Podcast Project 1

Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in history with 28 medals, faced mental health issues and addiction. He started swimming to channel his restless energy and was influenced by his older sisters. His coach, Bob Bowman, became a father figure and helped him achieve greatness. Phelps set multiple records and won numerous medals at the Olympics. He struggled with drunk driving and marijuana use, but ultimately reconnected with his father and rebuilt his life. After retiring, Phelps started his own brand of training gear and became involved in philanthropy, focusing on mental health and water conservation. He also invested in Talkspace, a mental health startup. Phelps remains active in golf tournaments. In today's episode, we will be discussing one of the greatest Olympians of all times, Michael Phelps. With 28 medals, he is the most decorated Olympian in history. Somewhat masked by his success was actually quite a bit of difficulty with mental health issues and addiction. In this podcast, we will be diving into the life of Michael Phelps, what went on behind the scenes over the course of his career, as well as each Olympic Games he was part of, and all 28 medals he has won to be named the most decorated Olympian of all time. Michael Phelps was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1985 to his parents, Debbie and Fred. He is the youngest of three children and began swimming at the age of seven. There were two major reasons why Michael Phelps started swimming. The first reason being it was a great way to channel his restless energy as a child. He struggled a lot with focusing and was even diagnosed with ADHD in 6th grade. It was said that he couldn't make it through class without fidgeting, but was able to swim for up to three hours just fine. Swimming was a way for him to finally focus and put out energy in a positive and beneficial way. The next reason was the influence of his older sisters. The sisters, Whitney and Hillary, were the first swimmers in the Phelps family and were the reason Michael decided to try swimming as well. It was even said that Michael was afraid to put his face in the water at first. When he turned nine years old, his parents separated and it took a toll on him and his sisters. In order to put his focus on something else, he dedicated a lot of time to swimming and by the age of ten held a national record for his age group in the 100 meter butterfly. When he really started to get into swimming, he joined the Baltimore Athletic Club where he met his coach, Bob Bowman. Bob Bowman was a huge part of Michael's story, both in swimming and everyday life. With his parents' divorce, Bowman became a major father figure in Michael's life and coached him through many huge achievements. He explained that the reason their relationship felt so much more than coach-athlete was because of his confidence Bowman had in him. It was something Phelps had never received from a father figure, so it really pushed him as a swimmer and as a person. Bowman recognized his talent very early on and saw a promising career in his future. He trained Michael Phelps for over 20 years and achieved greatness together. Not just in a way of breaking records and winning medals, but also in supporting each other and walking through life together. In an interview, Michael gave some insight into what their relationship was like. To find it very impressive, he said, The longevity that we've had, it was just something that we both saw in one another. And no matter how hard it got, and I'm sure there are some questions coming up, I don't want to jump into them, but there are some really hard times we went through together. And it brought challenges to us, and we kind of just decided that we were biting the bullet and we were going to get through it together. And just because we saw how strong we were together, the number of years from, I guess, we took from. By 1999, when Phelps was 14 years old, he made the National B team where he served as a backup if needed to step in to replace any of the country's best swimmers at the National meet that year in Minnesota. The following year, 2000, he competed at his first Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. And although he didn't medal that year, he qualified for finals and placed fifth as the youngest Olympian the United States had sent to any Olympic Games in nearly 70 years. The year after that, in 2001, he set the world record in the 200 meter butterfly. He was still 15 years old, so he was the youngest swimmer to ever set a world record. Later that year, he broke his own world record, earning his first medal at the international stage. Michael graduated from high school in 2003, where he set five new world records. That same year, he competed in the World Championships. He won four gold medals, two silver medals, and also broke five world records. He later followed Bowman to the University of Michigan, where he attended classes and trained with Bowman, but did not swim for the university swim team because of his professional endorsement with Speedo. In 2002, Phelps broke another world record and set two new American records. Although Phelps was an all-time great swimmer, he struggled with mental health and addiction issues during his career. In 2004, when he was just 19 years old, he left the college party intoxicated and decided to drive himself home. He was pulled over and charged with drunk driving and was put on probation. There was a separate incident in February 2009 where a picture of him smoking marijuana went viral. As a result, he lost his sponsorship with Kellogg's and his suspension from USA Swimming. In 2004, Michael competed in his second Olympic Games, which was in Athens, Greece. He won his first Olympic gold medal in his first event, the 400-meter individual medley, at world record time. He then went on to win five