Since the 2008 Olympic Games, Michael Phelps hasn’t had the most successful run of his career, he said.
The 14-time Olympic gold medalist was a little burned out on swimming after the Beijing Olympics, he said.
“…The first two years (after the Beijing Olympics) were kind of just going through the motions and just showing up when I wanted to, and there was nothing exciting about it,” Phelps told NBC Sports. “I didn’t really enjoy going to work out, and it was kind of like pulling teeth there.”
Phelps said that, for a while, swimming wasn’t fun. It took a lot of prodding from his coach, Bob Bowman, for Phelps to get excited about swimming again.
In order for that to happen, Phelps and Bowman had to find a way to make swimming meaningful again, Phelps said. Since Phelps has been able to establish those goals, training has become much easier, he said.
“Once we were able to find sort of a middle ground and I was able to find goals — something that was meaningful for me to be able to jump in the water and do it because I wanted to, not because I had to — I think that was something that made it a lot better and a lot easier,” Phelps told NBC Sports.
He added: “I show up early now, I stretch, I do all the small things that I know are going to make the big difference in the end and it’s all because I want to. And I think it’s a lot easier when you want to do something.”
Phelps said that establishing those goals, which he declined to define during the interview, has helped him to find the love again.
“I think over the last eight months to a year I’ve really been able to re-find the love and re-find the motivation and the passion that I have for the sport,” Phelps told NBC Sports. “It’s actually fun for me again, so I think leading into the Olympics this year is — it’s going to be a special time and a time that I’m looking forward to.”
Sandra Johnson was a competitive swimmer for more than 15 years before she began coaching. She has covered Olympic sports for more than five years, and while working for the United States Olympic Committee in Colorado Springs, Colo., she had the opportunity to immerse herself in the Olympic Movement. Follow her on Twitter: @SandraJohnson46