How much does the world's fastest swimmer Michael Phelps earn. The man who defeated everyone! Michael Phelps. Success story Who is michael phelps information

Phelps Michael(English) Michael Fred Phelps II, born June 30, 1985 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA) is a great American swimmer, the only fourteen-time Olympic champion and 17-time world champion in the history of sports. Height - 193 cm, weight - 91 kg, foot size - 47th. The sports nickname is "The Baltimore Bullet".

Biography

Michael Phelps was born on June 30, 1985. His father Fred Phelps was a police officer and his mother Debbie Phelps was a teacher. The Michael Phelps family lived in Baltimore (Maryland, USA).

Michael started swimming at the age of 7 when his two older sisters, Whitney (born 1978) and Hilary (born 1980), were accepted into the local swim team. In 1994, his parents divorced, and the children began to live with their mother, with whom Michael still has a very close relationship.

Michael met his coach, Bob Bowman, while training at the Swim Club in North Baltimore. Bob immediately recognized the potential of Michael and became his coach, who trains him now.

At 15, Michael Phelps became the youngest Olympic swimmer in American swimming history. He participated with the American team in the Sydney Olympics (2000), although he came only fifth there.

A year later, at less than 16 years old, Phelps broke the world record in this event, becoming the youngest world record holder in history. Then he was declared the swimmer of the year in the United States.

2002 brought Phelps participation in the American Summer National Competitions (U.S. Summer Nationals). And a few more records: a new world record in the 400m medley and US records in the 100m butterfly and 200m medley. At the same event the following year, Phelps broke his own 400m medley world record in 4:09:09.

Shortly after graduating from Towson High School (a suburb of Baltimore) in 2003, 17-year-old Michael Phelps set 5 world records, including the 200m medley at the World Swimming Championships in Barcelona with a time of 1:56:04. Then, during the 2004 Olympic qualifiers, he again broke his own world record for the 400m medley in 4:08:41.

Phelps became a celebrity after the 2004 Athens Olympics, where he earned 8 medals (6 of them gold). So he repeated the record of the Russian gymnast Alexander Dityatin for the total number of medals received in one Olympics, set by Dityatin in 1980. Phelps received gold for distances of 100 m butterfly, 200 m butterfly, 200 m complex, 4x200 freestyle and 4x100 complex, bronze - for 200m freestyle and 4x100 freestyle. He also set 3 Olympic records and 1 world record.

In 2004, Bob Bowman was transferred to Michigan, and Michael went with him. He entered the University of Michigan in the Department of Sports Marketing and Management, continuing to train under the guidance of his coach.

In 2007, Phelps took part in the World Championships in Melbourne, where he won 7 gold medals, setting 5 new world records. In preparation for the 2008 Olympics, Phelps set himself the task of breaking the record of his compatriot Mark Spitz, who won 7 gold medals at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Phelps became a real sensation, winning 8 gold medals. At the XXIX Games in Beijing, Spitz's "eternal" record of 1972 was broken.

The phenomenally talented American won the 400m medley, 200m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 200m medley, 100m butterfly, 4x100m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relays. In all these heats, except for the 100-meter butterfly, M. Phelps set world records. And he set the final "golden" point as part of the relay team at a distance of 4x100 meters in individual swimming. At the same time, the American team won the relay with a world record of 3 minutes. 29.34 s.

Thus, in just a career, the 23-year-old American won 14 Olympic gold medals and turned out to be the most titled athlete in the history of the Olympics. M. Phelps set world records 32 times in total.

Michael Phelps is a legendary American swimmer, nicknamed "The Baltimore Bullet". His name is probably known not only to fans. Phelps is the holder of many records and the owner of the largest number of Olympic medals won.

Michael Phelps was born June 30, 1985 in Baltimore. His father, a police officer, played football for the school team in his youth. Mother is a school teacher. Michael also has two older sisters, not without whose influence he came to the sport. As a child, Michael was a very active child: at the age of ten, he was even diagnosed with hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder. The parents of the future world sports star divorced when Michael was 9 years old, and the children stayed with their mother. Until now, the athlete maintains a trusting and warm relationship with his mother.

The beginning of a sports career

Michael has been fond of swimming since the age of seven. He got into the section after his two sisters. There he met his coach, who recognized his talent and took up his training. He remains Phelps' permanent coach to this day.

