Copyright © 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 by Michael Phelps and Brian Cazeneuve
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.
Cover design by Brian Peterson
Cover photo courtesy of AP Images
ISBN: 978-1-68358-087-4
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-68358-088-1
Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS
Editor’s Note
Foreword
Acknowledgments
CHAPTER 1 My Own Miracle
CHAPTER 2 Close Calls
CHAPTER 3 Into the Water
CHAPTER 4 Coach Bob
CHAPTER 5 A Sister’s Brave Fight
CHAPTER 6 A Big Step
CHAPTER 7 Breaking Out
CHAPTER 8 Now for the Long Haul
CHAPTER 9 Me, Second?
CHAPTER 10 The Olympian
CHAPTER 11 On Top of the World
CHAPTER 12 Coming Together
CHAPTER 13 Life as a Pro
CHAPTER 14 Heroes and Inspirations
CHAPTER 15 Down Under Again, Mate
CHAPTER 16 The Power of Words
CHAPTER 17 Five Dogs?
CHAPTER 18 Reaching Out
CHAPTER 19 I’ll Follow You
CHAPTER 20 Emotional Sendoff
CHAPTER 21 Trials and Deliberations
CHAPTER 22 Time to Think
CHAPTER 23 Bad Third, Good Third
CHAPTER 24 A Team Effort
CHAPTER 25 Dreams Fulfilled
CHAPTER 26 Touring
CHAPTER 27 A Bad Mistake
CHAPTER 28 Off To Ann Arbor
CHAPTER 29 The Wakeup Call
CHAPTER 30 New Family, New Places
CHAPTER 31 Rebuilding
CHAPTER 32 Optimism Abounds
CHAPTER 33 On Top of the Worlds
CHAPTER 34 Beijing Beckons
Photo Insert
EDITOR’S NOTE
Few can imagine what it’s like to set foot in an Olympic stadium, compete against the best of the best, win a medal, and break a record, much less win many medals and break countless records. Michael Phelps was on top of his game when Beneath the Surface was first published in 2004, just after he won a record-breaking eight medals (six golds and two bronzes) at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and he admitted that he couldn’t envision the coming years being more rewarding than those leading up to that moment. If the 2004 games had been the highlight of his career and he never competed again, he’d still be revered, honored, and remembered; yet now it’s clear that he was just getting started, and that the medals, honors, and accolades would keep coming in.
All eyes were on the fresh-faced twenty-three-year-old swimmer from Baltimore when he made a grand return to the 2008 Olympics, ready to keep winning, this time in Beijing, China. Phelps had already made history at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, where he competed in six individual events, broke two records, and put himself in the running to win eight gold medals in a single Olympics. Speedo, one of his sponsors, increased the stakes by promising their spokesman $1 million if he accomplished the feat.
As the events were underway, it became clear he could do it—win eight gold medals in a single Olympic Games, beating U.S. Olympian swimmer Mark Spitz’s seven gold medal record set in 1972. When Phelps won his seventh gold medal by a hair, Spitz raved to the Associated Press: “Epic. It goes to show you that not only is this guy the greatest swimmer of all time and the greatest Olympian of all time, he’s maybe the greatest athlete of all time. He’s the greatest racer who ever walked the planet.” That seventh medal didn’t come without a fight; Serbian rival Milorad Čavić, who contested the result, claimed he was the first one to touch the wall. Although Phelps was awarded first place, officials revealed a year later that though Čavić had actually finished first, Phelps had touched the wall with such great force that he registered a faster time. This controversy drew even more attention to the sport, and all eyes were on Phelps as he got ready for his final race. Čavić didn’t hold a grudge; like all of Phelps’ competitors, he was happy that he got to square off against the greatest swimmer, perhaps of all time, and was ecstatic to come so close to catching him in the water.
Many remember tuning in to watch Phelps’ eighth race, the 4x100-meter medley relay with teammates Brendan Hansen, Aaron Peirsol, and Jason Lezak, and the electric excitement in the air that could be felt right through the television screen. At this point, coverage of the Beijing Games centered on Phelps; his name was familiar not only in the United States, but around the globe. In his usual pre-race routine, Phelps was listening to music on his headphones while focusing on the upcoming racing, and helping his relay team to secure a victory. The stakes were higher than ever before and the moments leading up to the event and the Americans’ surprising victory would be talked about for weeks to come. It was Phelps who secured the win, as the team was in third place behind Australia and Japan when he jumped in to complete the third leg. Everyone watched as he finished the fastest butterfly split ever for that event (50.58 seconds), passing his opponents and giving Lezak a lead in the final leg that he was able to hold on to until the finish.
