Michael Phelps

Date of Birth: 30.06.1985

Place of Birth. Baltimore (Maryland, USA). The third child in the family. Mother Debbie is a teacher. Father Fred is a soldier.

Childhood and Youth. He started swimming at the age of six. Until the age of 12, he also played baseball and American football. In the pool, he displayed his talent as a teenager. His achievements were so significant that he was already selected for the Olympic team for the Sydney Games (2000) at the age of 15, where he finished fifth in the 200m butterfly, as 'Pressball' reports.

Sport Career. A year later, just shy of 16 years old, Phelps broke the world record in this discipline and became the youngest record holder in history. At the same time, he was named the swimmer of the year in the USA.

The true triumph awaited Phelps in 2003 at the World Championship in Barcelona: four golds and two silvers, five world records. In the same year, he was named the best swimmer in the world and the best amateur athlete in the USA.

Before the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Phelps announced that he wanted to win eight gold medals and break the record of his famous compatriot Mark Spitz, who won seven golds at the 1972 Munich Games. The plans were not fully realized, but the young record holder came very close: he won six golds and two bronzes.

At the World Championship in Melbourne in 2007, Phelps advanced further: seven golds, four world records.

At the XXIX Olympics in Beijing, the 'eternal' record of Spitz from 1972 was broken. M. Phelps stood on the highest podium eight times.

The phenomenally talented American triumphed in the 400m individual medley, 200m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 200m individual medley, 100m butterfly, and in the relays 4x100m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle. In all these competitions, except for the 100m butterfly, Michael Phelps set world records. The ultimate 'gold' finale was achieved in the 4x100m medley relay, where the US team won with a world record time of 3:29.34 minutes.

When the 'eternal record holder' M. Spitz was asked about Phelps' performance in Beijing, he did not hide his sympathy for the representative of the new generation. The legendary swimmer noted: 'I am sure that Phelps has a tremendous success ahead of him. He will not only break my record but surpass it, because Michael is more experienced than I was in 1972 in Munich... We will see what no one has seen before. It will be incredible! After all, he won six gold medals in 2004, while I only won two Olympic races before my seven-fold triumph. If he repeats my achievement, he will be the second man on the moon. If he exceeds it, he will be the first one to set foot on Mars.'

In the year 2012 at the London Olympic Games Phelps won 6 medals, including 4 golds and 2 silvers. He also became an 18-time Olympic champion and record holder for the number of medals won - 22 medals, surpassing Larisa Latynina (18 medals) and every athlete in any sport.

In the year 2012 he announced his retirement at the age of 27 after the London Olympics.

Starting from 2014, he returned to international competitions and qualified for the Rio Olympic Games.

In the year 2016 at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games Michael Phelps won his first gold medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay, with almost the fastest turn in history (2.43 m/s). He won his second gold medal in the 100m butterfly with a lead of 0.04 seconds over Masato Sakai, who took second place. An hour later, the 31-year-old Phelps won another championship title in the 4x200m freestyle relay. On August 11, 2016, he won the 13th individual gold medal in the 200m individual medley and set an all-time record for the number of individual victories in Olympics. He surpassed the ancient Leonidas of Rhodes. Leonidas of Rhodes won four times in different races in the ancient Olympiads in a row. This happened in the years 164, 160, 156 and 152 BC, so Leonidas of Rhodes became an Olympic champion 12 times. His record stood for 2168 years.

After the Rio Games, he announced his definitive retirement from swimming.

World Records. The only 23-time Olympic champion in the history of sports (13 times - in individual events, 10 - in relays), 26-time world champion in the 50-meter pool, multiple world record holder. Absolute record holder for the number of awards (28) in the history of the Olympic Games.

Phelps was a 50-time American champion in individual events from 2001 to 2010. Additionally, he won 5 relays and 3 US championships over distances measured in yards.

On July 27 2012 he held 7 world records (100m butterfly, 200m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 200m individual medley, 400m individual medley, 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x200m freestyle relay, 4x100m medley relay). As of July 27 2012, he had 39 world records (29 individual and 10 in relays) and surpassed the achievements of Spitz, who set 33 world records during his career (26 individual and 7 in relays).

Interesting Facts. Michael has a shoe size of 47, somewhat above average for people of his height, disproportionately short legs and an disproportionately long torso compared to normal people, his arm span is 203 cm, more than his height.

Sporting nicknames include 'Baltimore Bullet' and 'Flying Fish'.

30.06.2022