No means no. No amount of cajoling, arm-twisting and pleading by his team mates and swimming fans around the world will make Michael Phelps change his mind about retiring after the Rio Olympics. The great American swimmer made that abundantly clear on Friday after winning the 27th Olympic medal of his career, a three-way dead-heat silver in the men’s 100 meters butterfly.
“No,” he said as the question was still leaving the journalist’s lips, a succession of further ‘no’s following in close succession. “Done. (South African co-silver medalist) Chad (Le Clos) asked me in the award area and the Dwyers were chanting four more years.” Phelps said in 2012 he was retiring but he came back for one last hurrah after feeling he wanted to bow out on his own terms.
