Who is Michael Phelps?
Michael Phelps (born 30 June 1985) is a popular former swimmer and also the Olympic Gold medal record holder. He has won a total of 28 Olympic medals in total. Phelps has won 23 gold medals which is also the record in the Olympics as well and also the Olympic gold medal in one single tournament of 13 which was also among the records held in the Olympics.
Despite the popularity, there were many controversies regarding his life. Phelps was accused of having performance-enhancing drugs and later was accused of living under the influence where he was pleaded guilty. Despite the controversy, he is still regarded as a legend in the swimming industry. Currently, Michael Phelps has over 5 million social media followers worldwide.
Biography
Michael Phelps was born in Baltimore Maryland. He was born to Michael Fred Phelps and Deborah Sue. Michael Fred was a retired State Tropper whereas Deborah was a principal in middle school. He also has two siblings and both are elder sisters whose names are Whitney and Phelps is the youngest of them all. Regarding education, Phelps attended Rogers Forge Elementary School and Towson High School.
Phelps’s childhood was very difficult after his parents got divorced and he has mentioned in the interview it affected him very negatively. He was also suffered from ADHD when he was just 11 years old. However, at the time he was already junior swimming champion and held the record for swimming in 100-meter junior race.
Career
Michael Phelps’s career started in 2000 when he was just 15 years old. He was the first teenager to participate in Olympics for 68 years. Phelps finished fifth in the 200-meter butterfly and also made finals but failed to win any medals. A year later he broke the world record in the 200-meter butterfly at the age of 15 years. Later that year he became the world champions by beating his own record in Japan World Championships.
Michael Phelps again broke the American record in Pan Pacific Swimming Championship but could not beat the World record however he did beat the world record in 400 meters medley beating previous world champion Tom Dolan. In the 2002 Pan Pacific Championship Phelps kept another record of winning 3 gold medals in the tournament.
A year later Phelps made another record of winning three different races in three different swimming formats. He won the 200-meter freestyle, 200-meter backstroke, and 100-meter butterfly. The same year in the 2003 World Aquatic Championship, Phelps broke five world records and won four gold and three silver medals which were incredible at the time.
In the 2004 Athens Olympics, Phelps won the first gold medal of his career and made another world record at the time completing the race at 4 minutes and 8 seconds. He also won the gold medal in the 200-meter butterfly with another world record of 1 minute 57 seconds. All in All, Phelps won 6 gold medals and 2 bronze medals in his first-ever Olympics.
4 years later in the 2008 Beijing summer Olympics, it was even better for Phelps as he broke another world record of winning 8 Gold Medals in a single tournament.
Relationship
Michael Phelps is currently married to Nicole Johnson who was the former Miss California. The couple was dating for a long time before tying the knot in 2016 secretly. However, they were going through rough patches in 2012 and broke up but reconciled again after a year.
Regarding children, they have three children named Beckett, Boomer, and Maverick Phelps. Currently, the family lives in Paradise Valley, California.
Net Worth
Michael Phelps is a popular swimmer and Hall of Famer in the field of the Olympics. However, his awesome achievement was tainted by the allegations of using Performance Enhancement Drugs, and later he was found guilty of living in substance abuse.
Despite the controversy, Phelps is still regarded as one of the legends of Swimming and has earned tons of earnings, income, and properties. Currently, Michael Phelps has a net worth of approximately $80 million as of 2021.
Trivia
- Micheal Phelps kept a world record of winning 8 Gold medals in a single Olympics and 13 gold medals in single tournament.
- Phelpls have three sons named Boomer, Maverick and Beckett.
- He has over 5 million social media followers worldwide including 3 million on his Instagram.