Michael Phelps (born June 30, 1985, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.) is an American swimmer who is the most decorated athlete in Olympic history, having won 28 medals, including a record 23 gold medals. At the 2008 Games in Beijing, he became the first athlete to win eight gold medals in a single Olympics.
The making of legend- Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps was raised in a family of swimmers and joined the prestigious North Baltimore Aquatic Club at the age of seven. He finished fifth in the 200 m butterfly at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. At the 2001 U.S. Spring Nationals, he became the youngest world record holder in men’s swimming at age 15 when he recorded a time of 1 minute 54.92 seconds in the 200 m butterfly. He won his first international title that year at the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
He won five medals at the 2002 Pan Pacific Championships, including three golds (200 m and 400 m individual medley [IM] and the 4 × 100 m medley relay). At the 2003 US Spring Nationals, he became the first male swimmer to win titles in three different strokes at the same national championships, and he later broke an unprecedented five individual world records at the World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. Phelps also won five titles at the US Summer Nationals—the most titles won by a male swimmer at a single championship.
At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Michael Phelps won six gold medals (200-meter and 400-meter IM, 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly, 4×200-meter freestyle relay, and 4×100-meter medley relay) and two bronze medals (200-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter freestyle relay) and set five Olympic or world records.
His four individual swimming gold medals equaled the record set by American Mark Spitz at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Phelps continued to dominate the sport at the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, where he won seven gold medals (200-m and 400-m IM, 100-m and 200-m butterfly, 200-m freestyle, and 4×100-m and 4×200-m freestyle relays) and set five world records. With his seven titles, Michael Phelps tied with Spitz for most wins at a major international meet.
Michael Phelps entered the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games with the goal of breaking Spitz’s record of seven gold medals in a single Olympics. He won gold in each of his first three events—the 400-m IM, the 4×100-m freestyle relay, and the 200-m freestyle—and each victory came in world record time. On August 13 he won the 10th and 11th gold medals of his career by winning gold in the 200 m butterfly and 4 × 200 m freestyle relay, setting a new Olympic record.
Phelps then won his sixth gold medal in the Beijing Games by breaking his own world record in the 200 m IM. He tied Spitz’s record by winning the 100 m butterfly final by 0.01 seconds Overall, Phelps set world records in all but one (100 m butterfly) of his eight gold medal-winning events. He followed his record-setting Olympics with five golds (100 m and 200 m butterfly, 4 × 100 m and 4 × 200 m freestyle relays, and 4 × 100 m medley relay) and a silver (200 m freestyle) at the 2009 World Championships in Rome.
At the 2012 London Olympics, Phelps had a disappointing start, failing to win a medal in his first event, the 400 m IM. However, he later won silver medals in both the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay and the 200 m butterfly, and a gold medal in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay. With the latter win, Phelps won an unprecedented 19th career Olympic medal, tying the record set by Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina.
He also won gold in the 200 m IM, making him the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three consecutive Olympics; he later won the 100 m butterfly for a third consecutive time. Phelps, who had announced he was retiring from the sport after the London Games,
Phelps’ retirement was short-lived, as he announced his return to competitive swimming in April 2014. In October of that year, he was suspended for six months by USA Swimming after being charged with drunk driving, his second such arrest; the first was in 2004. Phelps was the U.S. flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games, which were his fifth Games, a record for an American male swimmer.
There he added to his unmatched medal count by winning gold medals in the 200 m IM, 4 × 100 m medley relay, 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, and 4 × 200 m freestyle relay, as well as a silver medal in the 100 m butterfly. It was his gold in his signature event, the 200 m butterfly, that attracted the most international attention. The finalist of that race was South Africa’s Chad le Clos, who had beaten Phelps by five-hundredths of a second in the race at the 2012 Games and who engaged in verbal sparring with the American over the next four years.
Before the race, cameras caught le Clos warming up in front of Phelps, who gave his opponent a cold stare that instantly became a meme on social media platforms. In the next race, Phelps won by four-hundredths of a second and had an unusually enthusiastic celebration in the pool. After completing his impossibly impressive comeback at the 2016 Games, he again retired from competitive swimming.
ALSO READ: 5 New Faces In Indian Squad For Border-Gavaskar Trophy
