How much does the world's fastest swimmer Michael Phelps earn. Michael Phelps. Biography. A photo. Personal life

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.

• Name: Michael
• Surname: Phelps
• Date of Birth: 30.05.1985
• Place of Birth: Baltimore, Maryland, USA
• Occupation: swimmer
• Growth: 193 cm
• The weight: 91 kg

Michael Phelps can already without any doubt be called a legendary athlete, not only in his swimming discipline, but also in the sports world as a whole. He is the owner of so many awards that they are hard to count. His main achievement, of course, is the title of 23-time Olympic champion, the only one in history.

Photo by Michael Phelps

Road to the Olympic podium

Michael Fred Phelps began his swimming lessons at the age of 7. The boy got into this sport, looking at his two older sisters, who were engaged in the local team. Michael's parents divorced when he was nine years old. The father married a second time six years later, the children lived with their mother. Michael has maintained a very warm relationship with her to this day.

By the age of ten, in his age group, the young swimmer had already won the US record. At the same time, he began training under the "wing" of coach Bob Bowman. This is the rare case when an athlete has not changed his mentor in his entire sports career, it was Bowman who helped him become a sports legend.

Phelps first competed in the Olympics in 2000. The Sydney Olympics was the only one in which the swimmer did not hit the podium. Nevertheless, the fifteen-year-old athlete became the youngest American swimmer to make it to the Olympics. He declared himself and further the treasury of his achievements was continuously replenished. Before reaching the age of sixteen, Phelps was able to set a world record at the World Cup and became the youngest record holder. In subsequent championships, the swimmer continued to prove that he was the best in the world and repeatedly beat his own records.

World championships

It's hard to count how many times this guy has been number one. He conquered the world championships one by one, and over and over again was recognized in the country and the world as the “swimmer of the year”. In the arsenal of Michael Phelps 37 records of the world championships in the "long water" (29 personal and 8 in the relay race), 2 - in the relay "short". He conquered the waterways mainly by swimming in the butterfly style and complex swimming.

• World Cup 2007, Melbourne: 7 gold medals, five world records;
• World Cup 2009, Rome: 5 medals of the highest standard, 1 silver, four world records;
• World Cup 2011, Shanghai: 4 gold medals, 2 silver, 1 bronze.

Naturally, being a world-class athlete, Michael Phelps has repeatedly proved in his country that he has no equal. Fifty times he became the champion of the United States (in individual heats and relay races), 9 times he was recognized in the States as the “swimmer of the year”.

Olympic success

The next after the Australian Olympics was the Olympics in Greece. In 2004 in Athens, nineteen-year-old Michael Phelps stood on the Olympic podium for the first time. He became not just a six-time Olympic champion and a two-time bronze medalist, but repeated the record of a gymnast from the USSR A. Dityatin in the number of awards won in one Olympics - eight.

Most of all, sports fans remember Phelps for his performances at the Beijing Olympics. 2008: eight heats - eight victories! The phenomenal result elevated the swimmer to the rank of the most titled athletes in the history of the modern Olympics.

The triumphal procession, or rather the triumphal swim in the most prestigious competitions of Michael Phelps continued at the Olympics in London. In 2012 in England, his name again goes down in history: this time the athlete beats the record of the Soviet gymnast L. Latynina and becomes the owner of 22 Olympic medals (London swims added 4 gold and 2 silver).

Michael is applauded. Of course, it does not do without envious people. The press writes about him: "talent or mutant?". But Phelps was not seen in the doping scandals, and therefore he wears his titles with his head held high. In 2012, at the peak of his sporting abilities, the eminent athlete announced his retirement from big-time sports.

The realization that he is capable of many more achievements nevertheless came to Michael. The 2016 Olympics in Rio only once again confirmed the unique sports data of the swimmer: five awards of the highest dignity and one silver. He was already the youngest participant in the 2004 Olympics, now he has become the oldest Olympic winner in a single swim (31 years old). Such a resounding success crowned the swimmer's career. Phelps said, "It's been a fantastic week, an amazing way to end my career."

