14-time Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Phelps, fresh from his stunning performance at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China, paid a visit to the CBS Early Show this morning to talk about his amazing achievements and to fill us in on what he’s been doing since he won 8 Gold Medals at the Olympic Games just weeks ago. Here are a few pics from Phelpsie’s appearance this morning:

Michael Phelps is enjoying some downtime after his historic performance at the Summer Olympics in Beijing. The champion swimmer won more gold medals at one Olympics, eight, than anyone ever had, surpassing the mark of seven set by fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz. Phelps also set seven world records in Beijing, and has 16 Olympic medals in all, 14 of them gold. Phelps just got back to the United States, and says the attention he’s getting, while expected, is still surprising. “It’s kind of strange,” he told co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez on The Early Show plaza Thursday — as soon as we walked off of the plane, people were doing double-takes. It’s kind of fun to watch people’s reactions. But I’m enjoying every minute along the way, and I’m just having fun.” Phelps says he’s “just trying to take it all in and remember every experience I’ve had.” He says in his blog that he couldn’t wait to be on the plane home from overseas and just relax. And, he told Rodriguez, he’s had “a little R&R here and there, but I think, over the next month-and-a-half, I’ll be able to settle down a little bit more and hopefully get settled in my new place and have some downtime.” And that includes no workouts for awhile. Phelps already has his sights set on the Games in London in four years, but says he won’t be training “for the next few months. Just taking some time off. Actually, I haven’t exercised at all since my last day of competition (over a week ago). But I think I need to start doing something. I’m getting kind of antsy just sitting around!” Phelps says all that’s happened hasn’t really hit him yet: “In Beijing, I had to really focus on one event at a time. And once that event was done, I had to put it behind me. That’s just sort of where my mind frame was during the meet. And once it was over, I don’t think everything has really set in, but I think, over the next few months and years, I think it really will set in, and I’m proud of everything that I’ve done and I’m happy I had this opportunity” … Phelps was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated with all eight of his gold medals around his neck, in a shot reminiscent of the one of Mark Spitz on the cover of the same magazine after Spitz’ Olympic wins. And Phelps says of the shot, “The medals are a little crooked, but it’s a cool shot. When I first was taking it, I had never had them all on at once, and I never realized how heavy it was. But it was a fun picture, and I’m glad I was able to take it like that. It looks pretty cool, I think” … Phelps wouldn’t tell Rodriguez whether he’s seeing anyone at the moment, saying he wants to keep that part of his life private.

Awww, there is something really endearing in Phelps’s geeky, awkwardness. That boy is all teeth and ears … oh, and Gold Medals. And don’t you just love that he’s keepin’ mum on his private life? Clearly he doesn’t want to fuel the flames of goss that has been going on since THESE photos came out. He is such a tease. Additionally, it has been announced that Michael Phelps will be the host of the season premiere of Saturday Night Live:

Michael Phelps is continuing his dominance out of the water — he’ll host the season premiere of Saturday Night Live on September 13, NBC announced Wednesday. Rapper Lil Wayne will join the Olympic swimmer — who won eight gold medals in Beijing — as musical guest. Phelps, 23, will also be a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Monday. Last week, Phelps landed a book deal for his memoir, titled Built to Succeed.

Even in his downtime, Phelpsie is still keepin’ bizzy. He’s great. I can’t wait to see him on SNL. Do we think he’ll manage to pull it off?

[Photo credit: Splash News; Source]