However, what had initially been cause for celebration for Phelps’ fans in seeing him return to the pool soon turned to concern when reports surfaced that he was arrested on the morning of September 30 for speeding, crossing the double yellow lines, and drunken driving. The events caused him to seek help from a rehab facility in Arizona. Phelps and others close to him have cited the positive effects that the 45 days in rehab had on him. “I wound up uncovering a lot of things about myself that I probably knew, but I didn’t want to approach,” he told Sports Illustrated, in a November 2015 profile.
That December, he was placed on 18 months’ probation and received a one-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to DUI. He also ultimately served a six-month suspension from USA Swimming events and was not able to compete in the 2015 World Championships either.
The year 2015 got off to a more promising start for Phelps, on both a personal and professional level. He and girlfriend Nicole Johnson, known by many as Miss California USA 2010, got engaged just a few months in.
“Her and I have been on and off for eight years,” Phelps said. “It’s been a long time. We’ve been through a lot. But I love her to death. We’ve been able to grow as a couple through everything we’ve been through, the positive changes I’ve made in my life.”
He also completed his suspension from competitive swimming in April and publicly declared his intentions to compete for Team USA in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. “I am looking forward to next year. I don’t think it’s too hard to really realize why I came back,” Phelps told the media. The return began with the Arena Pro Swim Series in Mesa, Arizona, where he won both the 100-meter butterfly and 100-meter freestyle events.
That summer, Phelps told the media of his intentions to stay sober through at least the 2016 Olympics and possibly beyond, “Before I even went to court, I said to myself that I’m not going to drink until after Rio—if I ever drink again. That was a decision I made for myself.”
Perhaps the highlight of Phelps’ 2015 swimming schedule took place in August at the U.S. National Championships held in San Antonio, Texas, where he placed first in three events—the 100-meter butterfly (50.45), the 200-meter butterfly (1:52.94), and the 200-meter individual medley (1:54.75). He posted 2015 world-best times in all three events.
“Maybe since 2008, I haven’t felt this good swimming races back to back to back,” Phelps said.
He continued his strong comeback through the end of the year, culminating in his performance at the Winter Nationals in Washington, where he once again won the 100- and 200-meter butterfly races, as well as the 200-meter individual medley.
The 2016 season began with the Arena Pro Swim Series in Austin, Texas, though most Phelps fans at this point were focused on the U.S. Olympic team trials at the end of June. In the interim, Phelps and Johnson also welcomed a son, Boomer Robert Phelps, to the world in May.
“It’s been an awesome, awesome, awesome few days. Probably—actually, not probably—100 percent probably the coolest experience that I’ve ever had, being able to welcome Boomer into the world with Nicole,” Phelps said in a Facebook Live video.
Boomer was three months old when it came time to watch his dad on the biggest stage of all in Michael’s return to the Olympics for his fourth showing. This time, Phelps, the most decorated athlete in the history of the Games, received the honor of carrying the U.S. flag during the opening ceremony in Rio. Two days later, on August 7, he returned to the pool as part of the U.S. 4x100-meter freestyle relay team that also included Caeleb Dressel, Ryan Held, and Adrian. Phelps, who swam the second leg, did so by posting the quickest 100-meter freestyle split of his storied career—47.12 seconds. Adrian finished the race with the fastest leg of the night—46.97 seconds of the U.S. team’s 3:09.92 total time. France (3:10.53) and Australia (3:11.37) finished in second and third, respectively.
Despite the excitement that came with winning his nineteenth gold medal and twenty-third medal overall, Phelps did not have too much time to bask in the glory that accompanied the 4x100 race. Just two days later, he competed in two more events—the 200-meter butterfly and the 4x200-meter freestyle relay. In his first individual event of the Games, Phelps won by four one-hundredths of a second over Japan’s Masato Sakai, the second-place finisher, in rather dramatic fashion.
Phelps had placed second in the event at the London Games and had been looking to redeem himself this time around.
“This is the race I really wanted back,” he said.
Those watching will likely remember a number of post-race images, including that of Phelps holding up his finger once the scoreboard confirmed that he had indeed finished first. He then beckoned to the crowd with his hands and subsequently pumped his fist. Once out of the pool, he approached the stands to kiss Boomer and celebrate with his fiancée and his mother.
