Phelps to attend London handover

Record-breaking gold medal winner Michael Phelps will take part in Sunday's Olympic handover celebrations in London.

The 23-year-old American swimmer, who won eight golds in Beijing, said he was keen to see the venue for the 2012 Games, in which he plans to compete.

"Being part of the handover party is going to be cool," he told the BBC.

"I'll be glad to see where we'll compete and get my mind back on racing, competing and representing my country."

OLYMPICS 2008 BLOG Usain Bolt or Phelps - whose performance was better? BBC Sport's Matt Slater

Phelps beat Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven gold medals at one Games by being part of the victorious 4x100m medley team in Beijing.

But despite admitting he was overwhelmed by the reaction to his success, he said the thing that gave him most pride was his improvement as a swimmer.

"Everything was accomplished that I wanted - eight best times, that's what I wanted," he said.

"When you put so much time into trying, it's about improving. I was able to improve over the last year so I was already successful - no matter what happened with medals, I was already successful.

"I think the biggest thing is that I was as prepared as I could have been. I was in the best shape of my life, everything went perfectly, as I planned, as I dreamt."