Michael Phelps, in full Michael Fred Phelps II, (born June 30, 1985, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.), American swimmer, who was the most-decorated athlete in Olympic history with 28 medals, which included a record 23 gold. At the 2008 Games in Beijing, he became the first athlete to win eight gold medals at a single Olympics.
Phelps was raised in a household of swimmers and joined the celebrated North Baltimore Aquatic Club at age seven. He completed fifth within the 200-metre butterfly on the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. At the 2001 U.S. spring nationals, he grew to become at age 15 the youngest world-record holder in males’s swimming when he posted 1 min 54.92 sec within the 200-metre butterfly. He went on that 12 months to win his first worldwide title on the world championships in Fukuoka, Japan. He claimed 5 medals on the 2002 Pan Pacific championships, together with three gold (200-metre and 400-metre particular person medley [IM] and 4 × 100-metre medley relay). At the U.S. spring nationals in 2003, he grew to become the primary male swimmer to say titles in three completely different strokes at a single nationwide championship, and he later broke an unprecedented 5 particular person world data on the world championships in Barcelona, Spain. Phelps additionally captured 5 titles on the U.S. summer season nationals—probably the most gained by a male swimmer at a single championship.
At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Phelps captured six gold medals (200-metre and 400-metre IM, 100-metre and 200-metre butterfly, 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay, and 4 × 100-metre medley relay) and two bronze medals (200-metre freestyle and 4 × 100-metre freestyle relay) whereas setting 5 Olympic or world data. His 4 particular person swimming gold medals tied a document set by American Mark Spitz on the 1972 Munich Olympics. Phelps continued to dominate the game on the 2007 world championships in Melbourne, the place he gained seven gold medals (200-metre and 400-metre IM, 100-metre and 200-metre butterfly, 200-metre freestyle, and 4 × 100-metre and 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay) and set 5 world data. With his seven titles, Phelps tied Spitz for many wins at a significant worldwide meet.
Phelps entered the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing with the purpose of breaking Spitz’s document of seven gold medals at one Olympics. He took the gold in every of his first three occasions—the 400-metre IM, the 4 × 100-metre freestyle relay, and the 200-metre freestyle—and every victory passed off in world document time. On August 13 he gained golds within the 200-metre butterfly and the 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay to seize his tenth and eleventh profession gold medals, a brand new Olympic document. Phelps then gained his sixth gold of the Beijing Games by breaking his personal world document within the 200-metre IM. He tied Spitz’s document by successful the 100-metre butterfly closing by 0.01 second and broke the mark as a member of the victorious American 4 × 100-metre medley relay staff. All advised, Phelps set world data in all however one (the 100-metre butterfly) of his eight gold medal-winning occasions. He adopted his record-setting Olympics with 5 golds (100-metre and 200-metre butterfly, 4 × 100-metre and 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay, and 4 × 100-metre medley relay) and a silver (200-metre freestyle) on the 2009 world championships in Rome.
At the 2012 Olympics in London, Phelps had a disappointing begin, failing to medal in his first occasion, the 400-metre IM. However, he subsequently gained silver medals in each the 4 × 100-metre freestyle relay and the 200-metre butterfly and a gold medal within the 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay. With the latter win, Phelps captured an unprecedented nineteenth profession Olympic medal, surpassing the document set by Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina. He additionally claimed gold within the 200-metre IM, changing into the primary male swimmer to win the identical particular person occasion at three consecutive Olympics; he later gained the 100-metre butterfly for the third consecutive time. Phelps, who had introduced that he was retiring from the game after the London Games, captured a gold medal in his closing occasion, the 4 × 100-medley relay.
Phelps’s retirement was short-lived, as he introduced his return to aggressive swimming in April 2014. In October of that 12 months, he was suspended by USA Swimming for six months after he was charged with driving below the affect, his second such arrest; the primary had occurred in 2004. Phelps was the American flag-bearer on the opening ceremonies of the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games, which have been his fifth Games, a document for an American male swimmer. There he added to his unparalleled medal rely by successful golds within the 200-metre IM, 4 × 100-metre medley relay, 4 × 100-metre freestyle relay, and 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay in addition to a silver within the 100-metre butterfly. It was his gold in his signature occasion, the 200-metre butterfly, that captured probably the most worldwide consideration. The finals of that race featured South Africa’s Chad le Clos, who had crushed Phelps by five-hundredths of a second within the race on the 2012 Games and who had exchanged verbal barbs with the American over the next 4 years. Before the race, cameras caught le Clos warming up in entrance of Phelps, who mounted an icy gaze at his rival that immediately grew to become a meme on social media platforms. In the next race, Phelps eked out a victory by four-hundredths of a second and had an uncharacteristically exuberant celebration within the pool. Having accomplished his improbably dominant comeback on the 2016 Games, he once more retired from aggressive swimming.