Why Did Michael Phelps Retire? The Swimming GOAT Is the Most Decorated Olympian of All Time

If we were to try to list all of swimming GOAT Michael Phelps's accomplishments, we'd probably get a wrist ache from trying to type it all. But to sum it up pretty quickly, Michael has absolutely dominated the sport, holding the all-time record for Olympic gold medals, and becoming the most decorated Olympian in history with 28 medals total.

Watching Michael Phelps compete at the Olympics was the type of thing that brought all kinds of people together, whether you were into sports (let alone swimming) at all. He powered through the water thanks to his extraordinary build, with his extra-long torso, his unusually long wingspan, and his "flipper"-like feet earning him the nickname "the flying fish."

When he retired after the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games, it was hard for fans to say goodbye. So why did he leave the sport?

Though he initially announced that he was retiring following the 2012 London games, Michael ended up returning for the 2016 Rio Olympics, where one of his goals had been to win back the title for the 200-m butterfly, which he'd won in 2004 and regained in 2008 but lost to Chad le Clos in 2012.

And, yes, Michael won it back in Rio. (Does anyone else remember the footage of Michael and Chad before the preliminary race, when it looked like Michael was giving Chad a death stare while Chad was randomly shadowboxing? It was amazing.)

So why did Michael retire? Well, being that he was 31 when he won big in Rio, he was already getting "up there" in terms of athletes' ages. He'd already admitted in a statement back in 2012 (amid his first retirement announcement) that he was "getting older" and "[finding] it harder to recover." He also talked about wanting to actually enjoy the cities he visited, rather than spend all his time inside a pool without any time for sightseeing.

Obviously things changed when he came out of retirement to compete in Rio. But after that, Michael insisted he was done for good this time. (Even though he told reporters when he arrived in Rio that this was his "potential" final Olympics, "just so you guys don’t beat me to death if I come back.")

But it looks like he really did mean it this time. And his health appeared to play a part in it. “I’m at peace with how things ended," he told Sports Illustrated in 2016. "I’d rather have a healthy body in 20 years than kill myself more now. To me, it’s a no-brainer."

But as he told The Pat McAfee Show in 2024, his family (i.e., his wife Nicole Johnson and their four children Boomer, Beckett, Maverick, and Nico) played a part in his decision too.

"Watching the Olympic trials, my son said, my 4-year-old Maverick says, 'Daddy, do you think you could still get in the water and compete with these guys?' 'Yes,' I said, 'if I wanted to, yes, I could,'" Michael recalled, adding:

"And I said 'I think I could still win. But that also means that you're not going to see Daddy very often, right? You're not going to be able to spend time with me when you come home from school.' And he's like, 'I don't want that.' I don't want that either. So that's the end of the conversation for us."