Michael Phelps Continues To Be Vague About 2016 Rio Games, Is A Return To The Pool In The Works For One Of The World's Greatest Olympians?

Jul 30, 2013 08:35 AM EDT

When the 2012 London Olympic Games came to an end it was made clear that Olympic champion Michael Phelps was walking away from his swimming career, but nowadays there seems to be a lot of uncertainty.

Although he's saying that he's never had a happier time in his life than right now being away training, Phelps left the door open to change his mind before the 2016 Rio Games in Brazil commences.

"I don't know what's going to happen in the future," Phelps said Monday. "I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow."

Phelps certainly hasn't been training at the moment, as he's currently nursing a jammed small toe on his right foot he got while hitting the edge of a sofa while at home in Baltimore. He re-aggravated the injury while participating in a golf tournament at Lake Tahoe.

He's currently sporting a boot cast on his foot while in Barcelona, as he continues his sightseeing and promotional appearances.

"I have no plans to do anything," Phelps said. "I love what I'm doing now. I'm able to travel so much, play golf. I'm on my schedule. I've never been able to have that. I've never been able to do really whatever I want to do. I go wherever I want to go. I see whatever I want to see. It's nice waking up at 10, 11, 12 o'clock in the afternoon. I'm pretty lazy besides playing golf. I don't do much."

Although he's passionate about golf, Phelps is aware that there isn't much of a career in the sport besides a few celebrity tournaments here and there. However, the sport has truly impacted him in some way, possibly even humbling him as a person.

"I'm competitive in everything," Phelps said. "But golf has a very slow learning curve. For me to be able to get where I want to be, it's going to take some time to get there. It's not something that's going to take 24 hours and, bang, I'll be able to shoot par and be a scratch golfer. It's so annoying. It's probably the most humbling thing I've ever done, the most humbling sport I've ever done, the toughest thing I've ever done."

Phelps competitive nature is still keeping him close to the pool, as he said he feels he could have competed at this weekend's world swimming championships in Barcelona, and definitely didn't like watching the U.S. go down in defeat in the 400-meter freestyle relay. "I definitely could have hopped up," he said.

When asked what he misses about being on the national team, he responded, "Everything, just being able to be a part of the team."

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