Phelps celebrates after his narrow victory in the 200-meter butterfly. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
With his twentieth first-place Olympic finish in the books, Phelps set his sights on capturing the next race. He didn’t have to wait long, as he ended up anchoring the winning 4x200-meter freestyle relay that same day. Teammates Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas, and Lochte built a lead for Phelps that he never relinquished, and the U.S. completed the race in 7:00.66. Britain and Japan followed in 7:03.13 and 7:03.50, respectively.
With three events complete and three more scheduled, the next event that Phelps set out to win was the 200-meter individual medley on August 11. The anticipation before this one was heightened due to the matchup between Phelps and his longtime rival Lochte. Though Lochte led after the first 100 meters of the race, Phelps ultimately gained the lead and finished in first place, nearly two seconds before Kosuke Hagino of Japan, who had won the 400-meter IM but took the silver in the 200-meter race. Lochte finished fifth in the event, and Phelps became the first Olympic swimmer ever to win his first four races at the same Games. It was his thirteenth individual Olympic gold, surpassing a record dating back to ancient Greece (152 B.C.), when Leonidas of Rhodes won twelve Olympic gold medals over the course of his career. In a gesture that indicates just how much Phelps’ career transcended swimming, a replay of the 200 IM victory was shown on the screen in Baltimore, Phelps’ hometown, at the Ravens-Carolina Panthers preseason football game.
Phelps’ gold-medal streak would come to an end the next day though, with the 100-meter butterfly. Singapore’s Joseph Schooling, who posted a remarkable time of 50.39, faster than all of Phelps’ first-place finishes in the event at the previous three Olympic Games, would prove to be the spoiler. Phelps finished in a three-way tie for second with Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh and South Africa’s Chad le Clos, with a time of 51.14.
Phelps reaches up to kiss 3-month-old Boomer after his victory in the 200-meter butterfly event. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
The next day, in what is expected to be the last race of Phelps’ Olympic career, Ryan Murphy began the 4x100-meter medley relay for Team USA with a record-breaking 100-meter backstroke. Cody Miller followed with the breaststroke before Phelps joined for his butterfly leg. He regained the lead for the U.S., and Adrian sealed the deal with the freestyle leg. The group completed the race in 3:27.95, ahead of Great Britain (3:29.24) and Australia (3:29.93).
“It’s just a perfect way to finish,” Phelps said.
Now with twenty-eight Olympic medals in tow, including twenty-three gold medals, Phelps’ tears after his last race seemed to represent the emotional, yet absolutely dominant, career that it’s been.
“I’m just ready for something different,” he told NBC after his final race. “My swimming career might be over, but I have the future ahead of me to turn the page and start whenever I want. It’s not the end of a career. It’s the beginning of a new journey.”
Reports have speculated that a focus on his family and perhaps some time mentoring younger swimmers—amongst other duties—will take the place of the hours he spends training in the pool. Yet others argue that he came out of retirement once and jus
t may do so again for the Tokyo Games in 2020. Regardless of what the future holds for Michael Phelps, though, his twelve-year dominance in the Olympic pool will serve as an era in its own right and one that will be extremely difficult to surpass for swimmers and athletes around the world.
