Thirty-one-year-old Michael Phelps is calling it a career, and this time he means it.
The decorated Olympic swimmer announced Monday in an interview with NBC’s “Today” show host Matt Lauer that he is “done” and is going out the way he wanted to.
“This time I mean it. We talked earlier in the year and I wanted to come back and finish my career how I wanted. This was the cherry on top of the cake I wanted,” Phelps told Lauer.
“The biggest thing between now and London was that I was more emotional during these games and that showed on camera,” Phelps added. “I knew this was the last time, the last race I’d ever have, the last Olympics I’d ever have.”
The man with the record 23 Olympic gold medals and 28 medals in total did not budge when Lauer pressed him over coming back, even though fellow swimmer Ryan Lochte guaranteed Phelps would compete in the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
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