Michael Phelps: Ready for London games?

Michael Phelps made history when he won eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Now he's training hard, driven to make a splash in London. He's just three medals shy of breaking the record for most Olympic career medals. But the road back to the Olympics hasn't been easy, Anderson Cooper reports. The usually competitive and motivated Phelps went through a slump that made his own coach wonder if the swimmer would make it to the London games for the last lap of his career.

The following script is from "Michael Phelps" which originally aired on May 6, 2012 and was rebroadcast on July 22, 2012. Anderson Cooper is the correspondent. Draggan Mihailovich, producer.

Next week, Michael Phelps will climb onto the starting block for his final races at the summer Olympics in London. When we first interviewed him on 60 Minutes in the fall of 2008, he had just made history, winning eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics. Phelps was riding a worldwide wave of awe and popularity. It seemed there was nothing left to accomplish. So why continue swimming? Phelps has often wondered the same thing over the last three years.

As we reported in May, it's been the most difficult period of his career. He was photographed at a party with a marijuana pipe and it may surprise you to hear that his passion for swimming seemed to have faded. But now, as he approaches the last lap of his career, with another Olympics in sight, Michael Phelps is once again training hard, once again ready to make history.

It's 6:20 on a Saturday morning in March, virtually alone on the streets of his native Baltimore, a groggy Michael Phelps is off to another grueling daily practice in his 16th year of Olympic training. He hasn't been this committed since the Beijing Games.

Michael Phelps: After Beijing, I mean, there's countless times where I've just wanted to be like, "I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to go to the pool every day."

Anderson Cooper: So now is it, is it hard getting out of bed in the morning?

Michael Phelps: No, because one, we're so close. And two, because I'm actually enjoying it. I'm swimming well again.

With the London Olympics looming, Phelps has been rejuvenated. Physically over the last year, he's become more powerful than he was in Beijing. He's focused on weight training like never before. Gone is the grumpy, disinterested swimmer of the last few years who desperately wanted to trash his alarm clock. Back is a sense of urgency. Bob Bowman is Michael's longtime coach.

Anderson Cooper: How does his shape now compare to the way he was a year ago?

Bob Bowman: Oh, much better, much better. A year ago, on a scale of one to 10, was a two. This is a nine, eight or nine.

Anderson Cooper: Two?

Bob Bowman: Yeah, oh yeah...

Anderson Cooper: I mean, that...

Bob Bowman: That was a low, really low.

Anderson Cooper:/How worried were you?

Bob Bowman: Very worried, at that point.

Anderson Cooper: What was the fear?

Bob Bowman: That we had so far to come, he couldn't get back.

It's hard to imagine Michael Phelps not being in shape. But after his exploits in Beijing, he stopped training and started living.

By early 2009, Phelps had a decision to make: retire for good...or to jump back into the pool for a fourth Olympics and years of early morning workouts.

Bob Bowman:I thought it was a 50-50. I really didn't have a feel for whether he would come back or not come back.

Debbie Phelps: I'm like, 'Either do it or don't do it'...

Even his mom Debbie didn't know what her son was going to do.

Debbie Phelps: It's like, "Come on, you know, do you want to do this? Do you want to go an extra four years?" That's a long time.

Anderson Cooper: But you hoped he would go forward?

Debbie Phelps: Absolutely.

Michael Phelps: It was hard, because I didn't know if the passion or the fire was still inside of me. And it took awhile for me to actually realize it myself. Bob couldn't tell me, my mom couldn't tell me. They couldn't help me find it.

It didn't help when in January 2009 newspapers around the world published a photo of Phelps with a marijuana pipe. The photo tarnished his image.

Michael Phelps: I mean, that was probably like the lowest point in my career. I think being able to see how it affected the close people around me, I think that was the thing that hurt the most.

Anderson Cooper: How do you mean?

Michael Phelps: Just, you know, telling my mom that. I don't ever want to tell her something like bad like that that happened

Debbie Phelps: I asked my three-letter word, "Why?" Or, "What were you thinking? Who were you with?" It's like, "Come on Michael. Get with the program here."

Michael Phelps: It was just stupid. You know, it, it, I put myself in a bad position. And I probably went through like a huge like depression phase, where I was just like, "What am I doing?"

While paparazzi staked him out, Phelps was suspended from competition for three months by USA Swimming.