The Olympics brought in almost 1 billion more viewers that year than the Athens Games had. Undoubtedly, Phelps and athletes like him were the reason for this high surge of interest. People become fascinated with fierce competitors like Phelps who display good showmanship while obliterating their opponents. Since Phelps’ debut in the 2000 Sydney Olympics until 2010, the USA Swimming governing body saw a twenty-four-percent increase in membership of year-round swimmers; many were no doubt inspired by Phelps’ dedication and competitiveness. Perhaps due to his incredible, almost superhuman successes at the 2008 Games at Beijing, Phelps did come under suspicion, with skeptics claiming he had illegal substances in his system. Phelps, who had already signed up for Project Belief, in which U.S. Olympians choose to be tested for substances in their system, proved them all wrong by passing every test with a clean slate. Some might not want to believe that a man can achieve his level of athleticism by simply training, but Phelps owes his success to his resilient coach, an intense training schedule, a supportive family, and some beneficial physical attributes that give him the edge over his competition. His arm span is slightly longer than the length of his body, which helps propel his large torso and lean legs, while his oversized feet help him to accelerate. With these features, Phelps was meant to be a fish in the water, and his mental stamina has never failed him.
After the 2008 Olympics, Phelps once again was in a whirlwind, doing interviews, attracting more sponsors, and touring the world. Using his $1 million bonus from Speedo, he started the Michael Phelps Foundation, with programs to teach children the importance of a healthy and active lifestyle. The foundation also strives to expand swimming as a sport and shows kids how to set go
als for themselves.
At the same time, and unbeknownst to many, Phelps did contemplate retirement. He started missing some practices, many thought he didn’t take his training as seriously as before, and he gained twenty-five pounds. In an interview in the August 2012 issue with Details magazine, he admitted that “At that point, I just didn’t have anything. It was weird going from the highest of the high, the biggest point of your life—winning eight gold medals—and then saying, ‘All right, where do I go from here?’ I wasn’t motivated. I did nothing, literally nothing, for a long time.”
Having accomplished so much in such a short period of time and at such a young age, Phelps wasn’t sure how to move forward after hitting the glass ceiling and seemingly achieving all he could in the sport; how many more records could he possibly break? What could elevate his career past a peak that he thought he already reached? If he lost belief in himself for a bit, his fans stayed supportive, admiring his resilience and not wanting to see him quit.
Phelps found himself in the middle of more controversy when photos surfaced of the athlete smoking marijuana several months after his return from Beijing. USA Swimming, the governing body for swimming in the United States, suspended Phelps from competitive swimming for three months, and the media speculated that many of his sponsors would not renew their contracts with him. The incident could have been the first of many—a result of his fame getting to his head or too much pressure resting on his shoulders—but he chose not to go down that path. While Kellogg’s did cancel his endorsement deal, most of his sponsors stuck by him. Once again he proved that he could learn from his mistakes, recover, and continue competing at an even higher level.
At the 2009 National Championships he competed in only three events, yet won them all. Later that year, he won six medals (five golds, one silver) at the World Aquatics Championships in Rome, Italy. The following year, he once again beat many competitors at the National Championships, but lost to twenty-six-year-old Ryan Lochte in the 200-meter individual medley. This was the first time he had lost to Lochte, and it served to ratchet up their competitive rivalry.
In 2011, Phelps collected four golds, two silvers, and one bronze at the World Aquatics Championships, and seemed to be back in top form. When he went into the 2012 Olympic trials in Omaha, Nebraska, he initially wanted to try swimming in some different events, like swimming sprints, and didn’t want to compete in eight events, as he had four years before. However, Coach Bob Bowman wanted him to enter his signature events, and he ended up qualifying for the same eight he did in Beijing. Headed to the London Olympics in July–August 2012, Phelps felt relaxed—“I just want to have fun,” he told a reporter—and calmly confident. He also let on that these would be his last Olympics.
Phelps swims the 200-meter butterfly at the 2012 Olympic trials in Omaha. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Since Phelps had already beaten the record for most medals won in a single Olympics, his next goal was to surpass Ukranian gymnast Larisa Latynina’s record for most Olympic medals won ever. Latynina set the record during the 1950s and 1960s, winning eighteen medals. But things got off to a shaky start when Phelps placed fourth in the first race of the London Games, the 400-meter individual medley. This marked the first time he didn’t win a medal for an event since the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. U.S. teammate and rival Ryan Lochte claimed the first gold medal for men’s swimming, while Thiago Pereira of Brazil and Kosuke Hagino of Japan finished second and third respectively. Losing right out of the gate served as a wakeup call, as Phelps came back with a vengeance for the next race.
Those who started doubting that he’d be able to pull off the record-breaking feat were quickly proven wrong when he won silver with his teammates, Nathan Adrian, Cullen Jones, and Lochte, in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay the following day. This time Team USA lost the lead to the French in the last leg, despite a 47.15 leg from Phelps, the team’s fastest. Now Phelps needed to win just one more medal to tie Latynina’s all-time record.
On July 31, Phelps entered his signature event, the 200-meter butterfly. Many speculated he would get his first gold medal in this race, and they were almost correct. He dominated from the start, leading the pack for almost the entire race—almost. In the last three meters his strokes became inconsistent; he lost his advantage and was defeated by Chad le Clos of South Africa by two-tenths of a second. However, his silver medal put him on the podium for the eighteenth time, tying him for the most Olympic medals won ever, with four more events still to go.
