Michael Phelps Retirement Will Leave Huge Void for US Olympic Team

Historic dominance.

What other phrase describes American swimmer Michael Phelps and his Olympic career?

With an assist from his teammates, Phelps made a historic run at the 2008 Olympic Games. He captured eight gold medals and the hearts of Americans that summer, leading the U.S. Olympic team to great heights.

The Baltimore Bullet is the winningest Olympic athlete ever with 14 gold medals—though he has two more medals of any color to go before catching Russian-Ukrainian Larisa Latynina, who has 18 total—and he has a serious chance to win seven more in London. All for Team USA, which might never see an athlete even approach Phelps' achievements.

His Olympic ascent began in Athens, where he won six gold medals, four of them individually. He was just 19 years old, but Phelps was ushering in a new wave of dominance in men's swimming for the United States.

Before his arrival, the United States men had won 19 gold medals in the previous three Olympics. They matched that total in 2004 and 2008 combined, thanks largely to Phelps, who won nine on his own and that record-breaking 14 total in that span.

Phelps is retiring after the 2012 Games. The idea may seem like a shock for a 27-year-old swimmer who looks like he has plenty left in his tank, but this has been in the works since his last Olympic appearance. 

He recently revealed that he was simply sick of competitive swimming, a statement that helped explain his falloff after Beijing. Phelps gave way to Ryan Lochte, who dominated swimming for the better part of the past three years.

Team USA might still have Ryan Lochte after the London Games, but there are no guarantees of wild success. Lochte is almost a year older than Phelps himself, and—although he has not made any retirement plans public—he may not be around for the 2016 Games. Even if he is, to expect him to carry the U.S. men's team at nearly 32 years of age could be asking too much.

What will men's swimming look like without Phelps or a youthful Lochte?

A dearth of gold-medal talent seems to lie beyond the rivals. There are sparks in certain events, but nothing close to a teenage phenom of Phelps' caliber. Just watching the U.S. Olympic swimming trials was evidence enough—how many times did we see other swimmers fall far behind Phelps or Lochte?

Of course, four years is a long time, and the next great American male swimmer might spring up between now and then. But even if that proves to be true, the void Phelps will leave in his wake will be impossible to fill.