Biondi could serve as role model for Phelps

BEIJING (Reuters) - When Michael Phelps decides to hang up his bodysuit, he might care to choose Matt Biondi as his role model.

For Biondi, the three-times Olympian who racked up 11 Olympic medals and 12 world records, cheering crowds are a distant echo. Like Phelps, who won a record eight golds in Beijing, for Biondi it was all about the swimming, not the glamour.

"I was never comfortable being a famous person," Biondi said. "I've never been one who likes crowds and parties. I'm more of a farmer."

After winning a relay gold medal at the Los Angeles Games, Biondi won five golds at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. He was the all-American young man -- tall, good-looking and charismatic.

Biondi won two more golds and a silver in 1992, before moving on to play water polo and into motivational speaking.

"In 1990, I peaked physically ... I was getting older and had shoulder problems, then rehab, which only gets you back to zero. Then, after my last race, I took off my suit and moved on," Biondi, 42, said in an interview.

Eight years ago, he earned a master's degree that prepared him for a teaching job at a small private school at Waimea on Hawaii's Big Island.

Waimea is a former cowboy town in Hawaii's ranch lands with a population of about 8,000 that Biondi said has allowed him to find a balance between work and his wife and three children.

"I sought out that kind of life because I wanted to be seen not just as an Olympian," Biondi said. "I sought a new profession, not just one that fed into the other from swimming."

COMPETITIVE BACKGROUND

Biondi accepted an offer to teach mathematics and history at the Parker School partly because it did not have a swimming pool.

Of course, the influences of Biondi's competitive background flow into his lessons.

"He's really open to improving things and wants critical feedback," said Parker School headmaster Carl Sturges. "He approaches teaching like he did swimming -- he invites coaching more than other teachers I've had."

At 6 ft 6 ins (1.98m), with an arm "wing span" that exceeds his height, Biondi remains a towering figure.

"He's actually kind of shy and humble," says Sturges. "He has a kind of self-deprecating sense of humor. People don't realize he doesn't have a naturally gregarious style."

Swimming has not vanished from his life. Biondi joins other early risers to swim a mile three times a week.

"I swim with a close friend who is a beginning swimmer," he said. "If he does a 100, I do 150. He's someone to meet me at the pool and razz me if I sleep in late."

Biondi is attending the Beijing Olympics as a representative for UPS, one of the official sponsors. Two decades after his Seoul triumph, he has gained a perspective that might be helpful to Phelps as he considers "what now?".

"One of the things I'm most proud of is the imprint I've made on people," Biondi said. "Even after 20 years they associate my name with excellence. It's inspiring to be a positive force to an amazing amount of people -- even people I'll never meet in countries I'll never get to."

(Editing by Alex Richardson)