Intro:

The sporting and swimming world may never see his like again

Script:

It's wild. 20 years. I couldn't ask to finish on a better note. I've done everything I ever wanted to do. I'm very happy. I don't know, That's about all I've got for you guys right now (laughs). It's kind of hard to grasp all this right now. Now I'm not sure where my emotions are right now. I don't think it has really hit in - or, I guess, struck me yet out of what has happened. I'm sure over the next couple of days things will really star to settle in."

"I don't know. I'm just retiring. No, you know, one of the biggest things that I've always said to myself is I'll never swim at the age of 30. I want to be done before I hit the age of 30 and, you know, one of the biggest things I know is if I go three more years, then you just go another one. It's just one thing I have said throughout my career and, you know, I've been very fortunate to look back at my career and day I've achieved every goal I have ever wanted to. You know, I think at that point in your career, I think it's just time to move on. You know, there are other things I want to do in my life and I'm not sue staring at a black line for four hours a day is one of those!"

"i just feel right now that is like a normal typical end of a meet. My last swim is normally the relay and it's weird to think that, you know, that was my last swim ever. But it's something I am very happy for and very proud of. You know, when I went in to warm-up for my second time, I walked into the warm-up pool and there was nobody in there. I was like, 'This is really strange'. It's like to used to seeing like 10 or 15 people in a lane. You know, you are fighting for a spot to sort of do your fast stuff and do your pace stuff, and get your stroke ready. There was probably 20 lifeguards sitting around on the side of the pool and I just walked in - and I was the only one in the pool. It was kind of a weird feeling because I have never seen that at a big meet. So, I was the last one to swim in the warm-up pool and it was kind of cool."

(Q. I just wondered what you thought it would mean to the people back home when they are recovering from the shootings in Aurora?)

"I hope this means a lot to them. I have constantly been thinking about them this whole time. I have said it and I will say it again, that everything I have done here has been dedicated to them. It was so, so terrible what happened - it's so hard to believe that it did really happen. I hope that I have brought some smiles back to Colorado - and the supportive tweets and Facebook posts that I have been getting...so many people have been saying that I have been doing that and that just means the world to me."