—August 2016
MICHAEL PHELPS MEDAL COUNT
2004 ATHENS OLYMPICS – six gold medals, two bronze medals
Aug. 14 – 400-meter individual medley
Gold – Phelps (4:08.26)
Silver – Erik Vendt (USA/4:11.21)
Bronze – László Cseh (Hungary/4:12.15)
Aug. 15 – 4x100-meter freestyle relay
Gold – South Africa (3:13.17)
Silver – Netherlands (3:14.36)
Bronze – USA (3:14.62)
Aug. 16 – 200-meter freestyle
Gold – Ian Thorpe (Australia/1:44.71)
Silver – Pieter van den Hoogenbad (Netherlands/1:45.23)
Bronze – Phelps (1:45.32)
Aug. 17 – 200-meter butterfly
Gold – Phelps (1:54.04)
Silver – Takashi Yamamoto (Japan/1:54.56)
Bronze – Stephen Parry (Great Britain/1:55.52)
Aug. 17 – 4x200-meter freestyle relay
Gold – USA (7:07.33)
Silver – Australia (7:07.46)
Bronze – Italy (7:11.83)
Aug. 19 – 200-meter individual medley
Gold – Phelps (1:57.14)
Silver – Ryan Lochte (USA/1:58.78)
Bronze – George Bovell (Trinidad and Tobago/1:58.80)
Aug. 20 – 100-meter butterfly
Gold – Phelps (51.25)
Silver – Ian Crocker (USA/51.29)
Bronze – Andriy Serdinov (Ukraine/51.36)
Aug. 21 – 4x100-meter medley relay
Gold – USA (3:30.68)
Silver – Germany (3:33.62)
Bronze – Japan (3:35.22)
2008 BEIJING OLYMPICS – eight gold medals
Aug. 10 – 400-meter individual medley
Gold – Phelps (4:03.84)
Silver – László Cseh (Hungary/4:06.16)
Bronze – Ryan Lochte (USA/4:08.09)
Aug. 11 – 4x100-meter freestyle relay
Gold – USA (3:08.24)
Silver – France (3:08.32)
Bronze – Australia (3:09.31)
Aug. 12 – 200-meter freestyle
Gold – Phelps (1:42.96)
Silver – Park Tae–Hwan (South Korea/1:44.85)
Bronze – Peter Vanderkaay (USA/1:45.14)
Aug. 13 – 200-meter butterfly
Gold – Phelps (1:52.03)
Silver – László Cseh (Hungary/1:52.70)
Bronze – Takeshi Matsuda (Japan/1:52.97)
Aug. 13 – 4x200-meter freestyle relay
Gold – Phelps (6:58.56)
Silver – Russia (7:03.70)
Bronze – Australia (7:04.98)
Aug. 15 – 200-meter individual medley
Gold – Phelps (1:54.23)
Silver – László Cseh (Hungary/1:56.52)
Bronze – Ryan Lochte (USA/1:56.53)
Aug. 16 – 100-meter butterfly
Gold – Phelps (50.58)
Silver – Milorad Čavić (Serbia/50.59)
Bronze – Andrew Lauterstein (Australia/51.12)
Aug. 17 – 4x100-meter medley relay
Gold – USA (3:29.34)
Silver – Australia (3:30.04)
Bronze – Japan (3:31.18)
2012 LONDON OLYMPICS – four gold medals, two silver medals
July 28 – 400-meter individual medley
Gold – Ryan Lochte (USA/4:05.28)
Silver – Thiago Pereira (Brazil/4:08.86)
Bronze – Kosuke Hagino (Japan/4:08.94)
Phelps places fourth (4:09.28)
July 29 – 4x100-meter freestyle
Gold – France (3:09.93)
Silver – USA (3:10.38)
Bronze – Russia (3:11.41)
July 31 – 200-meter butterfly
Gold – Chad le Clos (South Africa/1:52.96)
Silver – Phelps (1:53.01)
Bronze – Takeshi Matsuda (Japan/1:53.21)
July 31 – 4x200-meter freestyle relay
Gold – USA (6:59.70)
Silver – France (7:02.77)
Bronze – China (7:06.30)
Aug. 2 – 200-meter individual medley
Gold – Phelps (1:54.27)
Silver – Ryan Lochte (USA/1:54.90)
Bronze – László Cseh (Hungary/1:56.22)
Aug. 3 – 100-meter butterfly
Gold – Phelps (51.21)
Silver – Chad le Clos (South Africa/51.44)
Bronze – Evgeny Korotyshkin (Russian Federation/51.44)
Aug. 4 – 4x100-meter medley relay
Gold – USA (3:29.35)
Silver – Japan (3:31.26)
Bronze – Australia (3:31.56)
2016 RIO OLYMPICS – five gold medals, one silver medal
Aug. 7 – 4x100-meter freestyle relay
Gold – USA (3:09.92)
Silver – France (3:10.53)
Bronze – Australia (3:11.37)
Aug. 9 – 200-meter butterfly
Gold – Phelps (1:53.36)
Silver – Masato Sakai (Japan/1:53.40)
Bronze – Tamás Kenderesi (Hungary/1:53.62)
Aug. 9 – 4x200-meter freestyle relay
Gold – USA (7:00.66)
Silver – Great Britain (7:03.13)
Bronze – Japan (7:03.50)
Aug. 11 – 200-meter individual medley
Gold – Phelps (1:54.66)
Silver – Kosuke Hagino (Japan/1:56.61)
Bronze – Wang Shun (China/1:57.05)
Aug. 12 – 100-meter butterfly
Gold – Joseph Schooling (Singapore/50.39)
Silver – Phelps (51.14); Laszlo Cseh (Hungary/51.14); Chad le Clos (South Africa/51.14)
Aug. 13 – 4x100-meter medley relay
Gold – USA (3:27.95)
Silver – Great Britain (3:29.24)
Bronze – Australia (3:29.93)
FOREWORD
Not too long ago, at an NBC Olympics event in New York, I walked into a back room where a few people were milling around, and Michael Phelps was seated on a small couch. In front of him, on a coffee table, was a large, empty pizza box. Phelps was downing the last morsels, so I waited a moment before confirming my suspicion.
