Swiming Legends: Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps

The crowd roared as he stepped up to the block. As he tightened his goggles, he pictured his race on last time. The starter said take your mark…go, the race began. A few seconds later Michael touched the wall and once again, he took gold. Michael Phelps excelled in the sport of swimming and was destined to go to the Olympics, and with some help, he changed the sport of swimming and is arguably the best Olympic swimmer in history.

Michael was born on June 30, 1985 and is the only boy out of three children (“Phelps” Current). Michael started swimming when he was seven years old and says that his older sisters were the reasons he got started in the sport (Phelps and Abrahamson 19, 20). He soon realized that he could move quickly in the pool and that it relaxed him. “In the water, I felt, for the first time, in control. Swimmers like to say they can “feel” the water. Even early on, I felt it.” He quickly learned how to find what made him faster or slower (20). During the Olympics in 1996, Michael watched Tom Malchow and Tom Dolan swim and during this he soon realized his dream (“Phelps” Current). He wanted to win a gold medal (Phelps and Abrahamson 20).

At the age of 11, Michael joined NBAC and soon after Bob Bowman became a new coach (“Phelps” Current, Abrahamson 26). Phelps and Bob Bowman began to trust each other and grew very close. He knew Michael had something very special (Abrahamson 26). Michael says that he feels like his coach is like his older brother, but the two also know how to get each other going. “But just for example, if I really want a reaction out of him, I’ll just say, “Well, it’s obvious you don’t really wanna do this. Why don’t you just get out of here?” He’ll absolutely pitc...

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...istory (Smabl 10).

Michael Phelps has had an amazing career in the sport of swimming and the stats can prove it. Phelps, at the age of 15, made it on an Olympic team, being the youngest male to have done that since 1932 (Busnak 32). At the 2004 Olympic Games he won six gold medals. He also captured five Olympic Records and two World Records. In Beijing Michael won eight medals and all of them were gold. He set nine Olympic records and eight of them still stand today. Seven of the nine records were also World records. At the 2012 Olympic Games, Michael claimed six more medals, four of them being gold (33).

Outside of the Olympics Michael also claimed many other titles including winning thirty-three medals, twenty-six gold, at the World Championships. He also captured 5 world championship titles in one event. Michael also defends many of these titles.