Michael Phelps says he won't be tempted to dive back into competitive swimming once he retires from the sport. The 26-year-old has said the London Games will be his last Olympics. He won a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Games, giving him 16 total Olympic medals in his career.
In a taped interview with "60 Minutes" that aired on Sunday, the topic of sticking around for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro resurfaced. Debbie Phelps said she'd like to watch her son compete when the Games are hosted in Brazil for the first time. "C'mon Michael just a 50 freestyle," she said with a smile in the interview. " I've never been there before."
But Phelps reiterated that he'll be done after the July 27-Aug. 12 Summer Games in London. "We'll go watch," he said when told that him mom might want to see him compete in Rio. "Once I retire, I'm retiring. I'm done."
He's not sure what happened to one of the eight Olympic medals he won in 2004. "When we were traveling, someone was holding onto it," he said. He keeps the 2008 gold medals wrapped in an old T-shirt tucked inside a small case.
He met former Soviet Union gymnast Larysa Latynina, who holds the record with 18 medals, at a photo shoot . She told him in Russian she thinks he'll break her record.