This month the calendars officially made it an Olympic year, and that means the mainstream media begins to churn out volumes of coverage on the sport unlike any other year. And, when the Greatest of All Time Michael Phelps is gunning for an amazing curtain call to his career, one can expect to see plenty of Phelps content this year.
The latest is an in-depth Yahoo Sports article by swim dad and one of the top voices in all of sports Pat Forde. Forde was in town and spent some time at the Mona Plummer Aquatics Center recently to interview Phelps and the rest of the Arizona State crew about the Great One’s life post-rehab and pre-fatherhood.
First and foremost, Phelps wanted to talk about being a soon-to-be father with his fiance Nicole Johnson due in May. Phelps is also looking forward to leading a much more functional father-son relationship than the recently-repaired one he had with formerly estranged father Fred.
“Nicole and I are very, very, very excited. I can’t say that enough.”
“I want to be involved in every step of the way. My father did the best that he could, and I understand that. For me, going through what I went through as a kid, I never want my child to go through that. The things I’ve gone through as a kid have taught me a lot about the father I want to be and the father I don’t want to be.”
“Going through those experiences are very helpful, because I carried some of that – whether it’s resentment or pain – I carried that stuff along in my body for a long time. It sucked. It probably brought me down a little bit, and took away from doing what I needed to do. Those emotions are always going to be with me, in some part.”
Forde also spoke with Arizona State head coach Bob Bowman about a newly-rejuvenated Phelps as he is headed towards the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“Having been on the inside of that one, that is the truth. It was like Michael became, over the years, too big to fail, right? So we did whatever we had to do to try to make it happen. It’s nice now that we’re doing it for the right reasons. It’s been very refreshing.”
In the incredible article, Forde also found that Phelps is attacking the weight room like he never has before. Phelps’ strength and conditioning coach Keenan Robinson explained to Forde that Phelps is a savage in the weight room right now, and is squatting more than 300 pounds three times.
“He’s always approached weights as a means to an end. But now everything we do, he attacks.”
“That’s a savage. That’s ruthless strength. But if he sets his mind to things, he can do it. He’s got more mental strength than anyone I’ve heard of in sports.”
I hate the beard …
It’s tDrag he’s in training
and it’s a distraction…to opponents….
Probably got some good swimmers!
Trénuj, chlapče, trénuj……. !