So, the famous American swimmer went down not only in the history of the modern Olympic Games, but also in the ancient ones. According to the annals, the only one who won 12 Olympic gold medals in the individual championship was Leonid of Rhodes, while Phelps has 13 of them.

Relations

A swimmer's relationship is not full of as many events as sports life. But this only works in favor of Phelps. Since 2010, he has been in a relationship with model Nicole Johnson, and in 2016, the couple rejoiced at the birth of their first child. The only thing that worries fans is why Michael has not yet legalized the relationship.

By the way

• Michael has a disproportionate body: a long torso, short legs, arm span is greater than his own height. He is also the owner of the 47th leg size;
• nickname in the sports world - "Baltimore Bullet";
• in childhood, the boy was diagnosed with "hyperactivity" and "attention deficit";
• Phelps' daily diet includes more than ten thousand kilocalories;
• in the collection of Michael's medals from the World Championships, there is only one bronze;
• in their hometown of Baltimore, one of the streets was named after their prominent native;
• seven-time winner of the title "best swimmer of the year";
• the prestigious edition of GQ gave Phelps the 14th position in the top "50 people and phenomena that made the 21st century what it is";
• Advertises and swims in a Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit.

Much has been written about the superhuman athletic abilities of swimmer Michael Phelps, who won six gold medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics. This is a genetic phenomenon: he is complex like a fish and his arms and legs are like oars. Indeed, the Olympic Games cannot be won without a genetic predisposition for a particular sport. But if Phelps were to break Mark Spitz's record of seven Olympic gold medals in 1972, it would be the perfect combination of natural ability, hard training, and smart technique.

1. Body. Phelps' body is a special swimming machine. His arm span is 201 cm, which is 8 cm more than his height. He has a long body and relatively short legs - the length of the jeans is 32 inches (81 cm). All this allows Phelps to keep his body high enough in the water.

2. Biochemistry. With powerful strokes with hands, which are characteristic of the butterfly style, lactic acid is formed in the muscles, which reduces their performance. Phelps' exact data is classified, but it is known that in his body lactic acid is formed in much smaller quantities than in other athletes.

3. Flexibility. Some sports require the athlete to be especially strong (shot throwing), others - flexible (gymnastics). A swimmer needs both. The unusual flexibility of Michael Phelps' arms and legs allows him to move through the water with less resistance.

4. Hydrodynamics. In a 200m freestyle swimmer, a swimmer is moving at a speed of 6.1 km/h, while expending 290 kJ just to overcome drag. To solve this problem, Phelps has to take a special hydrodynamic posture - the head goes down, the hips go up.

5. Technique. Michael Phelps is a renowned butterfly master. By pushing off the wall and making a whipping kick, he can swim even faster than with traditional kicking techniques. This allows him to easily outperform opponents up to half of the body.

6. Workouts. Phelps trains daily all year round - four hours in the pool and one hour in the gym. Because swimmers can burn up to 1,000 calories an hour, Phelps's diet is high in carbohydrates to avoid depleting the body's glycogen stores.

Marathoners and sprinters

Endurance. Long-distance running is determined by aerobic capacity. Ryan Hall's maximum oxygen uptake ratio (VO2 max) is 84.7 ml/min/kg, almost twice the level of the average person. The muscles of the best marathon runners on the planet are mainly composed of slow fibers, which allows the maximum use of absorbed oxygen for muscle performance.

Explosive speed. The 100 meter race ends before the aerobic efficiency factor starts to work, so for Tyson Gay, the work of fast muscles is more important than the VO2 max parameter. In sprinters, up to 80% of the muscles are fast fibers, and they contract 10 times faster than slow fibers.

The gymnast transfers part of her energy to the flexible fiberglass pole of the bars during the downward swing, the gymnast receives this energy back in the lifting phase during rotation.

