Background

Ethnicity: Phelps is of English, German, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh descent.

Michael Phelps was born on June 30, 1985, in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, to Michael Fred Phelps and Deborah Sue "Debbie" (Davisson) Phelps. He has two elder sisters: Hilary and Whitney. While his father was employed as a state trooper, his mother was into the profession of teaching.

It was in 1994, that Phelps' parents divorced, and their separation had a negative impact on Michael and his sisters. Six years later, in 2000, his father remarried. After that, Michael and his sisters lived with their mother, with whom Phelps grew very close.

Education

Michael Phelps received his education at Towson High School and finished the educational establishment in 2003.

Phelps began swimming, when his two elder sisters, Whitney and Hilary, joined a local swim team. Whitney tried out for the United States Olympic team in 1996, at the age of 15, but injuries derailed her career. At the age of seven, Phelps was still "a little scared" to put his head underwater, so his instructors allowed him to float around on his back. Not surprisingly, the first stroke he mastered was the backstroke.

After he saw swimmers Tom Malchow and Tom Dolan compete at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, Phelps began to dream of becoming a champion. He launched his swimming career at the Loyola High School pool. He met his coach, Bob Bowman, when he started training at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club at the Meadowbrook Aquatic and Fitness Center. The coach immediately recognized Phelps' talents and fierce sense of competition and began an intense training regime together. By 1999, Phelps had made the United States National B Team.

After the 2004 Summer Olympics, Bowman was hired as the head coach for the University of Michigan, and Phelps followed his coach to the university in Ann Arbor to study sports marketing and management. However, the young athlete didn't pursue a degree. Meanwhile, Phelps continued to establish world records at the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships in Victoria, British Columbia, and the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia.

Career

At the age of 15, Phelps became the youngest American male swimmer at the Olympic Games in 68 years. While he didn't win a medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, he would soon become a major force in competitive swimming.

In the spring of 2001, Phelps set the world record in the 200-meter butterfly, becoming the youngest male swimmer in history (at 15 years and 9 months old) to ever set a world swimming record. He then broke his own record at the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, with a time of 1:54:58, earning his first international medal. Phelps continued to set new marks at the 2002 U.S. Summer Nationals in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, establishing a new world record for the 400-meter individual medley, and U.S. records in the 100-meter butterfly and the 200-meter individual medley. The following year, at the same event, he broke his own world record in the 400-meter individual medley with a time of 4:09.09.

Shortly after graduating from Towson High School in 2003, 17-year-old Phelps set five world records, including the 200-meter individual medley at the World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, with a time of 1:56:04. Then during the U.S. trials for the 2004 Summer Olympics, he broke his own world record again in the 400-meter individual medley, with a time of 4:08:41.

Phelps became a superstar at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, winning eight medals (including six gold), tying with Soviet gymnast Aleksandr Dityatin (1980) for the most medals in a single Olympic Games. Phelps scored the first of six gold medals on August 14, when he broke his own world record in the 400-meter individual medley, shaving 0.15 seconds off his previous mark. He also won gold in the 100-meter butterfly, 200-meter butterfly, 200-meter individual medley, 4-by-200-meter freestyle relay and 4-by-100-meter medley relay). The two events in Athens, in which Phelps took bronze medals, were 200-meter freestyle and the 4-by-100-meter freestyle relay.

Phelps continued to establish world records at the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships in Victoria, British Columbia, and the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Phelps won gold in the 4-by-100-meter medley relay, 4-by-100-meter freestyle relay, 200-meter freestyle, 200-meter butterfly, 4-by-200-meter freestyle relay, 200-meter individual medley and 100-meter butterfly. Every gold medal performance set a new world record, except the 100-meter butterfly, which set an Olympic record. Phelps also set the all-time single Olympics gold-medal record, surpassing swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven golds; he had won his 14th career gold medal, the most gold won by any Olympian.

At the 2012 Olympics in London, Phelps had a disappointing start, failing to medal in his first event, the 400-metre individual medley. However, he subsequently won silver medals in both the 4×100-metre freestyle relay and the 200-metre butterfly and a gold medal in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay. With the latter win, Phelps captured an unprecedented 19th career Olympic medal, surpassing the record set by Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina. He also claimed gold in the 200-metre individual medley, becoming the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three consecutive Olympics; he later won the 100-metre butterfly for the third consecutive time. Phelps, who had announced that he was retiring from the sport after the London Games, captured a gold medal in his final event, the 4×100-medley relay.

