Michael Helps He Gets It Done Again
Swimmer Michael Phelps has set the record for winning the most medals, 28, of whatever Olympic athlete in history.
Who Is Michael Phelps?
Michael Phelps is an American swimmer who holds the tape for the virtually Olympics medals won past whatever athlete at 28, including 23 gold medals and 13 private golds. Phelps competed in his offset Olympics at the age of fifteen, as part of the U.South. men's swim team. He was the commencement American male swimmer to earn a spot on 5 Olympic teams and as well made history as the oldest private gold medalist in Olympic swimming history at the age of 28.
Early Life and Family
Michael Fred Phelps was born on June thirty, 1985, in Baltimore, Maryland. The youngest of 3 children, Phelps grew up in the neighborhood of Rodgers Forge. His father, Fred, an all-around athlete, was a state trooper and his female parent, Debbie, was a middle-school principal. When Phelps' parents divorced in 1994, he and his sisters lived with their mother, with whom Phelps grew very close.
Phelps began pond when his ii older sisters, Whitney (built-in 1978) and Hilary (built-in 1980), joined a local swim team. Whitney tried out for the U.South. Olympic squad in 1996, only injuries derailed her career. At age seven, Phelps was still "a little scared" to put his head underwater, and then his instructors allowed him to float effectually on his dorsum. Not surprisingly, the start stroke he mastered was the backstroke.
After he saw swimmers Tom Malchow and Tom Dolan compete at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, Phelps began to dream of condign a champion. He launched his swimming career at the Loyola High School pool. He met his autobus, Bob Bowman, when he started training at the Northward Baltimore Aquatic Guild at the Meadowbrook Aquatic and Fitness Center. The bus immediately recognized Phelps' talents and fierce sense of competition and began an intense training regime together. Past 1999, Phelps had fabricated the U.Due south. National B Team.
University of Michigan
Phelps followed his bus to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where Bowman coached the Wolverines' swim team, to written report sports marketing and management. Meanwhile, Phelps continued to found world records at the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships in Victoria, British Columbia, and the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Commonwealth of australia.
2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney
At the age of xv, Phelps became the youngest American male swimmer to compete at an Olympic Games in 68 years. While he didn't win a medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, he would shortly become a major strength in competitive swimming.
First World Records
In the leap of 2001, Phelps set the world record in the 200-meter butterfly, condign the youngest male swimmer in history (at fifteen years and ix months) to ever set a earth pond record.
Phelps so broke his own tape at the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, Nippon, with a time of i:54:58, earning his commencement international medal.
Phelps connected to set new marks at the 2002 U.S. Summer Nationals in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, establishing a new world record for the 400-meter individual medley, and U.S. records in the 100-meter butterfly and the 200-meter private medley. The following year, at the aforementioned event, he broke his own world tape in the 400-meter private medley with a time of four:09.09.
Before long after graduating from Towson in 2003, 17-year-erstwhile Phelps set 5 world records, including the 200-meter private medley at the World Championships in Barcelona, Kingdom of spain, with a time of ane:56:04. Then during the U.S. trials for the 2004 Summer Olympics, he broke his ain earth once more in the 400 meter individual medley, with a time of 4:08:41.
Michael Phelps competing in the final rut for the Men'south 100 Meter Butterfly during 24-hour interval seven of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials at CenturyLink Centre on July 2, 2016, in Omaha, Nebraska
Photo: Tom Pennington/Getty Images
2004 Summer Olympics in Athens
Phelps became a superstar at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, winning viii medals (including 6 golden), tying with Soviet gymnast Aleksandr Dityatin (1980) for the most medals in a single Olympic Games.
Phelps scored the commencement of 6 gilded medals on August 14, when he broke his own globe record in the 400-meter private medley, shaving 0.15 seconds off of his previous marker. He too won gold in the 100-meter butterfly, 200-meter butterfly, 200-meter individual medley, 4-by-200-meter freestyle relay and four-past-100-meter medley relay). The two events in Athens, in which Phelps took statuary medals, were 200-meter freestyle and the 4-by-100-meter freestyle relay.
2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing
At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Red china, Phelps won his 14th career gilt medal, the most gold won by any Olympian — surpassing swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven golds. He also prepare the record for the most gold medals won in a single Olympics past winning viii gold medals, in the 4-by-100-meter medley relay, 4-by-100-meter freestyle relay, 200-meter freestyle, 200-meter butterfly, iv-by-200-meter freestyle relay, 200-meter individual medley and 100-meter butterfly. Every gilt medal operation set up a new earth record, except the 100-meter butterfly, which gear up an Olympic record.