Michael Phelps: I would do nothing. Like, I would just wake up at you know 11:00 o' clock in the afternoon. Just wouldn't leave the house. And sit around, play video games. I was so lazy.

It wasn't until March of 2009 that Phelps came to a decision about the London Olympics.

Michael Phelps: I don't know what it was, I don't know what struck it. But I just woke up one morning and I was like, "Let's do it."

[Bob Bowman: One minute, take it from the top...]

Yet even after announcing he was a go for London...

[Bob Bowman: Get in, just get in...]

Phelps seemed to stick only a few toes in the water.

[Bob Bowman: Get in!]

He regularly skipped practices, unheard for Phelps, who as a teenager went six straight years without missing a single day of training. His apathy infuriated his coach Bob Bowman.

Anderson Cooper: When he was missing in practices, was it, he would just miss one or two?

Bob Bowman: Oh no, I think the fall of 2009, he missed months.

Anderson Cooper: Months?

Bob Bowman: Maybe six weeks.

For Bowman, the bottom came one Saturday in the summer of 2010.

Bob Bowman: This was about a week before the Nationals and I normally have a major practice, something that's gonna be really important. So we show up on Saturday morning and he's not there. That did not make me happy. And then I later found out that he was in Las Vegas for the weekend.

Anderson Cooper: I assume he wasn't going to Vegas to do, like, dry land training?

Bob Bowman: No, he wasn't doing any special training. Although I think he was at a pool.

Michael Phelps: Maybe it was we watched "The Hangover" or something. Like, we watched the movie and we were like, "Man, we just want to go to Vegas."

[The Hangover clip: Road trip!...]

Michael Phelps: So a couple of us just got up and went to Vegas. I mean, that, that's...

Anderson Cooper: Your motivation is "The Hangover" to go to Vegas? I mean, that's not...

Michael Phelps: I know, right? But that's, that's kind of like, what I would do. You know I, I wasn't in tune to everything that was going on in the pool. So, you know, if, if I wanted to get up and just play golf one day, I would just get up and play golf. If I wanted to go to Vegas, I would just get up and go to Vegas.

Anderson Cooper:Did you feel guilty? Or did you feel like...

Michael Phelps: No.

Anderson Cooper: No?

Michael Phelps: Not at all. I was having fun. I was pretty much just escaping the pool.

To compensate for the times Michael played hookey, Phelps and Bowman have had to get creative. This is like a treadmill for swimmers, allowing Bowman to fine tune Michael's strokes.

Bob Bowman: Let's see if you can work on keeping one goggle in on your breath instead of checking the weather. It's cloudy...

And inside Michael's apartment, an unusual contraption: a chamber he sleeps in that simulates high altitude in order to improve his endurance. He doesn't want anyone to see it, but he was willing to talk to us about it.

Michael Phelps: Once I'm already in my room, I still have to open a door to get into my bed. So, that's kind of strange.

Anderson Cooper: So, it's a tent that fits over the whole bed?

Michael Phelps: It's just like a giant box. So, it's like the boy in the bubble. That's what it kind of is.

Anderson Cooper: What altitude are you sleeping at right now?

Michael Phelps: About 8,500 to 9,000 feet.

Anderson Cooper: So you actually want him to spend as much time as possible...

Bob Bowman: I want him to spend as much time in there as possible.

Anderson Cooper: I love the idea that you're, that you're trying to just keep him in the chambers...

Bob Bowman: Sometimes I'd like to lock him in there, right? Most of the time.

Michael Phelps: It's something that is helping. I am 26 and, and I don't recover as fast as I have in the past.

How much is left in Michael's tank for London? That will be THE question of the Olympics.

Anderson Cooper: Can he win multiple gold medals in London?

Bob Bowman: Oh yeah.

Anderson Cooper: He can?

Bob Bowman: Oh for sure.

Anderson Cooper: How many?

Bob Bowman: I don't know. That's up to him.

Michael Phelps: I kind of feel like my old self again. I'm swimming times like I used to. I'm swimming races how I used to. So, everything is coming back to me, what it was, I guess, before '08.

Every race in London will be compared to what he accomplished over nine days in the summer of 2008.

[Announcer: Michael finishes first...]

Anderson Cooper: Have you been able to, do you think, finally and fully absorb what you did in Beijing?

Michael Phelps: Probably not.

