Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps is the most decorative gold medalist Olympian of all time, with 18 medals. In total he has 22 medals. In London 2012, he won 4 golds and 2 silvers, making him the most successful althele for the third year in a row. Phelps is the longcourse world recorder holder in the 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly, and the 400 I.M. He was formally the record holder in the 200 I.M. and 200 freestyle. He's won a total of 71 medals in international meets over his career. Awards are not it low supply either. Michael has received World Swimmer of the Year Award 7 times, American Swimmer of the Year 9 times, and Sports Illustrated magazine's Sportsman of the year. Also, after the 2008 Olympics, he started the Michael Phelps Foundation, which promotes swimming and healthy living.

Phelps began swimming at the age of seven. This activity helped Michael deal with his ADHD. By age 10, he held a national record for his age group. Soon after he began training with the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, under Bob Bowman, his life-long coach. Many other age groups followed, and at age 15, he qualified for the 2000 Olympics. This made Michael the youngest male swimmer in 68 years. At the 2001 World Champions trials, he broke the 200 meter butterfly world record. This made him the youngest male world record holder, at 15 years and 9 months. Later at the Fukuoka World Championships, he broke his own record again in the 200 fly. During the 2008 Bejing Games, there was a large doping controversy. People thought he was "too good to be true". In response, he joined Project Believe, an anti-doping organization. He took many tests, and past them all.

The 2012 London Olympics was the last of Phelps's career swims. He is now retired and living life to the fullest. He has found he is very good at golf and enjoys doing that. People all over the world will always remember his as the greatest swimmer of all time. Michael Phelps will always be in our hearts and is an inspiration to us all.