The Sports Review

Stating his admiration for Dara Torres, who said that her goal is to make the US Olympic swim team even at 41, Michael Phelps was consequently asked if he would be doing the same thing by 2024.  His answer was automatic and did not seem to need much thinking: he will be done swimming once he hits the age of 30.  He has said this same thing to his coach Bob Bowman long ago.  He said that when he reaches 30, he would be hanging up the suit and goggles and cap.

Michael Phelps, who is turning 23 this June, has competed in two Olympics seasons.  He has won six gold medals and holds six world records to his name.  Phelps joked that by the time he turns 30, he would given his coach thirty or forty heart attacks and would have turned all his hair to gray.  Bowman agrees, implying that the swimmer’s last Olympics would be in 2012.

Phelps discourages the idea of working with his agent Peter Carlisle when he retires from swimming.  Carlisle has always encouraged Phelps to become his assistant, but Phelps refused, saying that he wanted to go out there and “do things.”  

The 22-year-old swimmer became a pro at the age of 16.  He was still in high school, and at the time he did not yet understand the endorsement contracts that he signed.  He did not expect the amount of time he would be spending for photo shoots and commercials.  He knows better now, though, and he comments that he likes the business side of sport.