Anderson Cooper: Even now?

[Announcer: He's magical, he's Superman...]

Michael Phelps: No. I guess I probably do get, kind of, like, choked up, like, just thinking about all the memories and thinking of exactly when I touched the wall, what was, what was going on in my head.

[Announcer: Michael Phelps!]

Michael Phelps: But probably deep down inside I probably really don't know and won't feel what it really meant until who knows.

Phelps is not one to dwell on past achievements. When we asked him to bring out all 16 of his Olympic medals from Athens and Beijing, we were in for a couple of surprises.

Anderson Cooper: So these are all the ones from Athens?

Michael Phelps: Uh, minus one, yeah.

Anderson Cooper: Wait a minute so you're not sure where your other gold medal is?

Michael Phelps: Um, there are a couple of options of where it could be but I think when we were traveling uh somebody was holding on to it so...I actually like never bring these out.

Anderson Cooper: So you never just like sit around the apartment with all your medals on?

Michael Phelps: No. That's not one of my normal activities. But then I have eight more. These are, it's kind of...

Anderson Cooper: Wait a minute. Your eight from Beijing are in there?

Michael Phelps: Yeah.

Anderson Cooper: Is that like a travel purse from your mom or something?

Michael Phelps: I guess it's like a makeup case wrapped in just like an old...

Anderson Cooper: Wait a minute. You keep all your medals in a ratty old T-shirt?

Michael Phelps: Yeah. Here are the other ones.

Anderson Cooper: Have you ever had them all together?

Michael Phelps: No.

He is just three medals shy of breaking the record for most Olympic career medals, a mark held by this woman: former Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina. She's convinced Michael will surpass her record and told him as much in Russian. The two recently met for the first time ever for a photo shoot...

Michael has been posing with other women. This was for Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue: an afternoon with model Bar Refaeli.

Anderson Cooper: What's it like posing with Bar Refaeli in tiny bathing suits?

Michael Phelps: Pretty nice. Pretty fun. So, it was all around a great day.

With the Olympics approaching, Michael and his mom are once again in demand. During fashion week in New York in February, his mom was asked to walk the runway for charity.

Michael has added seven sponsors since Beijing, including Head & Shoulders. It's estimated he's made $40 million so far over his career.

Michael Phelps: It's kinda strange seeing myself right there on the screen.

There's also a new Michael Phelps video game: a swimming race that forces players to get off the couch.

Anderson Cooper: Oh, I'm beating you.

Michael Phelps: Yeah, but you gotta make sure you keep your stamina up.

Anderson Cooper: Why?

Michael Phelps: You're gonna die at the end of the race.

Anderson Cooper: But I'm way ahead. Oh wait.

Michael Phelps: Yeah, see I told you.

Anderson Cooper: But I don't understand, right at the end you just moved right through me.

Michael Phelps: I got the stamina. I can close.

With an eye on his post-Olympic career, Phelps and his foundation have taught thousands of kids to swim, many in urban neighborhoods.

[Michael Phelps: Do it for 10 laps.]

Drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death among children.

It's unlikely there will be another Michael Phelps any time soon. This epic Olympic story will finally come to an end in London unless, of course, his mom has her way.

Debbie Phelps: I want to go to Rio in 2016.

Anderson Cooper: You do?

Debbie Phelps: I do. He told me he'd send me there on vacation, he told me. But you know, I was like, I'm like, "Come on, Michael just a 50 freestyle."

Anderson Cooper: You want him to compete in Rio?

Debbie Phelps: I do. I've never been there before.

Anderson Cooper: What happens if your mom, you know, after London, after 12 months goes by and says, "You know, I've always wanted to go to Rio?"

Michael Phelps: We'll go watch.

Anderson Cooper: No chance you'd compete?

Michael Phelps: No. Once I retire, I'm retiring. I'm done.

When he retires, Michael Phelps will only be 27 years old. So much of his life has been spent in the pool. He's practically grown up there. After the Olympics, he wants to see what the rest of the world has to offer.

Michael Phelps: I've been able to go to all these amazing cities in my travels and I haven't been able to see them at all. I see the hotel and I see the pool. That's it. And I'm just going to go and do whatever I want to do. And...

Anderson Cooper: Your face lights up when you talk about it.

Michael Phelps: 'Cause I'm excited. 'Cause, you know, it's something new.