The young athlete made progress quickly. At the age of 15, he already played for the national team in the Olympic Games, setting the first record - for age. True, at that time Phelps was left without medals, having come to the finish line only fifth. However, the young talent quickly corrected this state of affairs: a year later he set a world record, becoming the youngest record holder in the world. It is not surprising that in his homeland for this achievement he was declared the swimmer of the year. By the way, in total, Michael was awarded this honorary title 9 times!

Michael Phelps set an unthinkable number of records. For example, he became the first 23-time Olympic champion. He has 37 world records, and some of them held for many years. The year 2009 was the richest in success, when the swimmer set 9 world records at once. Michael is the most decorated Olympic athlete to date, collecting a record number of medals. The most "productive" for him were the 2012 Olympic Games, where Phelps collected 22 awards. In total, there are 77 medals in his collection, of which 65 are gold.

Michael Phelps in competition:

Michael's unprecedented success in swimming gave friends and fans a reason to give the athlete another nickname - "Flying Fish". Indeed, in the water this person clearly feels at home!

Michael Phelps at the 2016 Rio Olympics:

A feature of Phelps is not quite an ordinary figure. His feet are too big, his legs are too short, his arms are too wide, and his torso is too long. However, it is easy to see that such an addition does not interfere and, perhaps, even helps Michael set records. He became the pride of his country and his hometown of Baltimore, where a street was named after him.

Michael Phelps receives the gold medal:

Personal life

The personal life of Michael Phelps is romantically and directly connected with the water track, on which he breaks records. For nine years now, Phelps has been dating Nicole Johnson, the owner of the Miss California title. Three months ago, their first child was born. But Michael preferred a sports career, several times “floating away” from the altar.

Michael Phelps with civil wife Nicole Johnson:

In 2016, the famous athlete made a promise to marry if he was defeated at the Rio Olympics. Fate was not slow to give him a chance, sending defeat from a young athlete. A puzzled Michael is about to keep his promise and leave his career for the sake of his family. His lucky bride is already planning their wedding, and there's a chance that her titled fiancé won't run into the pool this time.

As for Phelps' promise to leave his sports career, it's not worth guessing. Michael already announced his retirement in 2012, but still returned to the waterway. Perhaps the king of the pool will still delight fans with new world records.

Biographies of famous athletes you will find

Immediately after the Olympics, the coolest swimmer in history bought a mansion in Scottsdale for $ 2.5 million. At the same time, Phelps sold his home in Baltimore, where he used to live, for 960 thousand dollars.

Why did Michael leave Washington for Arizona? The fact is that he was preparing for Rio at a local university, and is also going to train a student team here. Plus, the climate is always warm, and flying closer to Las Vegas, where Phelps liked to party until he became a family man.

Michael's new house is not that big compared to other celebrities - only 600 square meters with five bedrooms. And, of course, there is a swimming pool in the yard, if you wish, you can prepare for the Tokyo Olympics in it.

In the spotlight

Phelps is the most talked about athlete in the Olympics. Twitter users dedicated 187 million tweets to him, and this is only during the Rio Olympics. Phelps was discussed even more than runner Usain Bolt and soccer player Neymar. Apparently, then, that Bolt and Neymar together won four gold medals in Rio de Janeiro, and Phelps - as many as five!

Phelps and Boomer

Phelps built a family with model Nicole Johnson - "Miss California - 2010". Actually, in 2010, Michael met the beauty, and last year he proposed to her. Johnson agreed and summed up on the social network: "I will become Mrs. Phelps."

On May 5, 2016, Michael became a father, which he announced to the world through Facebook: “Boomer Robert Phelps, welcome to this world! Healthy and happy baby. The best feeling in life!”

Phelps quote

Is it true that you eat 30,000 calories a day? Tell us about the diet during the Olympics.

I think my son Boomer eats more than me. My son has a good appetite. I'm used to eating when I want to. And how much I want. As a child, I ate about 10,000 calories a day. But I'm already 31 years old. And if a man at my age eats so much, his belly will grow very quickly.

