{"id":513558,"date":"2022-09-27T10:49:15","date_gmt":"2022-09-27T17:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=513558"},"modified":"2022-09-27T10:49:15","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T17:49:15","slug":"michael-phelps-hopes-mental-health-focus-can-save-a-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/michael-phelps-hopes-mental-health-focus-can-save-a-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Phelps Hopes Mental Health Focus Can \u201cSave a Life\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Phelps Hopes Mental Health Focus Can \u201cSave a Life\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael Phelps<\/strong> has kept busy since his swimming career ended for good after the 2016 Rio Olympics, and one of the most important focuses has been on mental health advocacy.<\/p>\n

For all the Phelps, 37, accomplished in the water, he views his post-swimming work as similarly important.<\/p>\n

“I’d rather have the opportunity to save a life than win another gold medal because this is way more important,” Phelps told AFP during an interview at the Sports Tomorrow forum in Paris<\/a>. “We have lost way too many Olympic athletes to suicide. I don’t want to lose any more of my Olympic family members.”<\/p>\n

Phelps first recognized signs of his depression in 2004, the year he won his first Olympic medals in Athens. He would go on to win 23 Olympic gold medals and 28 total, the most decorated Olympian in history. But that journey came with bumps, including well-publicized struggles with mental health and arrests for DUI.<\/p>\n

In growing into an adulthood defined by more than his swimming excellence, he\u2019s grappled with those issues very publicly. They\u2019ve continued to be front and center as he\u2019s moved into broadcasting and as he\u2019s grown a family of three sons with his wife, Nicole<\/strong>. (When asked in Paris if he saw coaching in his future, Phelps said there was \u201czero chance,\u201d though he didn\u2019t say no to a potential official role in USA Swimming or FINA down the road, if offered.)<\/p>\n