American swimming<\/a> legend Michael Phelps<\/a> has been an idol for millions. Although, this makes us wonder who he himself might\u2019ve idolized growing up. Apparently, <\/span>the greatest athlete of all time <\/span><\/i>with a gold-laden career in swimming had a few regrets, and this involved his swimming idol.<\/span><\/p>\n As per <\/span>Beneath The Surface, <\/span><\/i>Phelps once was disheartened by the news of his idol and freestyle swimmer, Ian Thorpe\u2019s retirement. He was one of the most significant competitors the Olympian looked up to. Let\u2019s dive into what Phelps had to say about the memory.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the autobiographical <\/span>Beneath The Surface, <\/span><\/i>Phelps revealed that he was pretty <\/span>\u201cdisappointed\u201d <\/span><\/i>when he discovered that his favorite athlete, Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe was signing out of his competitive career. However, Thorpe himself wouldn\u2019t have it another way.<\/span><\/p>\n Thorpe\u2019s retirement brought feelings of regret for the American champion. He said.<\/span>\u201cI\u2019ll always regret not having a chance to race him after Athens.\u201d <\/span><\/i>Additionally, he acknowledged the former athlete\u2019s contribution to the field of swimming, and how he was grateful for his existence<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n DIVE DEEPER<\/span><\/p>\n Despite Suffering a Horrific Injury That Broke His Right Wrist, Michael Phelps 13 days ago<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Phelps added, <\/span>\u201cHe was the champ in the 200 free and I owed him a debt of thanks for being so good in that race and pushing me by setting a standard of exceptional freestyle swimming.\u201d <\/span><\/i>Later on, the Olympian aced the same race in Montreal but wasn\u2019t content in his absence. Moreover, he hoped he would someday get to compete with the 5-time gold medalist in his homeland.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In yet another Phelps-Thorpe episode, the latter once suspected the American swimmer\u2019s athletic skills prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The freestyle swimmer predicted that Phelps won\u2019t be able to achieve<\/a> his dream of 8 gold medals in a single Olympics Games based on the reasoning of highly capable competitors present.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/div>\n He stated, <\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/i>I don\u2019t think he can do it. I just don\u2019t think he will. Look at the competition.\u201d <\/span><\/i>Moreover, it also meant that Phelps would overpower his record of 9 Olympic medals. When Phelps did push the margins of the game, Thorpe was delighted. He admitted, <\/span>\u201cNever in my life have I been so happy to have been proved wrong. I enjoyed every moment of it\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Michael Phelps did the unimaginable and took home a whooping 23 Olympic gold medals. So to say, he even left behind his idol in terms of competing. A man of wonder, isn\u2019t he? Let us know if you too wanted to witness the legendary duo compete one last time.<\/span><\/p>\n Watch this story:\u00a0Michael Phelps\u2019 Butterfly Stroke Burns Vast Amount of Calories- Here are the best Strokes for Swimming for Instant Weight Loss<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n American swimming legend Michael Phelps has been an idol for millions. Although, this makes us wonder who he himself might\u2019ve idolized growing up. Apparently, the greatest athlete of all time with a gold-laden career in swimming had a few regrets, and this involved his swimming idol. As per Beneath The Surface, Phelps once was disheartened …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[161],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42278"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/multisite-test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Michael Phelps wished things were different.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\nRecorded an Impeccable Olympic Feat in 2008: \u201cWanted to Do Something Nobody Ever
\nDid\u201d<\/p>\nIan Thorpe doubted Michael Phelps\u2019s prowess.<\/b><\/h2>\n
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