Phelps and father

The full name of our hero is Michael Fred Phelps II. And the first Michael Fred Phelps is his father, who played American football in his youth, then became a patrol policeman, and now retired. Phelps Sr. was married to Deborah, a high school principal. Two daughters were born, then a son, Michael. But her father abandoned the family in 1994, and Debbie raised the children alone.

For swimmer Michael Phelps, this was a psychological trauma. He never forgave his father.

Phelps and disease

Michael has been swimming since the age of seven. His older sister took him to the pool so that the boy would find an outlet for his energy: young Phelps was diagnosed as a child with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), otherwise hyperkinetic disorder.

The symptoms are: impulsiveness, forgetfulness, a constant sense of impending disaster.

That's why Phelps wins so often. He's just really afraid of losing. The hyperactive child was well shown by Mike Myers in a skit with Nicole Kidman. That's what Phelps was like. He must have been put on a collar too.

Phelps and anthropometry

You can say for a long time that Michael trains a lot, that he is a real sports fanatic. Someone will talk about doping, although not caught - not a thief. Phelps was only caught smoking marijuana once out of competition, for which he received a three-month ban.

The fact is that Phelps is ideally complex for swimming. This is Ichthyander. Dolphin Man. Michael has size 47 feet, disproportionately short legs and a long torso compared to the average person. The arm span is 203 cm, which is 10 cm more than his height.

“I don’t understand how a guy of such height began to swim like a dolphin,” twice Olympic champion Denis Pankratov is surprised. - Nowadays, butterfly was a subtle style, like breaststroke. It was impossible to approach and slash backhand, taking the medal. Dolphinists used to be no taller than 180 cm, strong in the shoulders, with a large chest. The stereotype is a small stocky person.

Phelps's height is 193 cm. I don't understand how such a sleeper can swim a butterfly. He has a completely different technique. This is a new generation athlete. What Phelps is doing is pulling the rug out from under me. I don't even know how he does it. I just get aesthetic pleasure, watching the stopwatch.

What remains to be done by an athlete who has defeated everyone? No, not figuratively, but in fact - everyone! He even defeated the ancient athlete Leonid of Rhodes, whose achievements became the legend of the Olympic Games. So what should this athlete do? Michael Phelps made his choice: he decided to challenge the white shark at a distance of 100 meters and ... lost. Well, now he has something to strive for again.

Of course, Michael did not compete with a real shark: that would be crazy. The shark was “forced” to swim a hundred meters at maximum speed, recorded its passage of the distance, and then Phelps swam along with its computer imitation on the air of the Discovery Channel. The loss was only 2 seconds.

"Baltimore Bullet"

Michael was born in the American city of Baltimore in 1985. He has been in the pool since the age of 7, and not at all because the future champion has demonstrated some outstanding abilities since childhood. He was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and the sport was an attempt to teach Michael to concentrate and release stress. It really helped.

True, Michael suffered from one phobia ... He could not lower his face into the water, so he swam on his back. But gradually, with the help of coach Bob Bowman, this was also overcome. And also to help the boy concentrate on achievements and victories, to believe in himself (for children with ADHD, this can be a problem). Already at the age of 10, Michael set a national record for his age, and at the age of 15 he participated in his first Olympics.

Unique

The second nickname of Michael Phelps is "flying fish". He really does not just swim, but flies, developing incredible speed. This is helped by the unique physique of the athlete:

• Phelps's height is 193 cm and his arm span is 201 cm, which is an unusual ratio: he is usually taller than his arm span.
• Michael's ankle is more flexible than a ballerina's: thanks to this, the movements of the swimmer's legs greatly increase his speed. And 47 foot size is still increasing the advantage.
• Michael has a long torso and relatively short legs: the perfect combination for a swimmer.
• Thanks to his unique metabolism, Michael can train much longer than other athletes without feeling sore muscles: he produces less lactic acid than most people. Namely, it causes pain and causes athletes to stop training.

Michael Phelps Achievements

Enumerate the achievements of Michael Phelps can be long. He is truly a unique athlete who proves with his records that everything is possible, you just need to do your job honestly and believe in a lucky star. Phelps became the only 23-time Olympic champion in history. And most likely, this achievement can no longer be surpassed. In total, there are 28 Olympic medals of various denominations in his collection. On account of the Baltimore bullet - 37 world records in the big pool (and this is not counting the records set in the 25-meter). And in his native USA, he became the winner of the national championship more than 50 times at different distances.

