Swimming Legend Michael Phelps’ 2022 Stats Shows Shocking Reality About His Relationship With the Sport

Very few have left an indelible mark in their sports as much as Michael Phelps has in swimming. Post his retirement in 2016, in the pursuit of prioritizing other sports over swimming, the Baltimore Bullet dived into his other indulgences. In 2022, one particular sport that Phelps has had a love for it since his swimming days was golf. Let’s learn more about his love for this sport.

Phelps, who has around 3.4 million followers on Instagram, recently put out a story that showed his preference for his top 5 sports as per hours spent indulging in them in 2022. While shockingly, swimming was at the bottom, this sport took the 2nd spot with way more viewing hours.

Michael Phelps’s deep love for Golf from his swimming days itself

Phelps put out the caption “Times have changed” followed by an emoticon with big open eyes expressing shock. It would shock anyone to find that Phelps, who dominated the swimming world for over a decade, prefers ‘Golf’ over swimming. Phelps spent 93×221.7 hours on Golf in 2022 as compared to his 24×15.3 hours spent on swimming. Reaffirming his love for the sport personally in the past and WHOOP annual reading in the present, he announced, “I like states.”

Superman’s love for spending time on the putting green is well-documented from his swimming days. During a press conference for IconsSeries 2022, Phelps was asked about Golf and how it compares to swimming for him. He said, “I play 100+ rounds a year,” sharing his obsession with the sport and the experience he developed in the field.

Phelps continued how he got addicted to Golf and now he continues it with his wife. He said, “I actually compete with my wife. Talk a lot of trash with my wife on the course, and that’s awesome. But she did beat me last time, so she can hold that over my head”. Phelps’s wife is a former Miss California 2010, Nicole Johnson.

Read More | “Looked at Myself as an Athlete Not a Human”- Michael Phelps Struggled With Finding Self Love During His Legendary Olympic Career

He said that he loved all the minute details in Golf and went on to draw its similarities with swimming. Sharing the commonality he found in both that made him obsessed, he said, “It was the same that it was when I was swimming. I mean I was literally working in hundredths of a second”. He has just shifted his focus from water to blades of grass.

Phelps’s outlook on both sports’ from a mental perspective

The follow-up question to Phelps was to draw a comparison between the two sports from the mental side of things. Phelps responded in a candid manner, confessing he hasn’t spent enough time playing golf as compared to swimming in order to draw that crucial comparison. In his swimming career, there were a ton of preparations he had to do that made him fall into autopilot mode. Whereas, with golf, he said, “I haven’t hit 50,000 golf balls to reach there”.

The physical activity Phelps loved doing the most this year was weightlifting, which took the top spot with 153×196.5 hours. Whereas, spin and elliptical took other spots at 3rd and 4th with 67×38.1 hours and 37×18.1 hours respectively.

Watch This Story | Tiger Woods’ ‘Massive Scream For Help’ Resonated With Michael Phelps, Who Comforted The Golfer During A Dark Moment In 2017

Utilizing WHOOP, the wearable technology company that analyzes HRV and resting heart rate, Phelps was able to download this data and post it on his Instagram account. Will Phelps be able to keep up with his passion for Golf and ever play the Majors? What do you think?