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Michael Fred Phelps II is an American competition swimmer and the most decorated Olympian of all time, with 22 medals in three Olympiads and a total of 39 world records. Here are 43 facts about the greatest swimmer
- He is the most decorated Olympic swimmer of all time with total of twenty two medals.
- Phelps is the world record holder in 100 and 200 meter butterfly, 400 meter individual medley, 200 meter freestyle and 200 meter individual medley.
- Phelps was born on June 30, 1985 in Rodger Forge, of Towson, Maryland. He studied in Dumbarton Middle School and Towson High School.
- He is the youngest of three children to ‘Deborah Sue’ and ‘Michael Fred Phelps’. His mother is a middle school principal and his father a retired Maryland state trooper.
- As a ‘attention deficit hyperactive disorder’ (ADHD) child, at the age of seven, he was introduced to swimming as an outlet for his energy.
- His sister was a great influence in his early swimming days and by the age of ten he held a national record in his age group.
- He was first coached by ‘Bob Bowman’ of ‘North Baltimore Aquatic Club’ culminating in to many more records in his age group.
- Phelps at the age of 15 qualified for the ‘2000 Summer Olympics’ to become the youngest male to qualify for the U.S swimming team in 68 years. He finished fifth in the 200 meter butterfly.
- At the age of 15 years and 9 months he became the youngest to set a swimming world record, in the 200 meter butterfly trials for the ‘2001 world aquatics championship.’
- At ‘Fukuoka, Japan’ in the world aquatic championship, he broke his own world record in the 200 meter butterfly to win his first world championship.
- Phelps had the advantage of extra 15 degree rotation in his feet, than a normal, to go along with size 14 feet and 6 feet 7 inch reach.
- At the ‘2002 Pan Pacific Swimming Championship,’ Phelps won three gold and two silvers. On the way to gold in the 4x100 meter medley relay, his time of 51.13 was the fastest at that time.
- He became the first American to win three different races in three different strokes at the ‘2003 National Championship.’ He won the 200 meter Freestyle, 200 meter Backstroke and the 100 meter Butterfly.
- When Phelps began swimming, he was scared to swim under water. His coach allowed him to swim on his back, which turned out to be the first strokes he mastered.
- In the ‘2003 World Aquatics Championships,’ Phelps won four gold and two silver medals. The 4x100 meter medley relay gold was awarded to him in spite of not swimming in the final, as he swam the heats.
- In the ‘2004 U.S Olympic Team Trials,’ Phelps became the first person to qualify in the U.S Olympic team, in six individual events.
- On his way to first Olympic gold during ‘2004 Summer Olympic Games’ at Athens, He set a world record with the time of 4:08.26, in the 400 meters individual medley.
- Billed as ‘The Race of the Century,’ the 200 meters freestyle event was closely contested. Phelps was not disappointed in spite of finishing third behind, ‘Ian Thorpe’ and ‘Pieter Van Den Hoogenband.’
- Phelps four individual Gold medals in the ‘2004 Olympic Games’ was the most in a single Games, tying with ‘Mark Spitz’ record set in 1972 games.
- Weeks before his glory at 2004 Olympics, he was arrested at Salisbury, Maryland for drunken driving. Phelps was upset for letting his family and himself down.
- In the ‘2005 World Aquatics Championships’ held at Montreal, Canada, Phelps decorated himself with five gold and one silver.
- In February 2009, when a photo of Phelps with a water pipe, used for smoking marijuana was published, he lost his sponsorship deal with ‘Kellogg Company.’
- On November 19, 2015 Phelps announced his engagement to his long time girl friend, Nicole Johnson the former Miss California. They used this occasion to announce the arrival of their first child in February.
- Phelps set three new world records out of the six set in the ‘2006 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships’ held at Victoria, Canada.
- When Phelps, won seven gold medals with five world records in the ‘2007 World Aquatic Championship,’ his time of 48:42 seconds in the 4x100 freestyle, was faster than the time set in the individual 100 meter freestyle finals.
- Phelps set an all time record of winning eight gold medals in a single Olympic Games at Beijing ‘2008 Summer Olympic,’ beating the record set by ‘Mark Spitz’ set in 1972 Olympics.
- Along with glittering swimming career, Phelps wrote two books, Beneath the Surface: My Story and The Will to Succeed.
- When Paul Biedermann beat Phelps in the 200 meter freestyle at ‘2009 World Aquatic Championship,’ it was attributed to polyurethane swimsuit. This prompted rule change to be passed by ‘FINA’s Technical Swimming Committee’ in use of suit’s by swimmers.
- Phelps training schedules of practice twice a day, six days a week amounts to 80,000 meters of swim. This is equal to 50 miles. To overcome boredom, he listens to music while swimming with waterproof headphone.
- In qualifying for the ‘2012 Summer Olympics,’ Phelps set the record for most Olympic appearance by men in swimming representing the United States.
- At ‘2012 Summer Olympic’ London, when Phelps was placed fourth in the 400-meter individual medley, he failed to win a medal for the first time since 2000 Olympics.
- At the 2012, London Olympic ‘FINA’ honored Phelps, as the most decorated Olympian ever. He won 4 gold 2 silver medals at the London Olympics to take his tally to 18 gold and 22 overall medals.
- After his retirement in the year 2012, he returned to competitive swimming, in May, 2014 and won the 100-meter butterfly events at the ‘Arena Grand Prix,’ in Charlotte, North Carolina.
- When Phelps was arrested for drunken and speeding charges in September 2014, USA Swimming suspended him for six months. He was not considered for the ‘2015 World Aquatics Championship’
- Phelps had signed up for ‘Project Believe’ with ‘United States Anti-Doping Agency’ as a volunteer to be tested in excess of Anti-Doping guidelines.
- As a teenager Phelps idolized the Australian swimmer ‘Ian Thorpe.’
- Phelps was awarded seven times ‘World Swimmer of the Year’ and nine times ‘American Swimmer of the Year Award.
- As an honor for his achievements, a street in his home town, Baltimore, was named after him ‘The Michael Phelps way.’
- In the year 2008 Phelps set up a ‘Michael Phelps Foundation’ to promote sport of swimming and healthier life style.
- On April, 2009, Phelps was invited to address the ‘Maryland General Assembly.’
- Phelps was awarded the first ever winner of ‘Laureus Exceptional Achievement Awards,’ in the year 2013.
- In 2008 Beijing Olympic, Phelps won the 100-meter butterfly finals against ‘ Milorad Cavic.’ Omega the official time keeper refused to release the underwater images to determine the winner, drawing attention to Phelps endorsement with Omega.
- Phelps has set more records than any other swimmers, with 39 world records. He surpassed the records set by ‘Mark Spitz.’
