After years of hiding his depression, Phelps dedicates his new life to preventing depression. Health mind of athletes.
“Too many Olympic athletes have committed suicide, I don’t want to lose one more member of my Olympic family,” he makes clear.
It was in 2004, while he was playing in the Olympic Games in Athens, that Phelps began to suffer from depression.
In that Olympic event he would win eight medals, six of them gold, the beginning of a legendary loot that ended in Rio-2016. He in total he won 28 metals, with 23 titles.
“Disputing competitions was what he preferred. He was a shark, he felt the blood in the water and he continued,” he recalls. He feared that confessing to having a mental illness would become “a sign of weakness that could give rivals an advantage.”
“I lived through a period in which I didn’t want to continue living,” he confesses.
Involved in the making of the documentary ‘The Weight of Gold’, on the mental health of athletes, Phelps shows his support for the Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka and the American gymnast Simone Biles, after both admitted suffering from mental problems.
“I applaud Naomi. She expressed what she was experiencing on social media, in her own words. It’s not the easiest thing to do,” says Phelps.
“When we see what has happened with Simone Biles, she had to endure all of that during one of the most important moments of her career,” adds the former swimmer.
“It shows to what extent mental problems come at unexpected times, they can appear out of nowhere,” he explains, snapping his fingers.
“We need people prepared to open up and share their experiences to break down these walls, these barriers that people build.”
Father of three children; six, four and three years old, Phelps has a life “that never stops”, together with his wife Nicole.
“I travel around the world, working with sponsors or giving motivational talks,” he adds.
“Nicole could explain to them that there are days when I wake up and I feel great, and the next day I wake up and it’s completely different, so for me it’s about finding balance.”
In addition to his lectures, Phelps looks for ways to be himself, “authentic”: “I swim, we’ve built a gym in our garage, and I keep a diary.”
“We have several tools that I can use and all of this is possible thanks to the work that we have done to get to this point,” he says.
Phelps retired in 2016, having previously interrupted his career for two years: “This allowed me to transition into the next chapter, which is now about mental health.”
On the option of becoming a coach, Phelps cleared doubts saying that there is “no chance” that he will follow in the footsteps of his former coach Bob Bowman.
What he does not rule out is having a role in the American team or in the International Swimming Federation (FINA), but “not at the moment”.
Despite being away from the pools, Phelps follows the news and declares himself in favor of an “open category” for transgender swimmers.
“I think there should be three categories: men, women and trans, to give everyone the same opportunities to compete,” he concludes.