After DUI, rehab, Phelps better than ever, ready for Rio
Champ engaged to be married, ‘fully engaged in everything ’
MESA, ARIZ. Michael Phelps thinks he’s in a better state, emotionally and spiritually, than ever.
The 18-time Olympic gold medalist is smiling more. He says he’s even walking a little taller. He’s only worrying about controlling what he can control.
“Everyone has the right to believe whatever they want,” Phelps said Wednesday, speaking publicly for the first time since his sixmonth USA Swimming ban expired. “I know exactly how I feel now and exactly how I wake up and go through my everyday life. If somebody doesn’t believe the words that are coming out of my mouth, that’s not my choice. I know the only person I can control in any situation is myself.
“I of course would like to show everybody in the world that I am in a different place and I am much better than I ever have been. I understand that’s going to take a lot of time.”
He knows this will be an uphill battle after his second drunkendriving arrest in September, which led to the ban and a sixweek stint in rehab. He’s competing for the first time since the suspension was lifted this week at the Arena Pro Swim Series.
Phelps says he has a new outlook on life. He’s closer to his family, he says, “the people who actually love me for who I am. A lot in the past, I’ve pushed away people who have loved and cared about me.”
Now, they’re closer to him than ever, as is his fiancée, Nicole Johnson. The couple got engaged in February.
“The last couple of months have probably been the hardest couple of months I’ve ever had to go through,” Phelps said. “I take full responsibility for all of my actions. I know I’ve hurt a lot of people. It’s been terrible. For me, being able to move forward to be back in the pool is something I’m very excited about.”
Phelps repeatedly used the word “engaged” to describe the difference in his feelings now, whether it be at practices or while launching his own “MP” brand with sponsor Aqua Sphere.
“That’s how I am in everything in life: I’m engaged,” Phelps said. “I’m aware of everything that’s going on. I’m fully engaged in everything that’s happening. These are the things I really want.”
That, to Phelps and longtime coach Bob Bowman, is different from the lead-up to the 2012 Olympics. This time, Phelps isn’t just going through the motions, showing up at practices when he feels like it. Phelps says he hasn’t swam this fast since 2008 — the year he won eight gold medals in Beijing.
Phelps also said Wednesday, for the first time publicly, that he’s aiming to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. “Like it’s a big surprise,” he said, smiling.
Phelps knows he’ll face skeptics during the next 16 months. He knows the only way to back up his words is by living well. He already has won over his toughest critic, someone who sees him every day at his worst and at his best — his coach.
Bowman visited Phelps in the middle of his treatment. “I was, again, skeptical. When I left there, I was amazed,” Bowman said. “I just had no doubt that he had changed in a way that was really meaningful. … He’s been that every day since. That’s the truth. And nobody is harder on him than me.”
Now, after all the tough months and breakthrough moments, Phelps says he has never been happier or more focused.
“Have I screwed up? Yeah. A lot,” Phelps said. “But I’ve never gone through this experience before. I know that I literally can say this is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.”