SWIMMING: The Return of Phleps

Michael Phelps has officially stepped out of
retirement, fuelling speculation that the most
decorated Olympic athlete of all time could
compete at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The 28-year-old, who captured 18 gold in a
total of 22 medals over three Olympic
summers since Athens 2004, is to compete at
a USA Swimming meet in Mesa, Arizona,
between April 24 and 26.
The US national governing body for the sport
revealed that Phelps is to join fellow
Olympians Ryan Lochte and Katie Ledecky in
the Arena Grand Prix - his first competitive
swim since announcing retirement after
London 2012.
Phelps returned to training in autumn 2013
and re-entered the country's drug-testing
programme later that year, completing the US
Anti-Doping Agency's mandatory six-month
waiting period for competitive eligibility earlier
this year.
Nicknamed the Baltimore Bullet, Phelps shot
to fame in the 2003 when he claimed four gold
and two silver medals in his first ever World
Championships in Barcelona.
A year later, Phelps dominated the men's
events in his first Olympics, winning gold in
the 100m and 200m butterfly and individual
medley races as well as gold in the 4x100m
and 4x200m relay.
In Beijing four years later, Phelps won gold in
all of his competitions, eight in total, breaking
Mark Spitz's record for individual golds in a
single Olympics and smashing world records
at will.
He won four gold and two silver before
supposedly finishing his career after London
2012.
But Phelps now looks set to compete over the
coming months with a view to taking part in
the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
His coach Bob Bowman said last month: "He
looks like he is definitely in shape.
"If he swims a meet in the next couple months
and does well, he will probably give it a shot
in Irvine (at the United States Championships).
But he doesn't have to do that to have a shot
at the 2016 Olympics."