Michael Phelps made quite a show of declaring his intent to retire after the 2012 London Olympics. Here, for example, is a definitive exchange he had with Anderson Cooper on the May 8, 2012 edition of 60 Minutes, the most widely watched news program in the United States:
Cooper: What happens if your mom, you know, after London, after 12 months goes by and says, ‘You know, I’ve always wanted to go to Rio?’
Phelps: We’ll go watch.
Cooper: No chance you’d compete?
Phelps: No. Once I retire, I’m retiring. I’m done.
Except that:
Sports history is replete with superstar athletes who vow to retire at the top of their game. Yet, just this year, Brett Favre joined the long list of those, including Michael Jordan and Mohammed Ali, who failed to do so.
(“Jackson Resigns After Lakers Swept Out of Playoffs,” The iPINIONS Journal, May 10, 2011)
What’s more, superstar athletes who come out of retirement invariably do little more than tarnish their legacies. Just ask Michael Jordan what he accomplished by doing so, for the second time, to play for the Washington Wizards. Because, in my humble opinion, all he did was make a mockery of his celebrated “Air Jordan” skills by playing like an old fart who could barely take off, let alone fly.
Now Michael Phelps is demonstrating that it’s not enough for him to be remembered as the greatest athlete in Olympic history – with a record-setting haul of 22 medals (18 of them gold) that is bound to stand the test of time.
Michael Phelps is coming out of retirement, the first step toward possibly swimming at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The 22-time Olympic medalist will compete for the first time since the 2012 London Games at a meet in Mesa, Ariz., on April 24-26.
Bob Bowman, the swimmer’s longtime coach, told The Associated Press on Monday that Phelps is entered in three events — the 50 and 100-meter Freestyles and the 100 Butterfly.
(The Associated Press, April 4, 2014)
As indicated above, however, I’m hardly surprised that Phelps is adding his name to the dubious list of superstar athletes who found life unbearable out of the limelight. But, because his fame is based primarily on his Olympic feats, Phelps seems more sympathetic in this respect. After all, he had/has to wait every four years to bask in the kind of glory an athlete like Jordan got to bask in every year of his career:
Let’s face it, as acclaimed as Phelps is, like most Olympians, his fame seems limited to quadrennial fleets of fancy. Yet, even this kind of fame is so addictive that Phelps is already hinting at coming out of retirement to bask in more of it at the 2016 Rio Games.
(“The Lolo Jonesing of Lindsey Vonn,” The iPINIONS Journal, December 4, 2013)
That said, I hasten now to show that my allusions to Jordan’s career are as instructive as they are foreboding. For it’s arguable that Phelps coming out of retirement at 29 today is rather like Jordan coming out of retirement, for the first time, at 33 in 1996. He proceeded then to lead the Bulls to three more NBA championships.
This is why I am not as dismayed with Phelps today as I was with Jordan when he came out of retirement, for the second time, in 2001 – as indicated above. More to the point, I fully expect Phelps to pad his haul of Olympic gold at the 2016 Rio Games. Indeed, I see he’s even heeding my advice to be more strategic, in light of his age, by swimming in just 2 to 4 events instead of 6 to 8, which should spare him a repeat of this scenario:
Since being defeated at the outset in this energy-sapping and potentially ego-deflating event [the 400m Individual Medley] could ruin his chance at gold in every other event, it would not surprise me if Phelps decides to withdraw.
(“Olympic Trials: Preview of Exciting Feats to Come,” The iPINIONS Journal, July 2, 2012)
Sure enough, he won the 400m Individual Medley handily at the 2008 Beijing Games, which augured well for his unprecedented eight gold medals: five in individual events and three in relays. But Phelps refused to withdraw from this energy-sapping event at the 2012 London Games and finished an ego-deflating fourth, which augured ill for a repeat of Beijing. Granted, he still ended up with a relatively impressive haul of six medals: two gold and two silver in individual events, and two gold in relays.
But when he retires after Rio, which he will surely do, I urge him to stay retired and not follow Jordan’s ill-fated path of coming out of retirement a second time.
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