Olympic Games: Athlete Highlight, Michael Phelps

 

Michael Phelps. The best Olympian. Ever. 22 medals in total, 18 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze.

Phelps is said to possess the perfect build for competitive swimming. He stands more than six-foot four inches in height, and his wingspan, as it is called, is even longer: from finger to finger he measures six-foot seven inches across. These attributes have given him an edge in the highly competitive sport, but those who know him say that it is his inner drive, focus on achieving goals, and likable personality that make him a winner.
Michael Phelps was born and raised in the Baltimore suburb of Towson. His family consists of his mother and two older sisters. His mother, Debbie, is an administrator with the Baltimore County school system. When Michael was eleven years old, Debbie brought him to top swim coach, Bob Bowman and after watching Michael swim, Bowman agreed to train him at a Baltimore-area swim club. Michael himself said in an interview that he “owes the world [to his mother]”¹ .

In 2000, Michael Phelps qualified for the U.S. swim team and after a spot on the Olympic team where he had qualified for only one event, the 200-meter butterfly. He finished in fifth.
After, the Sydney Olympics, Michael explode. He soon began breaking world records in every event he entered. This started a three year streak that led him right up to the 2004 Athens Olympic Games where he medaled in eight events. He received six gold medal, one shy of Mark Spitz’s record of seven, and two bronze.

After the Athens Games, Phelps really found his stride and was at the top of his game. The world-level championships between 2004 and 2008 only served to help his confidence. At the 2005 World Aquatics Championships, Phelps won a total of six medals, 5 golds and one silver. At the 2006 National Championships, Phelps won a total of three events and at the 2006 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, in Victoria, British Columbia, Phelps won five gold medals and one silver. At the 2007 World Aquatics Championships, Phelps won seven gold medals and broke five world records setting himself up very well to be prepared for the 2008 Beijing Games.

 

Michael’s performance in the 2008 Olympics is perhaps the greatest performance in the history of the Olympic Games and some experts would say ever. During his seventh race, Michael finished only 0.01 seconds before Serbian swimmer causing an upset because the last second had to be analyzed in 1/10,000^th of a second apart. However, it was his eighth and final race that really mattered because it was there that he broke all records and become the first person to win 8 gold medals at any Olympics in all of history. However, some were skeptical, questioning Phelps as to whether his performances were “too good to be true”. Phelps later responded that he had teamed up with the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s program Project Believe in which athletes would be subject to much harsher tests than other athletes. He passed all of them.

After Beijing, Phelps became tired of swimming wanting nothing to do but to but chill out. This led to a massive decrease in the number of events that he would be competing in for the upcoming World and Pan Pacific Championships for the next 2-3 years.  His coach Bob Bowman became impatient in response to Phelps’ lackadaisical effort. It was only in around two years before that Michael decided that he wanted to continue to train for the London 2012 Olympics. It was a good decision. He won a total of six medals: four gold and two silver, becoming the most decorated Olympic athlete that ever lived and beating the past record holder Larisa Latynina, Soviet gymnast.

After 2012, Michael Phelps said that he would be retiring. However, in 2014, he came out of retirement to win the 100-meter butterfly event at the Arena Grand Prix in Charlotte, North Carolina setting the stage for is come-back to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. However, at this stage in his career, the pressure is off and it is just fun for Phelps now. But if he does make it to Rio, he will undoubtedly be the greatest athlete ever. However, some might not agree, Terry Foster of CBS Sports disagrees, saying “I cannot call a guy who does it every four years the best ever”² sparking controversy as to how to Phelps’ place in the record books.

 

 

 

 

¹https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz829ayvlKQ

²http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/08/01/michael-phelps-isnt-the-best-athlete-of-all-time/

 

• http://www.usaswimming.org/DesktopModules/BioViewManaged.aspx?personid=4beec290-d7ae-483d-a512-36b18a4e022a&TabId=1453&Mid=10312 – Brief biography with all of Phelps’ records.
• http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/michaelphelps.html – Brief overview of Phelps’ career.
• http://www.biography.com/people/michael-phelps-345192#other-projects– More in-depth biography of Phelps highlighting personal events.