The day after he swam his last race as a competitive swimmer at the London Olympics， Michael Phelps got up early.

It was force of habit. He didn’t have a race that day， or even a scheduled training session with his coach of 16 years， Bob Bowman. For two decades， the 27-year-old Baltimorean was up at dawn for his first of two daily swims， clicking off the millions of laps of training that earned him the title of nothing less than the greatest Olympian of all time. With an unprecedented 22 Olympic medals， 18 of them gold， he is now the most decorated Olympian ever.

倫敦奧運會上，游完了最后一場以游泳參賽選手的身份參加的比賽后，第二天，菲爾普斯一早就起床了。

這是習慣使然。他那天沒有比賽，甚至連指導了他16年的教練鮑伯·鮑曼也沒有給他安排任何訓練。20年來，這名來自巴爾的摩的27歲小伙子每天天剛亮就起床，開始每天兩次的游泳訓練，經(jīng)歷了無數(shù)圈的訓練讓他獲得“史上最偉大的奧運選手”的封號。他以史無前例的22枚奧運獎牌，其中18枚金牌的成績，成為奧運史上獲得最多榮耀的選手。

“There will be no more staring at the black line （at the bottom of the pool） for four hours every day，” he said that morning in London. “This is the first day of my retirement. The first day of my new life.” And just what will he do with the rest of his life？ Travel and golf， he said.

But who is he kidding？ The pool and Phelps will be forever linked， forged in an unbreakable bond as interlocked as the five Olympic rings. Nor does he want to. While always cagey about disclosing his personal goals during his competitive career， Phelps has said that one legacy he hopes to leave behind is a sport that is stronger， bigger and higher profile than when he entered it.

那天早上在倫敦，他說：“以后不用再每天花四個小時盯著那些黑線（在游泳池底部）了。今天是我退役的第一天，也是我展開新生活的第一天。”他會怎么安排以后的人生？旅游和高爾夫，這是他給出的回答。

他在開玩笑吧？泳池和菲爾普斯之間的聯(lián)系，如同奧運五環(huán)環(huán)環(huán)相扣、牢不可破，他也不打算離開。雖然菲爾普斯在比賽生涯中一直不愿透露個人目標，但他說過，如果在離開時有什么想留下的話，他希望是，到那時游泳運動比他進來時知名度更高、規(guī)模更大、規(guī)格更高。

“I want to grow the sport of swimming，” is his refrain. His agent， Peter Carlisle， says that desire was born early， at his first meeting with the then-15 year old Phelps， who was shopping for representation. He said， he wanted to see swimming on SportsCenter.

Fast forward a decade， and swimming does pop up on SportsCenter. There’s no question that Phelps and his journey were a big part of that. For now， he says Phelps is focusing on expanding his swim schools， which are part of the Michael Phelps Foundation， begun in 2008 with the $1 million bonus check he received for breaking Spitz’s record. Phelps’ IM Program， which is taught at the schools， begins with water safety for children who have never been in a pool and extends to stroke training. So far， it’s part of 28 Boys and Girls Clubs in the US and Phelps hopes to expand the program to all 200 of the Clubs with a pool and provide transportation for youngsters without access to pools so they can participate as well. Growing the sport will mean nurturing its grass roots， and not simply lending his presence when it’s convenient， a commitment that Phelps seems to have already made.

“I want to take swimming to a new level，” he said before leaving London. “It hasn’t reached the peak I want it to reach. That’s tough for swimming in the US because we have so many sports， so many professional sports in the spotlight. Hopefully we can catch up and be on the same level. I’ve been able to see the sport change so much in the last four years， it’s shocking.”

而他也多次提到：“我想更好地發(fā)展游泳運動?！北说谩たㄈR爾是他的經(jīng)紀人，他透露，這個愿望早在他和菲爾普斯初次見面時就萌發(fā)了，當時年僅15歲的菲爾普斯正在找一名代理人。他說，他想在《世界體育中心》節(jié)目上看到游泳。

一晃十年過去了，游泳項目真的在《世界體育中心》上出現(xiàn)了。毋庸置疑，菲爾普斯和他的經(jīng)歷起到了很大的推動作用?，F(xiàn)在，卡萊爾說，菲爾普斯把重點放在發(fā)展游泳學校。這些學校是“菲爾普斯基金會”的一部分。在2008年，他打破施皮茨保持的記錄，獲得100萬美元獎金的支票，他用這筆錢成立了游泳學校。菲爾普斯IM項目，在學校也會建立，初衷是針對沒下過泳池的孩子的水上安全，并提供游泳姿勢訓練。目前為止，這個項目成為全美28個“男生女生俱樂部”的一部分，菲爾普斯希望能把這個項目覆蓋到全部200所俱樂部。他的做法是建一個泳池，并為平日享受不到泳池的小孩提供接送服務，讓他們也可以參與其中。想發(fā)展這項運動，就要栽培苗子，但這不是方便的時候就走走過場這么簡單，如此看來，菲爾普斯似乎已經(jīng)作出了承諾。

“我要把游泳運動提升到一個新的水平?！彼陔x開倫敦前說道：“現(xiàn)在還沒到達我所希望的高度。在美國，游泳項目的處境很艱難。因為我們有這么多體育項目，這么多公眾關注的職業(yè)體育項目。我希望我們能追趕上，達到同樣的水準。我已經(jīng)看到這項運動在過去4年發(fā)生了很大的變化，這很令人震驚?！?/p>