Michael Fred Phelps 2 (born 1985) - American swimmer, 23-time Olympic champion (13 times - at individual distances, 10 - in relay races), 26-time world champion in a 50-meter pool, multiple world record holder. Has the nicknames "Baltimore Bullet" and "Flying Fish".
The record holder for the number of gold awards (23) and awards in total (28) in the history of the Olympic Games, as well as gold awards (26) and awards in the amount (33) in the history of the world championships in aquatic sports.
There are many interesting facts in the biography of Michael Phelps, which we will talk about in this article.
So, here is a short biography of Michael Phelps.
Biography of Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps was born on June 30, 1985 in Baltimore (Maryland). Besides him, his parents had two more children.
The swimmer's father, Michael Fred Phelps, played rugby in high school, and his mother, Deborah Sue Davisson, was the school's principal.
Childhood and youth
When Michael was in elementary school, his parents decided to leave. Then he was 9 years old.
The boy was fond of swimming since childhood. An interesting fact is that his own sister instilled in him a love for this sport.
While in 6th grade, Phelps was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Michael devoted all his free time to swimming in the pool. As a result of long and hard training, he managed to break the country's record in his age category.
Soon Phelps began to train Bob Bowman, who immediately discerned talent in the teenager. Under his leadership, Michael has made even more progress.
Swimming
When Phelps was 15 years old, he received an invitation to participate in the 2000 Olympics. Thus, he became the youngest competitor in the history of games.
In the competition, Michael took 5th place, but after a few months he was able to break the world record. In America, he was named Best Swimmer in 2001.
In 2003 the young man graduated from school. It is worth noting that at that time in his biography he had already managed to set 5 world records.
At the next Olympics in Athens, Michael Phelps showed phenomenal results. He won 8 medals, 6 of which were gold.
An interesting fact is that before Phelps, none of his compatriots could achieve such success.
In 2004, Michael entered university, choosing the Faculty of Sports Management. At the same time, he began to prepare for the World Championships, which was to be held in Melbourne in 2007.
In this championship, Phelps still had no equal. He won 7 gold medals and set 5 world records.
At the 2008 Olympics, which was held in Beijing, Michael has already won 8 gold medals, and also set a new Olympic record in the 400-meter swim.
Soon the swimmer was accused of doping. A photo appeared in the media where he was holding a pipe for smoking marijuana.
And although under international rules, smoking marijuana is not prohibited between competitions, the US Swimming Federation suspended Phelps for 3 months for undermining the hope of people who believe in him.
Over the years of his sports biography, Michael Phelps has achieved fantastic results, which seem simply unrealistic to repeat. He was able to win 19 Olympic gold medals and set world records 39 times!
In 2012, after the conclusion of the London Olympics, the 27-year-old Phelps decided to quit swimming. By that time, he had surpassed all athletes in all sports in terms of the number of Olympic awards.
The American won 22 medals, surpassing the Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina in this indicator. It is worth noting that this record was held for almost 48 years.
After 2 years, Michael returned to the big sport again. He went to the next Olympic Games 2016, held in Rio de Janeiro.
The swimmer continued to demonstrate excellent shape, as a result of which he won 5 gold and 1 silver medals. As a result, he was able to break his own record for having "gold".
Curiously, of Michael's 23 gold medals, 13 belong to individual competitions, thanks to which he managed to set another interesting record.
Just imagine, this record remained unbroken for 2168 years! In 152 BC. the ancient Greek athlete Leonid of Rhodes received 12 gold medals, and Phelps, respectively, one more.
Charity
In 2008, Michael founded the Foundation to promote swimming and healthy lifestyles.
2 years later, Phelps was the initiator of the creation of the children's program "Im". With her help, children learned to be active and healthy. Swimming was especially important in the project.
In 2017, Michael Phelps joined the Management Board of Medibio, a mental health diagnostics company.
Personal life
Michael is married to fashion model Nicole Johnson. In this union, the couple had three sons.
The athlete's incredible achievements are often associated not only with his swimming technique, but also with the anatomical features of the body.
Phelps has a 47th foot size, which is considered large even for his height (193 cm). He has unusually short legs and an elongated torso.
In addition, Michael's arm span reaches 203 cm, which is 10 centimeters longer than his body.
Michael Phelps today
In 2017, Phelps agreed to participate in an interesting competition organized by the Discovery Channel.
At the 100-meter distance, the swimmer competed in speed with a white shark, which was 2 seconds faster than Michael.
Today, the athlete appears in commercials and is the official face of the LZR Racer brand. He also has his own company that makes swimming goggles.
Michael developed the glasses model together with his mentor Bob Bowman.
The man has an Instagram account. By 2020, over 3 million people have subscribed to his page.
Photo by Michael Phelps
