London 2012: Michael Phelps' Olympic Finale Makes Games Must-See TV

The world will be watching when the 2012 Summer Olympics open in London in late July, though there will be no more worthy occasion for which to tune in than Michael Phelps' last go-round as an Olympian.

The Baltimore Bullet revealed that this summer's games would be his last in the pool, during an interview with Anderson Cooper on the most recent edition of 60 Minutes.

Phelps captivated millions of hearts and minds during the Sydney Games in 2004 and the Beijing Games in 2008, winning a single-games record eight gold medals in China to bring his career total to 16 medals of any color. His 14 career golds (six from Sydney) also constitute an Olympic record.

He's already arguably the most successful Olympic athlete ever, and will solidify his claim to such fame if he returns with three more of any constitution, to surpass the 18 accumulated by Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina between 1956 and 1964.

So, really, it should come as no surprise that Phelps will be calling it quits after London. There's little left for him to prove now and will be even less left on his agenda once he's done with his laps across the pond. Also, Phelps will be 31 by the time the Rio de Janeiro Games roll around in 2016, putting him well past his athletic prime and even further behind the rest of the young guns bound to be in the pool by then.

All of which makes tuning in to Phelps' events this summer that much more important. It'll be the last opportunity to see the greatest swimmer of this generation, if not the greatest of all time, ply his trade on the world's biggest stage. His age and perceived poor conditioning could make the individual races tougher nuts to crack than before, though he should still have enough left in the tank to compete at a high level in the relays.

But, regardless of how well Phelps does or figures to do, we can be sure that he won't do it again, not at the Olympics, anyway.

Which should be occasion enough to turn on the tube whenever Phelps dips a toe into the pool this time around.

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