Olympic God Michael Phelps Ends Retirement. Is Rio 2016 in Sight?

What's This?

Michael Phelps after winning the men's 200-meter butterfly final at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials on June 28, 2012, in Omaha, Neb.

Image: Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

By Sam Laird2014-04-14 17:50:09 UTC

Joining the ranks of Michael Jordan, Brett Favre and other superstar athletes who retired from their respective sports and then reversed those decisions, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps is hopping back in the pool, prompting speculation that he's eyeing another Olympic appearance at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Phelps, 28, will compete at the Arena Grand Prix in Mesa, Ariz., from April 24-26, his coach told the Associated Press on Monday. This will be his first time competing since the 2012 Olympics.

Phelps won four gold medals and two silver medals at the London Games in 2012 and a record eight gold medals at the Beijing games in 2008. (Overall, he has earned 22 Olympic medals, 18 of them gold, in his career.) Phelps retired after the 2012 Games, saying he didn't want to continue as a professional swimmer into his 30s.

But Phelps' coach, Bob Bowman, said on Monday that the superstar has been training with his team at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club for five days a week.

"He's gotten back into good shape since September," Bowman told the AP. "He can give a good effort and certainly not be embarrassed. He's in enough shape to swim competitively."

Phelps himself had remained mum on the subject, both to reporters and on social media, at time of writing.

Officially ending his retirement would be Phelps' logical first step if he wants to compete in Rio in 2016, or get back into competing internationally at all. But Bowman told the AP that such speculation is premature. Phelps would still need to progress through several steps to qualify for the 2016 Olympics.

Bowman said Phelps' participation in the U.S. National Championships this August — where swimmers will compete to represent the U.S. at the 2015 world championships — will depend on his early races.

"I wouldn't say it's 100% on the radar," Bowman said of the U.S. National Championships. "After Mesa, we're going to sit down and talk about it."

With the thirst for greatness Phelps has shown since he was a teenager, though, it's hard to imaging the Olympic god is simply testing these waters.