Phelps eager to compete at 2016 Rio Olympics

American swimming great Michael Phelps who has returned to the sport after serving a six-month ban has said that he wants to compete at 2016 Rio Olympics.

Phelps, who was suspended by USA Swimming after a conviction for drink driving in September, had entered a short-lived retirement after London 2012, but would now bid to reach a fifth Olympic Games.

Phelps revealed at Arizona's Skyline Aquatic Centre, where he would be competing for the first time since his suspension, that people heard it there first, the BBC reported.

Phelps said that he is looking forward to next year, adding that he doesn't think it's too hard to really realize why he came back.

The most decorated Olympian of all time would not swim at August's World Championships in Russia, as part of an agreement with USA Swimming alongside his ban and would instead race at the US national championships in San Antonio, Texas, taking place at the same time as the Worlds.

Phelps said that the last couple of months have probably been the hardest he has ever had to go through in his entire life, adding that he takes full responsibility for all of his actions, and admitted that he has hurt a lot of people and it's been terrible.