Michael Phelps and Nicole Johnson Will Have Quadruplets

Ok, now that it’s April 2nd, we confess: below was SwimSwam’s 2016 April Fools joke. Yes, Michael and Nicole are expecting to welcome their first child later this year, but they’ve given no indication that there will be more than one. Sorry for anyone who feels betrayed by our gag, I’m sure deep down we feel a little bad about it. — SwimSwam Editorial Staff.

In the fall of 2015, 22-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps and his fianceé Nicole Johnson would be having a baby; Early Friday morning, Phelps and Johnson unveiled that they will in fact not be having just one baby, but will be having quadruplets.

“Yes we’re excited,” said Phelps from Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center. “I can’t say they’ll be swimmers, but if they are, we’ve got a ready-made relay.”

While Phelps isn’t necessarily guaranteeing that he will put them in the sport, the idea of an all-Phelps relay was an enticing idea nonetheless.

Johnson was asked about the possibility of attempting to train them all together in the hopes of one day having the all-Phelps relay represent the United States in international competition, and seemed open to the idea,”As long as they’re happy and healthy and want to do it, I’m all in.”

If they were to do it, they would be the second all-sibling relay to represent a country internationally. At the 2010 World Short Course Championships in Dubai four brothers from the United Arab Emirates competed on the 400 freestyle relay finishing fourteenth.

Johnson went on to say that, “having a dad who will be a coach means they’re going to be brought up around the pool…and Bob.”

Coach Bob Bowman was asked whether or not he would help Phelps and Johnson train their four children if they choose to pursue the relay and said, “I’d love to if it comes down to that…but it’s a long ways away if it even does,” Bowman chuckled. “I keep telling Michael and Nicole to think about it. Think about the changes to the sport we got with one Michael Phelps, imagine four.”

Phelps entertained the possibility saying with a laugh saying, “maybe one of them will go for nine golds in 2036.”