Olympic Champion Michael Phelps Returns to Pool After Suspension

— -- Micheal Phelps is the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time with 22 total medals -- and now he’s beginning his quest to add to that.

Phelps is getting back in the pool today for the first time since his six-month suspension by USA Swimming after pleading guilty for drunk driving last September.

“Have I screwed up? Yeah, a lot,” Phelps said at a press conference Wednesday before the Arena Pro Swim Series in Mesa, Arizona. “I did more growing up in the last, probably, eight months than I ever have in my life.”

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Winning may come easy for the 18-time Olympic gold medalist, but staying out of trouble is a different story. He pleaded guilty to a DWI in 2004. Then in 2009, he was suspended from swimming for three months after Star magazine published a picture of Phelps using a marijuana pipe.

“I take full responsibility for all of my actions,” Phelps said. “I’ve hurt a lot of people and it’s been terrible.”

Following this latest arrest, Phelps entered rehab, joined Alcoholics Anonymous and in February, announced his engagement to Nicole Johnson, a former Miss California.

If Phelps makes the US team for the 2016 Rio Olympics, he will be 31-years-old, which is considered old for a world-class swimmer. The average age of medalists in Phelps’ best events is 21.4.

“I would just get up and swim as hard as I could and leave it in water, and that’s what I’m going to do here,” he said, hoping his best strokes are yet to come.