What does Michael himself think? “The main thing they taught me is not to notice how time flies in training. Classes on the side and on the water for two and a half - three hours every day were the norm for me. I set a goal: to always be the first. Somewhere it turned out, in something it didn’t, but I never deviated from this rule. My favorite swimmer, Pablo Morales, who won the Olympics in 1984 and 1992, said that there is a universal recipe for victory: you need to completely go into your tension, and you will definitely get the desired result.”

Support Group

But the only secret of Michael Phelps cannot be his unique physique and tenacity. Without support, none of us can open up to 100. The people who are always with Michael are his mother and sisters.

And here we come to the most important thing. Who knows what would have been the fate of an awkward boy who could not sit still for five minutes if his mother did not believe in him. True, she herself was the director of the school and saw different children in her lifetime. Maybe this helped her when her own son ran into difficulties.

At school, she was told that a child with such a lack of concentration would never achieve anything. What did Debbie Phelps say to them? "What are you doing to help him?" She went with her son to training, followed the changes in his behavior. When she realized that the boy could not always control his emotions, she came up with special signs: she showed them to Michael from the podium, and he understood that feelings should be suppressed. Debbie was always there, and at the Athens Olympics, Michael stepped down from the podium to give his mother a bouquet and a wreath of the winner.

Also in the group of Michael's loyal fans are his older sisters. If the girls didn't swim, the little brother might not have spent so much time in the pool. They were always friendly, and Michael reached out for Hilary and Whitney. And today they are happy for him from the stands.

Mascot

Michael Phelps with Nicole Johnson and son

"He is my talisman and my support." So Michael said about his son Boomer, who was born in 2016 and managed to visit the Rio Olympics with his mother Nicole Johnson, where Michael won again and again. His Nicole, the former Miss California, is by his side.

True, it was not always so. They met in 2007 and broke up in 2008. They started dating again in 2010, but broke up a year later. In 2013, Michael called Nicole again ... Both he and she had attempts to find other lovers, but they were unsuccessful. "We missed each other Nicole admitted. — We both had different relationships, but neither he nor I could find anyone who understood us as much as we understand each other.

Not without problems

There is no way to say about Michael Phelps that he is a person who has no problems. He has a difficult relationship with his father. He was suspended from competition for smoking marijuana. He completed and resumed his career. He was arrested for drunk driving and was treated in a special clinic. However, Michael finds the strength to admit his mistakes and move on.

He no longer wants to compete in swimming. Michael Phelps competes in poker tournaments, participates in hearings on the issue of doping in sports, and participates in public life (at the children's sports award, he even let himself be covered in gold paint from head to toe). “We miss Michael, he is missing in the team. But at the same time, we are happy that he opened a new chapter in his life and focused on his family.”, said American swimmer Kathleen Ledecky. And we, the fans, also miss, but the legend of Michael Phelps has already developed. And it has become a part of our life.

Michael Phelps (swimming, USA)	30 votes (48.4%)
2007 Winner - Roger FEDERER (tennis, Switzerland)
2006 Winner - Roger FEDERER (tennis, Switzerland)
2005 Winner - Daniel CARVALHO (Soccer, Brazil)
2004 Winner - Michael PHELPS (swimming, USA)
Usain BOLT (athletics, running, Jamaica)
Cristiano RONALDO (football, Portugal)
Rafael NADAL (tennis, Spain)
Lewis HAMILTON (Formula 1, UK)
Tirunesh DIBABA (athletics, running, Ethiopia)
Alessandro DEL PIERO (football, Italy)
David VILLA (football, Spain)
DANNI (football, Portugal)
WAGNER LOVE (football, Brazil)
Viswanathan ANAND (Chess, India)
John Robert HOLDEN (basketball, USA/Russia)
Xavi (football, Spain)

American swimmer Michael Phelps not only broke the two-year hegemony of Swiss tennis player Roger Federer in our poll, but also managed to score a record percentage of journalistic votes. And this is despite the impressive competition in the person of the king of the hundred meters Usain Bolt! It is no wonder that our correspondent Pavel LYSENKOV, who worked at the Beijing Olympics, was most of all dumbfounded by the water monster from the USA.

