Michael Phelps on fiancée Nicole Johnson

In one of his final interviews from Rio, Michael Phelps sat down with Access Hollywood to talk about exactly how he won fiancée Nicole Johnson's heart again.

The couple became engaged in February 2015 after breaking up twice over eight years. "We both had to go through some things in order to get to the point where we are now in our life," MP told Billy Bush in an interview.

"I always said, if I ever had a chance to get her back, she was the one I was going to spend the rest of my life with." According to Michael, he just wanted to tell her how he felt one more time. "I didn't want to live my life without her and not have her know … I was ready for whatever she said to me and either ready to move on or try again. I wanted to just express my feelings to her." Obviously, whatever ~romantic speech~ he gave, worked:

Elsewhere in the interview, Michael echoed Nicole's words from last week that yes, while their wedding will be small, the reception will be huge.

"That's what we want," he said. "It'll make an exciting last couple months of the year, finally getting married and continuing our little family. It's pretty awesome." He also offered these sweet words about his baby boy Boomer, who was born in May. "He's growing up so fast and, I mean, just his strength, keeping his head up, standing on his feet — I think he's moving fast but that's just me."