Michael Phelps shares details of his engagement

MESA, Ariz. — After years and years of dating Nicole Johnson off and on, and off and on again, Michael Phelps turned to his close friends and shared something important.

"I said to a couple of my friends if I ever had the chance to get her back, that would be it," Phelps said Wednesday, a day before competing in the Arena Pro Swim Series here. "She was the one I loved the most."

So Phelps reached out to Johnson.

"I never wanted to have a, 'What if?' I just told her exactly how I felt," he said. "I was like, as long as I can tell her that, I can go through my life and be happy. Whatever happens, happens. Obviously we worked through some things. There's nobody in the world I would rather be with."

Phelps and Johnson reunited in the fall, after his drunken driving arrest and subsequent rehab stint changed his outlook on life -- "I've said this a hundred times, and I'll say it again now: I'm so happy with where I am now," he said Wednesday. "I would never want to change." Phelps proposed to Johnson in February; she said yes.

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He said they have a few dates in mind for the wedding, but nothing is finalized, and the wedding will not happen until after the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

"Her and I have been on and off for eight years," Phelps said. "It's been a long time. We've been through a lot. But I love her to death. We've been able to grow as a couple through everything we've been through, the positive changes I've made in my life.

"We're at a completely different level than we've ever been in our past relationships."