The most vivid impression that I brought back from Beijing, of course, is associated with Michael Phelps. I saw such a block live! I think his record - eight gold medals in one Games - no one will beat. Certainly in the 21st century. Even if aliens from Saturn are admitted to the universal competitions. Therefore, back in China, I began to collect a complete dossier on Michael Fred Phelps, a native of Baltimore, Maryland. And here's what I ended up with...

1. Phelps is not 80 percent water, like ordinary people, but 90 percent. That's why he swims so fast.

2. The effect is achieved by the fact that Phelps drinks a lot. In a day, Michael can blow out more liquid than he weighs, that is, 91 liters (according to this indicator, he has already entered the Guinness Book of Records). Your correspondent ran into Phelps three times in the Water Cube, and each time he had a bottle in his hand. And once Michael came to a press conference with a pacifier, which contained a solution with vitamins and useful minerals.

3. Phelps drinks not only water, but also alcohol. In November 2004, he was arrested by Maryland police for drunk driving. Michael was fined $250 and forced to attend a course of lectures "Mothers against alcoholics at the wheel", after which the athlete was released on bail.

As Michael himself stated, alcohol is needed by his body for internal combustion processes - to swim quickly.

4. Phelps wears size 50 shoes. At the same time, he has relatively short legs - such that he will ride a pony without touching the ground. Therefore, when Michael jumps into the water, according to aquadynamics, he seems to turn into a dolphin. In training for the US national team, the future champion overtook scuba divers in fins and mini-submarines on a dare.

5. Phelps' height is 193 cm, arm span is 201 cm. While still at school, Michael could hug five classmates in one fell swoop. Coach Bob Bowman noticed that the guy had abilities and invited him to the swimming section.

6. Phelps' heart can pump over 30 liters of blood per minute. Thanks to this, Michael quickly recovers from record swims. His endurance is such that the American may well compete with Larisa Ilchenko in the marathon. And once Phelps even crawled from Newfoundland to Greenland.

7. Phelps eats about 12 thousand kilocalories per day, which is five times the norm of any normal person. Michael draws a lot of energy from spaghetti and chips, and before each final, the coach runs to him for pizza with cola.

8. During the Olympics, Phelps was tested nine times for doping. And all tests were negative. Now Michael is part of the community of athletes - friends of WADA, who voluntarily agree to checks at any time of the day. When blood is taken from Phelps at night, he doesn't even wake up.

9. As a child, Phelps suffered from hyperactivity disorder. He was a very absent-minded, but extremely active boy. One day Michael ran away from home and was only found in California. The child has forgotten where he lives. Therefore, the mother gave her son to swim so that the restless Phelps was limited to the space of the pool.

10. Experts calculated that if Phelps were a country, then by the middle of the Olympics he would have been fourth in the medal standings - after China, the USA and Germany. Infected with this idea, now Michael is thinking about establishing his own autonomy within the state of Maryland.

11. Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, who came to the Olympics, offered Phelps naturalization. They are ready to give Michael Russian citizenship, an apartment in St. Petersburg and a salary, like Arshavin. Experts calculated that if Michael had played for the Russian team in Beijing, then in the medal standings we would have overtaken America.

12. In honor of Phelps, three settlements in the United States have already been named. You can check on the map. This is a village near New York, as well as cities in the states of Kentucky and Wisconsin. In addition, there is a lake in the States - it is also called Phelps. After Michael's eighth victory at the Olympics, 528 cases were recorded in the world when babies, birds and pets were called Phelps.

13. Michael studies at the University of Michigan, studying sports marketing and management. Phelps received the Nobel Prize two years ago for his "Intertemporal Exchange Analysis in Macroeconomic Policy." The idea to write this work came to him during a 200m butterfly swim.

14. Phelps promised that he would not marry until he broke Larisa Latynina's record for the number of Olympic medals in her career. Now the ratio is not in favor of the American - 16 to 18. Phelps's bride has to wait another four years for her wedding trip to Hawaii.

15. By the end of December, Phelps promised to write a book in which he would talk about his trip to Beijing and how he shaved off his mustache before the Olympics. The autobiography will be called "Sentenced to victory" (Built to Succeed).

P.S.

The dossier was compiled on the basis of data from the Internet, visual observation of Phelps, as well as the author's imagination.