OMAHA, Neb. — Eight was enough for Michael Phelps in Beijing.
OMAHA, Neb. — Eight was enough for Michael Phelps in Beijing.
The world’s greatest swimmer dropped one of his eight Olympic events on Monday, leaving him with seven at the London Games. That means the 14-time gold medalist won’t equal the record eight golds he won four years ago.
And Phelps is just fine with that.
“Four years ago, we were trying to literally do everything,” he told The Associated Press in an interview Monday. “That was what we wanted to do but at this point, it’s let’s go out, let’s have some fun, let’s relax a little bit.”
Phelps’ coach, Bob Bowman, announced Monday on the final day of the U.S. trials that Phelps was scratching the 200-meter freestyle.
“It’s so much smarter for me to do that,” Phelps said.
Phelps qualified in five individual events for London and is expected to swim all three relays. But he will focus on the 200 and 400 individual medley and the 100 and 200 butterfly.