Michael Phelps says he has set aside thoughts of retirement and the American swimming star is looking forward to going for more gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Phelps said his recent troubles out of the pool, which included being photographed with a pipe used for smoking marijuana, resulted in him doing some soul searching, he told the Orange County Register.

Speaking on Saturday at the US Olympic Training Center in southern California, Phelps - who won an unprecedented eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics - said he is pleased to be back in the pool.

"I got points of view from everybody," said Phelps. "But deep down inside, I was the one who needed to decide what I was going to do. If I still had passion and still had drive to get back in the pool.

"I literally just woke up one Sunday. What am I doing? Why am I even questioning stopping now? I still have four more years and then I'll be done.

"In my mind, there were still things I wanted to accomplish. There are still more things out there that I want to do and that I can do to help change the sport, and that's why I'm back. Because I want to do it."

Last month a British newspaper ran a photo of Phelps holding a marijuana pipe at a party. In one of his first wide-ranging interviews since the incident, Phelps says he has learned from his mistake.

"My goal was to do something that no one else had done before, and I did that," he told the newspaper. "At that time I was really lost at what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go.

"I needed to sort of sit down and think about if I don't swim what am I going to do? And if I swim, what do I want to do?"

Following publication of the picture, Phelps was slapped with a three-month suspension by USA Swimming and shunned by sponsors Kelloggs and AT and T.

Phelps said he had too much time on his hands after Beijing.

"I guess you can say it was difficult," Phelps said. "It was hard. I knew all along that I needed to have some sort of structure back into my life.

"My comfort is obviously being back in the pool. I'm just happy to be back in the pool and able to train again.

"It seems like whenever I am out of the water, that's when something happens."

(AFP via China Daily March 23, 2009)