High RPM

When US Gymnastics team member Nastya Liukina makes big, very energetic turns on the uneven bars, they may seem like a series of ordinary circles. But in fact, during this exercise, there is a rather complex exchange of energy between the gymnast and the flexible upper pole of the uneven bars, which she holds on to. Turnovers must be both beautiful and functional - the gymnast must have straight arms and outstretched socks, but at the same time she must gain enough moment of inertia to be able to perform a dismount with a double somersault. With incredible strength and speed, Nastya elegantly overcomes gravity.

1. The gymnast starts to move from a handstand at the top point above the pole. The legs are straightened, the socks are pulled up along the string.

2. When she starts moving down from the rack, the friction of the hands on the pole slightly reduces the speed of rotation, which reaches 275 degrees / sec in the first phase of the exercise. To compensate for these losses, the gymnast makes a whipping movement, lowering her legs and bending slightly at the waist so as not to touch the lower pole.

3. Approaching vertical position at the bottom point, the gymnast bends her back to increase the energy of rotation. G-loads at the lowest point can reach 4 to 7 g, which leads to the fact that the pole bends down to 12 cm.

4. She completes this snap move(max) in the upward movement phase due to bending in the belt and moving the legs forward. As a result, the center of gravity of the body approaches the center of rotation of the body, while the moment of inertia is used to increase the angular velocity, which increases to 304 deg/sec.

5. Time window for dismounting is only 67 milliseconds when the gymnast's body takes a position from -10 to +20 degrees relative to the horizontal. Flight time is less than 1.5 seconds.

It is believed that the prototype of this athletics discipline was overcoming swamps with the help of a long pole, which helped the traveler to jump from bump to bump. Therefore, in the original form, not the height, but the maximum length of the jumps served as an indicator of sports achievements in this form. However, by the time it was included in the Olympic program, this sport had turned into a competition for the height of the jump.

Plank lift

The world record in pole vault - 614 cm, set by Ukrainian Sergey Bubka, has been held for 14 years. Brad Walker, who holds the US record of 604 cm, is America's new Olympic hope. What needs to be done in order to overcome these additional 10 cm? The secret of the pole vault is that the result is 85% physics and 15% acrobatics. In order to rise to this enormous height, Walker, 188 cm tall, must have a sufficient amount of kinetic energy, and therefore must accelerate to a speed of 10 m / s. When the pole is placed at close range, the pole starts to work like a spring, transferring Walker's energy (4195 J) from a horizontal plane to a vertical one, as a result raising it to a height of 5 m. And an additional 1 m can be obtained by bending the body and subsequent repulsion from the pole with moving up and through the bar.

1. Takeoff. The faster the jumper's run, the more energy he can transfer to the pole when he puts it at close range. Ideally, an athlete reaches maximum speed in 10-12? (elite takes 18-22 steps, and beginners 10-12 - translator's comment) running steps.

2. Pole setting. When placing the pole in the stop box at an angle of 18 degrees, the pole should bend so that its length is 70% of the original, while the bending angle of the pole (between the tangents at the ends of the pole? - translator's comment) will be 120-160 degrees, depending on growth athlete and his moment of inertia.

Modern poles are made, depending on the height and weight of the athlete, from three layers of fiberglass and / or carbon fiber glued together with epoxy glue. When heated, this entire structure turns into a lightweight composite material. The outer layer determines the overall stiffness of the pole, while the two inner layers are responsible for the strength and bending characteristics of the pole along the length.

3. Repulsion. The potential energy of the bent pole is transferred to the athlete in the form of kinetic energy. The jumper pushes off the treadmill and moves up, and as the pole straightens, the body goes into a vertical position.

4. Overcoming the bar. In flight, the jumper bends his body so that he is facing the bar all the time. Jumpers need gymnastic training to perform this maneuver, so they practice somersaults and handstands.