2012 Summer Olympics in London
At the 2012 Olympic Games, held in London, Phelps' Olympic medal count increased to 22, setting a new record for most Olympic medals (beating gymnast Larisa Latynina's prior record of xviii). He won four gold medals, in the 4-by-200-meter freestyle relay, 200-meter individual medley, 100-meter butterfly and iv-past-100-meter medley relay; and ii silver medals, in the 4-by-100-meter freestyle relay and 200-meter butterfly.
Temporary Retirement in 2012
After the London Olympics in 2012, Phelps announced he was retiring from swimming. Yet, he gave some indication of a possible return in July 2013 and would non rule out a possible Olympic bid for the 2016 summer games. In April 2014, Phelps put the retirement rumors to balance and announced plans to compete at the Mesa One thousand Prix in Arizona.
Meanwhile, the sports world connected to speculate whether Phelps would compete in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. His longtime omnibus Bowman told the Washington Post:
"I don't know all the same. Honestly, we're kind of taking it solar day past day. I don't think either 1 of united states has real expectations other than to have fun, see what happens and go from there. Unlike previous years, at that place'due south no long-term plan."
While Phelps did compete at the Mesa G Prix, he made a more impressive showing at the Pan Pacific Championships held that summer in Australia, winning iii golds and ii silvers.
Michael Phelps competing in the Final of the Men'due south iv x 100m Freestyle Relay on Twenty-four hours two of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium on August seven, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Photo: Adam Pretty/Getty Images
2016 Summertime Olympics in Rio
On June 29, 2016, Phelps celebrated a huge improvement when he became the starting time American male swimmer to earn a spot on five Olympic teams. His then-girlfriend Nicole Johnson, their babe, Boomer, and Phelps' female parent Debbie watched the Olympic legend pause history from the stands in Rio.
On August seven, 2016, Phelps clinched his 19th Olympic gold medal in Rio swimming the second leg of the men's 400 freestyle relay. He went on to win gilt in both the 200-meter butterfly and in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay forth with Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas and Ryan Lochte.
"Doing a double like that is a lot harder now than what information technology once was," Phelps said about competing in the races at the age of 31. "That is for sure."
Phelps went on to compete in the 200-meter individual medley, an event dubbed "the Duel in the Pool" because he faced off against friend, teammate and rival Ryan Lochte, the world record holder in the race. Phelps dominated the race, winning gold in over a body-length at i:54.66 seconds, correct backside Lochte'southward record of ane:54.00. Lochte failed to medal. Phelps' victory made him the get-go swimmer to win four consecutive golds in the same outcome.
"I say this a lot, only every single day I'1000 living a dream come true," Phelps told NBC Sports. "As a kid, I wanted to practice something that no one had e'er washed before, and I'thou enjoying it. Being able to finish how I won is just something very special to me and this is why yous are seeing more and more emotion on the medal podium."
Phelps and so competed in the 100-meter butterfly, tying for the silvery medal with Laszlo Cseh of Hungary and Chad le Clos of S Africa. Joseph Schooling of Singapore, a 21-year-old swimmer who idolized Phelps when he was boy, won the aureate.
Curlicue to Continue
In some other emotional victory, Phelps took gilded once more in his final Olympic race, helping the U.S. team accept the summit spot in the 4x100-meter medley relay with teammates Ryan Murphy, Cody Miller and Nathan Adrian. Upon finishing, the most decorated Olympian in history received a continuing ovation from the crowd.
In a huddle with his teammates following the race, Phelps felt the emotion of the moment, co-ordinate to the New York Times. "That's kind of when everything started to hit harder, knowing that was the terminal time I'll wearable the Stars and Stripes in a race," he said.
Medals and Records
Phelps has accumulated a full of 28 medals at the Olympic Summer Games in Athens, Beijing, London and Rio — 23 aureate, 3 silver and 2 bronze — setting the tape for the well-nigh medal wins by whatever Olympic athlete. At the 2016 Olympic Games, he won one silver and five gilded medals, becoming the oldest private gilded medalist in Olympic swimming history, likewise equally the first swimmer to win four consecutive golds in the aforementioned result, the 200-meter individual medley. Phelps has set 39 world records, the most of all time.
Retirement
Phelps confirmed that he was retiring following the 2016 Summer Olympics.
"I've been able to exercise everything I've ever put my mind to in this sport. And 24 years in the sport. I'one thousand happy with how things finished," he said. "I'm fix to retire. I'm happy virtually information technology. I'm in a ameliorate country of mind this fourth dimension than I was four years ago."
Michael Phelps of the United States celebrates winning aureate in the Men's 200m Butterfly Final on Day 4 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Photo: Adam Pretty/Getty Images
Height
Phelps is just nether 6 feet, 4 inches tall. He has a disproportionately big wingspan, reaching a scrap less than 6 feet 7 inches from fingertip to fingertip, and a torso with measurements that are more mutual in a human being who measures six feet viii inches tall.
