Michael Phelps Biography

BIRTH: June 30, 1985, Maryland, U.S.

Michael Phelps Biography : Swimmer, Olympics Medals

Michael Phelps is a retired American swimmer who set the record for the most Olympic medals won by any athlete in history.

Michael Fred Phelps was born in Towson, Maryland on June 30, 1985, to Fred and Debbie Phelps. Following in his elder sisters’ footsteps, Phelps began to swim at the age of seven. Initially, Phelps was scared of putting his face in the water, so his instructors allowed him to float around the pool on his back. This way, he soon mastered the backstroke in swimming. When he was eleven, he started training under Bob Bowman, who he met at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club. After he realized Phelps’ potential, Coach Bowman designed an intensive training program for him. Soon, Phelps was selected for the U.S. National B Team in 1999.

Phelps’ swimming career started at the age of fifteen in the year 2000. He was selected for the U.S. Summer Olympics’ swimming team. Phelps became the youngest American male swimmer in 68 years to represent America at the Olympics. He finished in the fifth position in the 200-meter butterfly swimming category.

In 2001, Phelps set the world record for the 200-meter butterfly, becoming the youngest male swimmer to set a swimming world record. Later that year, during the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, he broke his own record and won his first international medal. In 2002 Phelps participated in the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships and won three gold medals and two silver medals.

In 2003, Phelps took part in the World Championships and the U.S. spring nationals. He made history when he won the 200-meter freestyle, 200-meter backstroke, and the 100-meter butterfly in the U.S. Nationals. Phelps was the first American male swimmer to have won three different races with three different strokes at a national championship.

In the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Phelps won six gold medals and two bronze medals, tying with Aleksandr Dityatin for the record of the most medals won in a single Olympics. He even broke his own world record in the 400-meter race.

In the November after Athens, Phelps was arrested for drunk-driving, and served an eighteen months’ probation period, paid a fine and had to do community service. He started attending the University of Michigan, following coach Bowman there, to study sports marketing and management.

Phelps was soon off his probation and continued to dominate the swimming world. He got a total of six medals, five gold and one silver, at the 2005 World Championships. At the 2007 World Championship, he participated in eight events and won seven gold medals. He made world record time in five of them.

Phelps created history during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He won eight gold medals in a single Olympics, breaking Mark Spitz’s record made in 1972. Every gold medal he won set a new world record, apart from the 100-meter butterfly which set an Olympic record.

During the 2009 World Championships, Phelps lost a race for the first time in four years to a relative newcomer. In the 2011 World Championships Phelps lost two gold medals to underdog Ryan Lochte. However, he did win four gold medals, which bolstered his confidence, and he started working determinedly towards the 2012 London Olympics. He had made it clear early on that he did not wish to swim past the age of thirty, and would retire after the 2012 Olympics.

In 2012, Phelps won four gold medals and once again, he broke the record for most Olympic medals earned – his total was 22. After a short retirement he made a proper comeback in the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics as the American flag bearer in the opening ceremony. He earned his 23rd gold medal in the first event in Rio. Phelps announced his retirement once again, two days after his fifth Olympics.

Phelps founded the Michael Phelps Foundation in 2008 to nurture interest in swimming as a sport amongst the youth and promote healthy lifestyle. Phelps is also a great writer. He released two books called Beneath the Surface: My Story (2008) and No Limits: The Will to Succeed (2009).

Phelps married former Miss California, Nicole Johnson in 2016. The couple has two children.