more gold medals and two bronze at the same Games, along with setting multiple world and Olympic records. Phelps was still a teenager at the time, and he had the second-best performance ever at a single Olympics. The best performance ever was back in 1972 by Mark Spitz. Phelps then went and competed at his third Olympic Games in 2008 at the Beijing Games. He won six straight golds in his first six events that he competed in. In his seventh event, there was a stir created by one of his competitors, who was from Serbia. They were about to compete in the final of the 100-meter butterfly when his competitor said it would be good if he lost, talking about Michael Phelps. Phelps said this actually fired him up, and he ended up beating the competitor by one hundredth of a second to win the gold medal. On August 17, 2008, Michael won his eighth gold medal at the Games, breaking the record of the most golds in one Olympic Games won by a single athlete. In September 2014, he was arrested for drunk driving a second time and later checked himself into rehab. While at the facility, Phelps reconnected with his former coach, Bob Bowman. During his 45 days in Arizona, Phelps continued to train in the pool under the guidance of Bowman. Rekindling his love for the sport, Phelps began to make changes and push himself for the better. As stated in Sports Illustrated, Phelps would lift weights at six in the morning, do push-ups and crunches, and swim in the small pool in his facility. Perhaps one of the most significant of those changes was reconnecting with his father, Fred. Though Phelps distanced himself from his father, he reached out in this time of need. Answering the call, Fred spent time with Michael at the rehab facility, helping him find his motivation and getting his son back in the process. In a 2016 article written by the Baltimore Sun, Phelps said, Being able to rebuild a friendship with my father is something I've always wanted. Coming out of rehab, Michael seemed like a new man. He returned to training, looked leaner, more muscular than ever before, and in 2014, in April, decided that he would return to competitive swimming. He had hunger for another opportunity to prove himself and officially came out of retirement in 2016 at the age of 31 and competed in the Rio Olympics. He put on yet again another dominant performance, where he ended up finishing off his Olympic career with a 4x100 meter medley relay, where he swam the fastest 100 freestyle time of his entire career, clocking 47.12 seconds. He added six more medals at the 2016 Games and finished his career with a grand total of 28 Olympic medals, 23 of which were gold, three were silver, and two were bronze, which was an incredible feat for any athlete competing at the highest level. To put it in perspective, the most decorated Olympian behind him only has 13 medals. Arguably one of the greatest Olympians to grace the international stage, Michael Phelps stepped away from swimming at the top of his game. After retiring from professional competitive swimming, Phelps partnered with the aquatics brand, Aquasphere, to create his own brand of training gear, named after the famed Olympian. First launching in 2015, the brand relaunched in 2020 and has been going steady ever since. Additionally, Phelps is sponsored by many other brands, with some notable companies including Under Armour, Subway, Speedo, and even AT&T. Outside of athletics, there has also been various non-profits and philanthropy organizations that Phelps has worked with. One of the biggest things that Phelps says he has struggled with is his mental health. In 2018, Phelps revealed that he suffered from ADHD and depression, and he wants to help other athletes or individuals who cope with the same problems. One way Phelps is doing this is through his own organization that he created with Bowman, the Michael Phelps Foundation. According to an article in USA Today, Phelps used his $1 million bonus from Speedo after the 2016 Olympics, which was a huge win for him. The goal of the Michael Phelps Foundation is to teach kids water safety, preach healthy living to those struggling with their mental health, and encourage kids to pursue their dreams. Phelps has also invested in a mental health startup called Talkspace, which offers online psychiatric therapy. Phelps says that in addition to taking care of your physical health, it is important to give your mental health the same attention. When it comes to the water, Phelps is interested in more than just swimming. Partnering with Colgate, Phelps has become an advocate for water conservation and serves their global water ambassador. Though he's said goodbye to the pool, he's kept himself very busy, having been an avid golf fan for most of his life. He's participated in many pro-American golf tournaments and even won a competition this year at the Phoenix Open, securing $40,000 for a charity of his choice. He has also served as an analyst and announcer for many different swimming competitions, such as the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. He's also hinted at doing so again in the future. Perhaps his most important accomplishment, Phelps and his wife, Nicole, have started a family where they've raised three boys together, Boomer, Beckett, and Maverick. When asked if he will return to the world of competitive swimming, he's remained adamant that his career is over. With such an illustrious career, some fans argue that there's no need for a comeback. He ended on the highest note possible. However, in an interview with the Today Show, Phelps said, I get into the water from time to time for my own personal mental health. If my boys at some point ask when I'm going to or why I'm not competing, we'll see what the answer is then. Anything for my kids. After such an amazing career, I think we're all excited to see what the future has in store for Michael Phelps.