Phelps's retirement was short-lived, as he announced his return to competitive swimming in April 2014. In October of that year, he was suspended by USA Swimming for six months after he was charged with driving under the influence, his second such arrest; the first had occurred in 2004. Phelps was the American flag-bearer at the opening ceremonies 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 unparalleled medal count by winning golds in the 200-metre individual medley, 4×100-metre medley relay, 4×100-metre freestyle relay, and 4×200-metre freestyle relay as well as a silver in the 100-metre butterfly. It was his gold in his signature event, the 200-metre butterfly, that captured the most international attention. The finals of that race featured 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 had exchanged verbal barbs with the American over the following four years. Before the race, cameras caught le Clos warming up in front of Phelps, who fixed an icy stare upon his rival that instantly became a meme on social media platforms. In the following race, Phelps eked out a victory by four-hundredths of a second and had an uncharacteristically exuberant celebration in the pool. Having completed his improbably dominant comeback at the 2016 Games, he again retired from competitive swimming.

Achievements

• 

  Michael Phelps is a renowned former competitive swimmer. He gained prominence as the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time, who won 28 medals in total. Phelps is a holder of the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (23), Olympic gold medals in individual events (13), and Olympic medals in individual events (16). It was in 2008 at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, that he won eight gold medals, breaking Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games.
  
  It's worth noting, that, for his extraordinary and unmatchable feat, Phelps has been bestowed with numerous other honors and awards. In 2003, Phelps won the James E. Sullivan Award. With this, he became the 10th swimmer to be honored as the top amateur athlete in the country. Phelps won the Swimming World Magazine World Swimmer of the Year Award eight times, in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2016. The same magazine bestowed on him the American Swimmer of the Year Award eleven times, from 2001 to 2004, from 2006 to 2009 and in 2012, 2015 and 2016.
  
  Phelps's other awards include the Fédération Internationale de Natation Swimmer of the Year Award (2012, 2016), the Golden Goggle Male Performance of the Year Award (2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2016), the Golden Goggle Relay Performance of the Year Award (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2016), the SwimSwam Swammy Award for Male Swimmer of the Year (2016), the Laureus Comeback of the Year Award (2017), the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year Award (2008), among others.
  
  It's also important to note, that Phelps holds 23 Guinness World Records.
  
  A street in his hometown of Baltimore, the Michael Phelps Way, was renamed after him in 2004. In 2009, post his successful stint at the Olympics, the Maryland House of Delegates and the Maryland Senate honored him for his Olympic accomplishments.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Beneath the Surface: My Story

    (In this candid memoir, Phelps talks openly about his batt...)

    2004
  • No Limits: The Will to Succeed

    (In No Limits, Michael Phelps shares the secrets to his re...)

    2008

Religion

Phelps is (or was) a Christian of some kind. His MySpace page lists him as "Christian-other," but his Facebook page (clearly the more reliable of the social media sites) says "No Answer" under religion.

His quotes on the subject leave much in the way of ambiguity. He said:

"I guess I was made this way for some reason, and I've been able to find the talent I have, and I've been able to use it, so I'm grateful for that. I believe in God; I'm not saying I'm highly religious. I used to always go to church on holidays, but I don't go much anymore."

Phelps turned down a chance to meet Pope Benedict in 2009.

Politics

Phelps is an American icon and wisely stays out of the political debate. However, in one of his interviews, he expressed his point of view on the Trump Administration. He said: "It is tough and frustrating at times."

It's worth mentioning, that some sources state, that he is a Democrat, although that has not been fully proven.

Views

Phelps is actively engaged in charity work. After the 2008 Olympics, he used his $1 million Speedo bonus to establish the Michael Phelps Foundation, which focuses on growing the sport of swimming and promoting healthier lifestyles. Later, in 2010, the Michael Phelps Foundation, the Michael Phelps Swim School and KidsHealth.org developed and nationally piloted the "im" program for Boys & Girls Club members. The im program teaches children the importance of being active and healthy, with a focus on the sport of swimming. It also promotes the value of planning and goal-setting. In addition, the Michael Phelps Foundation developed two other programs - Level Field Fund-Swimming and Caps-for-a-Cause.