READ More: Why Michael Phelps Has the Perfect Body for Swimming
Meridian Speed
When he broke the world tape in the 100-meter butterfly at the 2009 World Championships, Phelps swam at an astonishingly speedy (or at to the lowest degree by human standards) 5.5 miles per 60 minutes. ESPN has put Phelps' superlative swimming speed at 6 miles per hr.
Nutrition and Daily Calories
During an interview in the midst of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, Phelps told NBC that he ate 12,000 calories per day to fuel his 5-60 minutes, six-days-per-week training leading upwardly to the Games. His diet reportedly consisted of hefty choices like ii pounds of pasta and entire pizzas.
"Consume, slumber and swim. That'due south all I can practice. Go some calories into my system and attempt to recover the best I can," Phelps said at the fourth dimension.
However, in June 2017, he cleared up his eating habits:
"Don't believe everything you read. The stories were simply ridiculous. I was probably eating anywhere betwixt similar 8 to 10 [chiliad] probably at my superlative where I was really growing. Still, it became a job," he said at an effect in New York City.
DUIs
Just weeks post-obit his triumph in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Phelps was arrested for driving nether the influence of alcohol in Salisbury, Maryland, after cruising through a stop sign. He pleaded guilty to driving while impaired, was sentenced to 18 months probation, fined $250, ordered to speak against drinking and driving to high school students, and ordered to attend a Mothers Against Drunk Driving meeting. Michael called it an "isolated incident," simply admitted to letting himself and his family down.
In the fall of 2014, Phelps was arrested again in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland in September for driving under the influence, speeding and crossing double lines. He took to Twitter to talk over this incident, writing "I sympathise the severity of my actions and accept total responsibility." Phelps besides apologized to "everyone I have let down."
Depression Boxing
In January 2018, Phelps delivered an eye-opening business relationship of his battles with depression at the fourth annual conference of the Kennedy Forum, a behavioral health advocacy group.
The athletic slap-up described how he would fall into a state of despair after the highs of his Olympic victories, often seeking to medicate himself through drugs or booze. He said the "hardest fall" came after the 2012 Olympics when he found himself sitting in his room lone for three to five days, non eating and barely sleeping: "I didn't want to be in the sport anymore," he recalled. "I didn't want to be alive anymore."
The experience prompted him to seek help, and Phelps said he came to realize that "information technology's OK to not be OK," though he acknowledged at that place was still a stigma associated with mental disease. "I think people actually finally understand it is real," he said. "People are talking about it and I think this is the only way that information technology tin modify."
Phelps reiterated many of those sentiments while actualization on David Axelrod's The Axe Files podcast weeks later on. He estimated that as many every bit xc pct of Olympic athletes go through a post-Games depression, and called on the U.South. Olympic Committee to do more to help.
"We're competing to represent our country. We're competing to do everything nosotros can to attempt to win a medal or to try to do our country proud by wearing the stars and stripes on international ground," he told Axelrod. "When nosotros come habitation from it, you know, they're similar, kind of, 'OK, check. Who's the side by side kid coming in? Where'due south the next person?' And I think information technology's sad."
Personal Life
Phelps married Nicole Johnson on June thirteen, 2016. Later dating on and off since 2011, Phelps popped the question in February 2015. The couple was married in a private ceremony in Paradise Valley, Arizona, although their hymeneals was kept clandestine until TMZ broke the news in October 2016.
Phelps and Johnson have iii sons: Boomer Robert (b. May 5, 2016), Beckett Richard (b. February 12, 2018) and Bohemian Nicolas (b. September 9, 2019).
Phelps vs. Shark
For the 2017'southward Shark Week, Michael Phelps raced several breeds of sharks. The team adult a special device to measure each shark's speed using allurement. Phelps wore a monofin to guess the movements of a shark (and get a fleck of added propulsion). They did not swim the 100 meters adjacent just rather individually in the same open water, with CGI images of the sharks displayed alongside Phelps every bit he raced. Their times were later compared.
"Honestly, my kickoff thought when I saw the shark was, 'There'southward very little hazard for me to beat him,'" Phelps said.
The hammerhead shark swam the distance at fifteen miles per hour, while the neat white shark swam at a whopping 26 miles per hour. Phelps only beat the reef shark by 0.2 seconds, clocking in at 6 miles per hour.
Books
In add-on to his successful swim career, Phelps has written two books, Beneath the Surface: My Story (2008) and No Limits: The Will to Succeed (2009).
Source: https://www.biography.com/athlete/michael-phelps
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