After the competition, athletes drink 25-50% more than they lost fluids

Who will drink more

During competition, Olympic athletes can drink up to 11 liters of water per day (which is 5.5 times the average intake). In Beijing, athletes will have to drink even more, because the air temperature in Beijing in August exceeds +30 C, and the humidity is 90%. A loss of just 2% of body weight (which is 1.6 kg or 1.6 liters of water for a 80 kg athlete) is enough to cause a failure in results. “When the body loses fluid, the blood becomes thicker, and the heart has to work harder to pump blood,” explains Nancy Clark, sports nutritionist. .

Jumper Troy Dumais must first jump to a height of 40 cm in order to load energy into a flip board, which then shoots him into the air so that he can perform a three and a half turn jump.

Flight into the water

Olympic jumpers dazzle us with aerial acrobatic routines, but it's how the springboard tosses the athlete that determines whether it's a championship jump or a total splatter failure.

1. Takeoff. The jumper takes a few small steps to gain momentum.

2. Springboard. It is repelled from the flip board at a distance of 30 cm from its edge. A high reach is obtained due to the fact that the board, after bending down, returns up.

3. Repulsion. When moving up, the flip board accelerates the athlete to a speed of 20 km / h, and he flies up to a height of 5.5 m above the water surface. The flight time of the jumper is 1.5 s. At the same time, he still receives a moment of inertia for performing rotations in flight.

Rocks, ledges and stones change the course of the river, forming suvodi - zones of relatively calm water, located in the shadow of these objects. In Suvodi, the flow changes direction and even bends against the current.

Rowing slalom (kayaking)

The slalom kayaking at the Shun Yi Olympic Aquatic Complex in Beijing will require "strength, balance and focus," claims three-time Olympic gold medalist Scott Shipley. Athletes will have to pass the track of 18-25 gates at a current speed of up to 4.5 m/s. The most difficult section of the route is passing the gate against the current (reverse gate), when, due to the oncoming flow, even a small mistake in technique can lead to the boat capsizing and flying off the track.

1. The kayak slides sideways towards the gate. When the kayak passes under the pole and further into the water, the athlete makes a stroke and turns the stern downstream.

2. Since only the head is allowed to pass through the gate, many athletes slip further and then cheat by passing the boat under the lower pole and their body around the pole. If the kayaker's body angle changes by a fraction of a degree while turning, the current will turn the boat over. With proper passage of the gate, the athlete experiences an overload of 1.5 g.

3. The kayaker must move against the current, which will be 2.7 m/s on the track in Beijing. As soon as the athlete passes the gate, he leans back, sinking the stern and raising the bow of the boat, as a result, the turning radius of the boat decreases from 3.5 m to 1.5 m.

4. In order to turn with the flow, the athlete makes a powerful stroke (torque 100 kg / m) and heads to the next gate. The entire maneuver takes just 3.5 seconds.

Swimmer Michael Phelps is the most titled athlete in the history of mankind. An American phenomenon is a twenty-three-time Olympic champion. In total, there are twenty-eight Olympic medals and twenty-six gold medals won at the world championships in the Phelps collection.

Born 06/30/1985

Achievements:

• The absolute record holder in the history of the Olympic Games in the number of gold awards (23) and the total number of medals (28).
• 13-time Olympic champion in individual distances (Athens-2004 - 200 and 400 m individual medley, 100 and 200 m butterfly, Beijing 2008 - 200 and 400 m individual medley, 100 and 200 m butterfly, 200 m freestyle, London- 2012 - 200m medley, 100m butterfly, Rio de Janeiro 2016 - 200m medley, 200m butterfly).
• 10-time Olympic champion in relay races (Athens-2004 - 4 × 200 m freestyle, 4 × 100 m combined styles, Beijing 2008 - 4 × 100 and 4 × 200 m freestyle, 4 × 100 m combined styles, London- 2012 - 4x200m freestyle, 4x100m medley, Rio de Janeiro-2016 - 4x100 and 4x200m freestyle, 4x100m medley).
• 26 times world champion.
• Holder of 37 world records.
• World Swimmer of the Year in 2003, 2004, 2006-2009, 2012.
• US Swimmer of the Year 2001-2004, 2006-2009, 2012.