Since 2017, Phelps has been a member of the board of Medibio, a company, which focuses on diagnosis of mental health disorders.

Quotations: "You can't put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get."

"I won't predict anything historic. But nothing is impossible."

"I want to test my maximum and see how much I can do. And I want to change the world of swimming."

"My mom put me and my sisters in the water to feel comfortable, to have water safety."

"Being compared to Ian Thorpe, that could be one of the greatest compliments you could ever get in swimming - being compared to him and Mark Spitz."

Personality

Michael Phelps was often described by his coach Bob Bowman as an unbelievably kind-hearted man.

Phelps has mentioned that he's a big fan of the Discovery Channel's sharkfest. Not only that, someday he'd like to swim with great whites.

"A Christmas Story" (1983) is among Michael's favorite films. "Breaking Bad" (2008-2013) is one of his favorite television series.

Physical Characteristics: Phelps struggled both with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and depression, having contemplated suicide after the 2012 Olympics.

He is 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) tall and weighs 194 lb (88 kg).

Interests

• philantrophy, poker, junk food, video games

• Sport & Clubs

  golf; Baltimore Ravens

• Athletes

  Ian Thorpe, Michael Jordan

• Music & Bands

  rap; The Notorious B.I.G., Young Jeezy

Connections

It was in 2007, that Michael began dating his wife-to-be, Nicole Johnson. In 2012, they broke up. However, the couple reconciled later and got engaged in February 2015. It was on June 13, 2016, that the two secretly married. Their marriage was publicly reported only four months later. Michael and Nicole gave birth to three sons - Boomer Robert Phelps, Beckett Richard Phelps and Maverick Nicolas Phelps.

Father:

Michael Fred Phelps

Michael Fred Phelps is a retired Maryland state trooper, who played football in high school and college and tried out for the Washington Redskins in the 1970s.

Mother:

Deborah Sue "Debbie" (Davisson) Phelps

Deborah Sue Phelps (born 1951) is recognized as an innovative, energetic and talented leader and master teacher.

Spouse:

Nicole Johnson

Nicole Johnson (born July 12, 1985) is an American model and beauty queen who was Miss California USA 2010 and competed in the Miss USA pageant.

Sister:

Whitney Phelps

Whitney Phelps (born 1978) is a former champion swimmer and current marathon runner.

Son:

Boomer Robert Phelps

(born May 5, 2016)

Sister:

Hilary Phelps

From early childhood, Hilary Phelps (born 1980), was always a trailblazer and was the first of the Phelps' children to jump into the water and later into the world of competitive swimming.

Hilary is the founder and creative director of Genuine Joy, an interactive lifestyle website.

Son:

Beckett Richard Phelps

(born February 12, 2018)

Son:

Maverick Nicolas Phelps

(born September 9, 2019)

rival:

Chad le Clos

Chad le Clos (born April 12, 1992) is a South African competitive swimmer who is an Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games champion as well as the Commonwealth record holder in the 50 and 100-metre butterfly.

coach:

Bob Bowman

Bob Bowman, in full Robert Bowman (born April 6, 1965), is an American swimming coach. Currently, he holds the post of head coach of the Arizona State Sun Devils swimming and diving teams of Arizona State University.

Friend:

Ryan Lochte

Ryan Lochte (born August 3, 1984) is an American competitive swimmer and 12-time Olympic medalist.

References

• Michael Phelps This work provides its readers with information about Phelps's incredible career, how he trained to become the greatest Olympian of all time, and what he'll do now that he's not spending so much time in the pool.
  2017
• Michael Phelps: Greatest Swimmer of All Time A book by Ryan Nagelhout.
  2017
• Michael Phelps: Swimming for Olympic Gold Find out about Phelps's amazing achievements, as well as what life is like for him both in and out of the pool.
  2009
• Michael Phelps This work explores the life and times of Michael Phelps, providing an in-depth look at the inspiration, achievements, and successes that define him.
  2013
• Michael Phelps: The Untold Story of a Champion Filled with revelations, career statistics, and insightful analysis of how Phelps achieved the seemingly impossible, this is a must-read for anyone who wants to learn the complete story behind the legend.
  2008
• Michael Phelps's Instagram
• Michael Phelps's Facebook
• Michael Phelps's Twitter