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Swimming: Phelps finds new focus in mental health fight

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Emmeline Moore, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Michael Phelps prepares for the men" s="" butterfly="" final="" at="" the="" Rio="" Olympic="" Games="" on="" August="" Bernd="" EPA="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/news/09/23/michael-phelps-epa.jpg"/><figcaption>Michael Phelps prepares for the men&#x27;s 100m butterfly final at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on August 12, 2016. Bernd Thissen, EPA/file</figcaption></figure></div>A self-confessed &quot;shark&quot; in the water Michael Phelps trained non stop in pursuit of his all-consuming dream to become the greatest swimmer of all time.But the 37-year-old disclosed that none of his 60 plus gold medals, including a record 23 in the Olympics, weigh more than his current career as a mental health advocate.After years hiding his depression, Phelps told AFP in an interview at the &quot;Demain le sport&quot; (Sports Tomorrow) forum in Paris, his post-swimming career was even busier than his punishing schedule in the pool.&quot;I&#x27;d rather have the opportunity to save a life than win another gold medal because this is way more important,&quot; said Phelps.&quot;We have lost way too many Olympic athletes to suicide. I don&#x27;t want to lose any more of my Olympic family members.&quot;<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/29/21/how-hidilyn-fought-mental-breakdown-while-preparing-for-olympics-under-covid-lockdown">How Hidilyn fought mental breakdown while preparing for Olympics under COVID lockdown</a></li></ul>Phelps&#x27; depression first emerged in 2004, the year of his first Olympics in Athens when he won eight medals including six in gold.&quot;Competing was one of my favorite things. I was a shark and smelt blood in the water and kept going,&quot; he said.He feared opening up would be &quot;a sign of weakness, giving competitors an edge,&quot; adding: &quot;I went through a period where I didn&#x27;t want to be alive.&quot;Phelps, who was involved in the making of a documentary &#x27;The Weight of Gold&#x27;, praised tennis star Naomi Osaka and gymnastics great Simone Biles for their openness.&quot;I have to applaud Naomi,&quot; he told AFP. &quot;She went on her social media platform and expressed what she was going through in her own words. &quot;That&#x27;s not the easiest thing to do.&quot;If you look at Simone Biles, she had that happen to her at the largest moment in her career. &quot;It shows you how unexpected a mental health illness is. It can pop up like that,&quot; he said clicking his fingers.&quot;We need more and more people who are opening up to share to lower down these walls, these boundaries that people have built up.&quot;<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1737206" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>- &#x27;Finding a balance&#x27; -Now the father of three boys aged six, four and three his life with wife Nicole is &quot;non stop, busier than it was before, traveling all over the world, working with sponsors or doing motivational speeches.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/09/23/22/nba-simmons-says-sixers-unsupportive-amid-struggle">Nets&#x27; Simmons says Sixers unsupportive amid mental health struggle</a></li></ul>&quot;(Nicole) can tell you there are days when I wake up and I feel great and the next day I can wake up and be a completely different human, so it&#x27;s just trying to find that balance. <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/08/31/21/biles-says-mental-health-problems-began-before-olympics">Biles says mental health problems began before Olympics</a></li></ul>&quot;This is going to be an ongoing journey that may never get solved.&quot;Finding ways to be your authentic self. I swim, we&#x27;ve built a gym in our garage. I write a journal. &quot;We have a handful of tools that I can reach and use, that&#x27;s just because of the work we&#x27;ve done to get to this point.&quot;Phelps retired in 2016, after making a comeback for the Rio Olympics after a two-year hiatus from the sport.&quot;It helped me to transition into that next chapter which is now mental health and to be able to find something that I&#x27;m passionate about and I struggle with. &quot;It&#x27;s like a win-win.&quot;With no nostalgia for the punishing sport, Phelps said there was &quot;zero chance&quot; of following in the footsteps of his coach Bob Bowman.&quot;In general you find the greats in sport aren&#x27;t the best in coaching, look at Wayne Gretzky, he tried to coach an NHL team and that did not go very well,&quot; he said.A role in USA Swimming or world governing body FINA are a possibility but, &quot;not right now&quot;. &quot;I definitely wouldn&#x27;t say no, but a lot needs to happen, there needs to be a lot of changes to be honest.&quot;But he remains tuned into the issues of the sport and is in favour of an &#x27;open category&#x27; for transgender swimmers.&quot;I think there should be three classes men, women, trans, give everyone an equal opportunity to stand up and race.&quot;

Phelps said that none of his 60 plus gold medals, including a record 23 in the Olympics, weigh more than his career as a mental-health advocate.

Swimming: Phelps finds new focus in mental health fight

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Swimming: Phelps finds new focus in mental health fight

Emmeline Moore,

Agence France-Presse

Published Sep 24, 2022 09:56 AM PHT

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Michael Phelps

mental health

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