Australian great Grant Hackett on Saturday.

I t was a not he r go l d e n moment for the winningest Olympic athlete in history, but don’t expect to see him competing on the world’s biggest stage again.

Phelps all but slammed the door on another return after leaving it ever-so slightly ajar in an interview with the Associated Press last month.

“I’m happy,” he said. “I think four years ago, I wasn’t. I think being able to come back and being able to fifinish how I did and being able to get back to where I wanted to get to — for me, at this point in my life and in my career, that’s all I can ask for. Right?” he said.

“I wanted to have a chance to kind of shut out the ‘what if ’ 20 years down the road. Now, I think 20 years down the road ... I’ll be able to look back and say I’m really happy that I took that opportunity to come back and swim in one more (Olympics).”

Phelps was considering a comeback when he attended the 2013 world championships in Barcelona. By the time it ended, there was no doubt in his mind he would compete in his fififth Olympics.

In Rio de Janeiro last summer, he got the closure he needed. And if that’s it for him, he sure went out in style.

At age 31, Phelps captured fifive more gold medals, bring- ing his total to 23, along with a silver. He swam the second leg in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay in his fifinal race and put the United States out front for good against a powerful fifield that included defending champion France, Australia and Russia.

Retirement, he insisted, is suiting him just fifine.

“I’m retiring because it’s time to move on,” Phelps said. “I spent most of my life in the swimming pool. ... I have some other goals that I want to accomplish outside of the pool.”