“Michael, did you eat that whole pizza by yourself?” I asked.
His smile, framed by some lingering crumbs on the sides of his mouth, was a mixture of sheepishness and pride.
“Yeah,” he said. “I housed it.”
Okay, I know Olympic athletes in training burn ridiculous amounts of carbs and calories. But still….
As he turns 23, Michael Phelps is a peculiar combination of a typical American young man and thoroughly extraordinary American athlete. Sure, he’s already well on his way to becoming the most decorated Olympian ever, and he might only be halfway through his career. But in the handful of times we’ve met over the past several years, what’s struck me as much as the superhuman aspects of him is the normal stuff. The kid from Baltimore raised by his single mom and older sisters. The football fan who goes to a bar in a purple jersey every Sunday in the fall when he’s training in Ann Arbor to watch his hometown Ravens (cleaning out the kitchen of chicken wings, mozzarella sticks, and potato skins by halftime, I’m guessing). The video game fanatic who has to schedule his day around his housemate: an English bulldog named Herman.
Maybe what accentuates Phelps’ normalcy on dry land are the freakish gifts he has when water is involved. We’ve heard and read a lot about how Phelps was born to swim—how his elongated torso, large feet, and massive hands are a racer’s dream combination. But to understand what makes him so phenomenally successful, you have to know the level of his dedication. In the year leading up to the Athens Games, Phelps took just one day off from training
—that includes weekends–and it was the day his wisdom teeth were removed. In the four years since his dominance in Greece, his coach says he’s somehow found a way to step up the intensity another notch. Like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, two athletes he’s sometimes compared to, Phelps has the most talent. But like that esteemed pair, he wins so often because he understands that while talent is huge, hard work takes it to other levels. And also because, like Jordan and Woods, he loves nothing more than competing, and hates nothing more than losing.
Since he last was on the Olympic stage, Phelps’ life has been, sure enough, a combination of the normal and the remarkable. He’s made a wrong turn or two, but afterwards, he’s taken full responsibility. He talks about what he’s learned from those missteps in this update to his book. Meanwhile, in the pool, while you may have been turned away, he’s set eight more world records and counting, won 12 more gold medals at the World Championships, and done everything he can to put himself in position for his monumental goal in Beijing: eight events, eight gold medals. It would be the greatest achievement in the history of the Games.
As Phelps himself might put it, he’s looking to “house” the Olympics.
I’m not going to bet against him. That pizza box was empty, but it sure looked like he had room for more.
—Bob Costas, June 2008
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Mom, Coach Bob,
and in memory of Gran and Stevie
This is the fourth edition of my book. I want to thank everyone I mention throughout the book and those who were mentioned in the previous editions. I would also like to acknowledge a few people who have been and continue to be an instrumental part of my life.
Mom, there really isn’t anything I can put into words. You are the best. I cannot thank you enough for everything you have done for me and continue to do—none of this would be possible without you. To my sisters Hilary and Whitney, for letting me follow you around as a little brother, giving me space and support as I grow, and for accepting me for who I am now (even if that includes forgetting to call you back). To my new brother-in-law, Bob, welcome to our family; to my niece, Taylor, and nephew, Connor, I look forward to watching you grow; to Gran, who taught me so many lessons and who I miss every day; to my dad, Fred, for the take-no-prisoners attitude I bring with me to the starting blocks; to Uncle BJ, Aunt Krista, Uncle David, Aunt Dee Dee, Uncle David, and Aunt Amy, Sara, Andrew, and everyone in our extended but close family.
Beneath the Surface Page 2