From fidget to the US team

Phelps started swimming at the age of seven, joining the section with his sisters. From early childhood, Michael was not like other children, doctors even diagnosed him with hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder. Being a fidget, he needed somewhere to put his energy, so the pool for the boy was very useful.

In the section, Phelps quickly attracted the attention of the coach, who took up the new student in earnest. Michael regularly breaks US records for children and youths across all ages and becomes a candidate for the main national team. The young swimmer goes to his first Olympics in Sydney and comes fifth in the 200m butterfly. And this at fifteen!

The first victory at the adult level comes to Phelps a year later, at the 2001 World Cup, after which the American falls into the field of vision of the fans, who two years later began to admire Michael. And it was for that - Phelps at the World Championships in Barcelona showed himself to be a multi-stationer, becoming the champion in the 200m butterfly, and also winning both heats in the complex. It is impossible not to note the versatility of the American - he adds gold to his victories in personal heats as part of the combined relay.

sixfold

It is obvious that Athens-2004 will be the high point of the swimmer who has rapidly burst into the world elite. And so it happened - Phelps won six gold medals, having won two victories in his profile distances in butterfly and complex, plus, twice became the champion in relay races - 4 × 200 m freestyle and combined.

But that's not all - Michael won bronze in the most stellar swim of the Olympics - the 200-meter freestyle, imposing a serious fight on van den Hoogenband. Sometimes there was a feeling that Phelps did not get out of the pool - the next qualification was replaced by the final swim and vice versa.

At the 2005 World Championships, Phelps allows himself a little "rest", reducing the number of disciplines. Michael took away four gold medals from Montreal. Melbourne is another matter. At the 2007 World Championships, Phelps decided to hold a dress rehearsal for the Olympics in Beijing. Seven finals - seven victories - one hundred percent result! To two victories in butterfly, complex and relay races, Michael added success at a distance of 200 meters freestyle.

fourteen times

Definitely, Phelps is becoming the best swimmer in the world, and now everyone is worried about two questions - will Michael overtake Mark Spitz in the number of victories in one Olympics (the legendary American swimmer became the seven-time champion of Munich in 1972) and will he become the most titled Olympian in history? In China, Michael answers positively to both questions, winning eight gold medals. Phelps becomes a champion in all types of programs in which he took part - it's fantastic!

After a grandiose triumph, Phelps slows down a bit at the 2009 World Championships in Rome - refusing to compete in the complex, Michael takes “only” two golds in the butterfly in personal heats, but with world records. Two years later, in Shanghai, Phelps traditionally wins both butterfly heats and again goes to the start in the complex (200 m) - however, he is content with silver, as in the 200-meter freestyle.

eighteenfold

It is clear that Phelps will not be able to keep up with Beijing at the London Olympics. Somewhere he lowered the requirements for himself, perhaps age began to affect - Phelps did not apply for a distance of 200 meters freestyle. Therefore, he does not plan to repeat his Beijing triumph. London brought Michael four golds: in two relay races - combined and 4 × 200 in / c, as well as in the "short" butterfly and complex - 100 and 200 meters, respectively. Phelps for the first time since 2000 did not become a champion in the 200-meter butterfly, and in the 400-meter medley he became the fourth at all.

