Eight-time Beijing Olympic winner Michael Phelps will resume training in February, USA Today newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old will get ready for the US national championships scheduled for July 7-11 in Indianapolis.

"We're basically going to take this whole year to try to get him to a point where he can really get into serious training in the fall of 2009," Phelp's coach Bob Bowman told the newspaper.

Phelps took several months vacation after the Olympics.

(Xinhua News Agency December 25, 2008)