How much Olympic gold will Michael Phelps win in London? [Poll]

Michael Phelps will not win eight Olympic gold medals this time around.

That was determined Monday, when Phelps dropped out of the 200-meter freestyle for the upcoming London Games. Phelps won the event in 2008 -- one of his record eight gold medals in Beijing -- and has the second-fastest time in the world this year but decided to concentrate on his seven other events instead.

“It’s so much smarter for me to do that,” Phelps told the Associated Press. “We’re not trying to re-create what happened in Beijing. It just makes sense.”

Phelps can still make plenty of history in London, including setting the record for most overall medals by any Olympian by winning three more and adding to his own record for most gold medals.

While he committed himself to four hard years of training in preparation for Beijing, Phelps did not return to the same level of swimming until two years ago this time around. Ryan Lochte has risen as a chief rival during the past four years, although Phelps won three of the four trials in which they raced against each other.

How many gold medals will Phelps win in London? Will he be golden every time he hits the water once again? Or have time or other swimmers caught up with the 27-year-old? Vote in the poll, then leave a comment explaining why you voted the way you did.

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