Shortly after London, Phelps announced his retirement from sports. This decision seemed logical - he is the best swimmer in history, having conquered incredible peaks. Michael's rivals breathed a sigh of relief - now the path to the podium is open. They diligently prepare for the 2016 Olympics, compete for medals at the World Championships, but in 2014 they learn that Phelps is returning to the sport and plans to dive into the pool again in Rio de Janeiro to leave it after the Olympics.

twenty-three times

Phelps comes to Rio in the status of a dark horse - no one knows what the American multichampion is capable of. The first preliminary swims show that Phelps is ready and will fight for gold again in all heats. In Brazil, Michael decided to further shorten his program of performances by removing the 400 m complex from it. But at a distance half as short, Phelps becomes the champion for the fourth time in a row - a unique case!

Michael wins his fourth Olympic gold medals in two of his favorite relay races - the combined and freestyle 4 × 200 m. In the half-time relay race, the Americans regain the champion status lost in London - Phelps, as usual, is in the championship four. In the butterfly, Michael is rehabilitated in 2012 in the 200m, but in the "hundredth" he becomes the second.

After winning five gold medals in Brazil and becoming a twenty-three-time Olympic champion, Phelps announces his retirement from the sport, this time for good. It's worth it to leave as a winner; leaving as a champion to come back astonishing the world again and leaving swimming is an act worth bowing down to.

It is not known whether a person will appear on earth who can beat Michael's record for the number of Olympic victories, but it is already clear today that this athlete will be from another planet, because Phelps left such a mark in history that an ordinary person clearly cannot surpass.

The most successful and titled athlete in the history of swimming has achieved unique results and set many records

Michael Phelps went down in history as the only 23-time Olympic champion and absolute record holder in the history of the Olympic Games. To these merits of the "swimmer No. 1", as Phelps is called, one must add numerous world records, many of which have not yet been beaten and it is not known whether they can be beaten, dozens of victories at world championships, a record 13 gold medals in individual classifications …

The portal site recalls the most curious and far from known facts from the biography of a swimming star and tries to find out what is the secret of his stunning success.

hyperactive child

As a child, Michael Phelps, who had been swimming since the age of seven, was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. He could go for a walk and forget where he lives. Teaching was hard for him. Therefore, the parents were very happy that the boy had a lot and with pleasure: the restless Michael was “limited” by the space of the pool, he constantly disappeared in training and he had little time left for pranks. At the same time, thanks to sports, he became more collected.

Unique man

more on the topic

Phelps's height is 193 centimeters, the arm span is 201 centimeters (according to other sources - 203 centimeters). While still at school, Michael could hug several classmates in one fell swoop. In the sixth grade, he already set a US record in his age group, and at 15, he competed in the Sydney Olympics, becoming the youngest American Olympic swimmer in more than half a century. Then Phelps, however, was only the fifth, but it was just the beginning.

A year later, at the World Championships in water sports, the young man, who was not even sixteen yet, broke the world record in butterfly swimming at a distance of 200 meters, becoming the youngest athlete - the world record holder.

Many believe that one of the secrets of Michael Phelps' success is his unusual physique. In addition to the unique arm span that gives him powerful stroke power, the athlete has a foot size close to the 50th, short legs and a long torso - as a result, in the water, Phelps aerodynamically turns into a dolphin. Even as a young man in training for the national team, he overtook scuba divers in fins on a dare.

Phelps Diet

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The American athlete is a real big man. According to medical examinations, Phelps' heart is capable of pumping more than 30 liters of blood per minute, which is much more than most athletes. Thanks to this feature of the body, he recovered very quickly after the competition, and even record-breaking long distances were given to him quite easily.

Phelps' sports diet was about 10,000 kilocalories daily, which is four times the norm for ordinary people and significantly more than many of his colleagues. But many of his calories burned without a trace due to intense training.

At one time, journalists assured that Michael Phelps actually absorbs even more every day - 12,000 kilocalories, but the athlete himself said that this was “too much” for him.

At the same time, the record-breaking swimmer does not bother with proper nutrition. Phelps has been seen munching on chips, chocolate ice cream, pizza and spaghetti, with his coach supplying him with cola before competitions. He did not become a fan of a healthy diet after the end of his career.