That same day, Phelps managed to break the all-time record for total number of medals with the help of his teammates in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay. Ryan Lochte really delivered in the first leg, putting the team in first place. When Conor Dwyer was handed the lead he started to fall behind but was able to recapture the lead at the end of his leg, handing it off to Ricky Berens, who continued the charge. When Phelps hit the water, he was already at a huge advantage. He beat the French and Chinese, sporting a smile in the last few meters before he even finished the race, knowing that he had made history.
Latynina was gracious about Phelps’ accomplishment, saying she was happy to see the American win, and describing Phelps as “the world’s greatest Olympian.”
“I have a normal human attitude towards the fact that finally a strong and talented athlete has emerged who overcame this record,” said Latynina, who attended the Games as a guest of the International Gymnastics Federation.
“I would like him to keep this record for as long a period as possible,” she said.
In the 200-meter individual medley, Phelps once again squared off against his teammate, Ryan Lochte. In true Michael Phelps fashion, he led every leg of the race, smoking the competition, and not only winning an unprecedented twentieth medal with a time of 1:54.27, but also becoming the first male swimmer to win the same individual event three consecutive times. His mom, Debbie, and sisters, Whitney and Hilary, were in the stands, cheering and crying tears of joy. Phelps, standing on the podium, uncharacteristically had teary eyes as well, while the U.S. national anthem was played.
Phelps poses with his gold medal from the 100-meter butterfly race in London. At the time, it was expected to have been his last Olympic gold medal from an individual event, but he subsequently decided to come out of retirement for the 2016 Games in Rio. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
The next day, on August 3, he competed in what at the time was expected to be the last individual race of his career, the 100-meter butterfly. This time, he was in the back of the pack until the last 50 meters of the race, when he used his power to surge ahead of Clos and Evgeny Korotyshkin of Russia, who tied for silver. Having astounded spectators the day before by winning a “threepeat” of the 200-meter individual medley, he did it again with the 100-meter butterfly, while getting his seventeenth gold medal, hopping from one unprecedented feat to another like only he could. He won with a time of 51.21 seconds. Phelps still wasn’t finished, though, with only the 4x100 meter medley relay remaining on the following day, which was expected to be the last race of his Olympic career. With Matt Grevers on backstroke, Brendan Hansen on breaststroke, Phelps in the butterfly, and Nathan Adrian in freestyle, the American team had to win this for Phelps. As was the case many times before, they were behind until Phelps jumped in the pool and pulled out ahead on his second leg, giving the team a quarter second lead that they held onto to win gold—Phelps’ eighteenth gold medal, and twenty-second medal overall. With a time of 3:29.35, they beat second-place Japan and third-place Australia by two seconds.
Phelps had not only made history for swimming in these Olympics, but for the Games as a whole. It’s a tough feat to become the greatest competitor in one sport, but Phelps has earned legendary status; he’s now often called the greatest athlete that has ever lived. Even with all eyes on him and the pressure on his shoulders in the 2012 Olympics, he seemed to be enjoying the events more than ever. Having started in his first Olympic event as a fifteen-year-old in 2000, the now more mature and ca
lm twenty-seven-year-old Phelps took the time to soak in the Olympic experiences in London.
When the Games were over, Phelps planned to focus more on his foundation, his other philanthropic projects, and maybe a little bit of golf, but staying away from the thrill of competition would prove hard for the pro. In a July 2012 interview with the Associated Press, he contemplated, “It’s been a part of my life for so long, so walking away will be weird, but it’s something that I’m ready for. Eventually it will hit me and it will strike me that it is all over. Who knows what will happen then? I’ll just take it all in steps and deal with it along the way.”
Just after the London Olympics, he did indeed announce his retirement. Yet there are those who speculated that Phelps really wouldn’t retire, that his intense competitive nature would draw him back in 2016. Their suspicions would prove correct when, in April 2014, Phelps announced that he would be coming out of retirement. Shortly after his announcement, Phelps told the Charlotte Observer more about the reasoning behind his decision to return, “I’m doing it to have fun and because I love it. In Mesa [Arizona, where Phelps first un-retired in April], I felt like a kid down there swimming in a summer league meet. That’s something I haven’t had in awhile.” The Mesa event marked the first time that he had competed in 18 months. Three weeks later, he captured first place in the 100-meter butterfly at the Charlotte Grand Prix with a time of 52.13. Highlights of that summer included his appearances at the 2014 U.S. Nationals and the Pan Pacific Championships. Though he faced tough competition from Tom Shields and Ryan Lochte, he nevertheless exerted his dominance in the pool. At the Pan Pac games, he was part of the winning 200-meter freestyle relay and 100-meter medley relay teams, and he also captured the 100-meter butterfly in 51.29. He left the Land Down Under with five medals in tow—including three gold and two silver—from six events. Phelps also ended up finishing the season with the world’s fastest time in the 100-meter butterfly—51.17, which he achieved at the Nationals preliminaries.
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