I have reached a place in my life where I need to sit down and say, 'Well, what do I do? What's best for me?' I need to look into options for the future.
I'm kind of a creature of habit. Once I get used to doing things, it's like second nature.
I know it won't be eight medals again. If you want to compare me to that, that's your decision, not mine. I'm going out there to try to accomplish the things that I have in my mind and in my heart.
If I bring back only one gold people are going to say it's a disappointment. But not too many of them own an Olympic gold medal so if I get one I'm going to be happy.
I think to be - for me to be an American is - you know, it's one of the greatest things in the world for - you know, for me just because I've been able to grow up with everything. The freedom. You know, in my eyes this is the greatest country in the world.
I always have on my headphones to block out all of the other distractions and I'm just focused on doing the best that I can.... There a few of them ... DMX Party Up ... Mack 10 BC and Ice Cube Connected for Life. I also listen to the Eminem CD ...whichever song really gets me going that night
We wanted to see how close we could get to the world record. We'll take that for right now.
This is my 20th year in the sport. I've known swimming and that's it. I don't want to swim past age 30; if I continue after this Olympics, and come back in 2016, I'll be 31. I'm looking forward to being able to see the other side of the fence.
Even in high school, I'd tell my mom I was sick of swimming and wanted to try to play golf. She wasn't too happy. She'd say, 'Think about this.' And I'd always end up getting back in the pool.
I love to race the best people in the world and the fastest people in the world.
My little son is already like me - my mom has always said I used to bounce off the wall and never stop talking or sit still. I'm starting to see that with him. I guess it's living proof he's part of me.
I try to separate my personal life from swimming.
I always thought, it would be neat to make the Olympic team.
I won't predict anything historic. But nothing is impossible.
It's tough to put into words right now, but I finished my career how I wanted to. Through the ups and downs of my career I've still been able to do everything that I've ever wanted to accomplish.
We're all a little tired.
I grew up around the pool with my sisters. Both of my sisters swam. I was always there. So I thought, why not? My mom put us in the water for water safety, so we were comfortable in the water in case anything ever happened. I learned that way, and started liking it more and more.
I'm pretty lazy. My wife always says, "you're the laziest, most successful Olympian I've ever seen." How does that make sense? Honestly, if I have downtime, I'm really, really good at not doing anything.
I wanted to do something nobody ever did. This goes hand in hand with my goal of changing swimming.
With social media, so many people have anxiety and depression because of it. Of course technology is somewhat good, but it can present so many issues; more and more we're seeing what that's causing, and it's even leading to deaths. I just got finished doing a documentary called Anx with children talking about anxiety and recognizing their emotions and understanding them better. We need to let kids know it's OK to not be OK. And we need to help them be comfortable talking about it.
So, you know, if, if I wanted to get up and just play golf one day, I would just get up and play golf. If I wanted to go to Vegas, I would just get up and go to Vegas.
The only reason I started swimming was for water safety. Then, once I started falling in love with sports, I got more comfortable with it.
It's cool just because I've had this dream of changing the sport of swimming and it's finally happening.
I'm so sick of the water.
Yeah, my friends call me Mike, Michael or just my last name.
