No doubt you’ve heard snippets from Michael Phelps’ impressive résumé before: The 31-year-old competed in his first Olympics at the humble age of 15, the youngest male Olympian to compete for the U.S. in 68 years. Four years later at the Athens Olympics, Phelps won his first gold medal. And then he won five more.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Phelps won eight gold medals, breaking the American swimmer Mark Spitz’s 1972 record of seven.
General opinion holds that most competition swimmers peak—physically, at least—around the age of 21, and Michael Phelps proved no exception to the rule at the 2012 London Olympics at age 23—this time he only won only four gold medals and two silvers. Yes, London was no Beijing, but it was still enough to make Phelps the most successful swimmer at the meet for the third Olympics in a row, and to make him the first swimmer ever to win three Olympic gold medals in the same event.
And it was enough to make him the most decorated Olympian ever.
It was all enough for Michael Phelps, who announced his retirement after the games. He left London being hailed as the “greatest Olympian of all time.”
It seemed to be enough at the time, anyway. But the veteran swimmer came out of retirement in 2014, and—in spite of a D.U.I and a stay in rehab—set his sights on the 2016 Rio Olympics. This time, Arizona State University’s own Bob Bowman, who has been Phelps’ personal coach since the swimmer was only 11, was also appointed the head coach of the U.S. Men’s Swim Team.
So it was that four days ago, the newly humanized Phelps, now an “old man” at 31, was back on the starting block for the 4x100m Freestyle Relay. Perhaps it came as no surprise to fans that Team U.S.A won. Later Phelps won the 200m Butterfly, making him the oldest swimmer ever to win an Olympic gold medal in an individual event (Phelps beat the former record holder, Inge de Bruijn, by only a few months). Two days ago, Phelps and team U.S.A. brought home another gold in the 4x200m Freestyle Relay.
And to top it off, on Thursday night Phelps took on longtime friend and rival Ryan Lochte in the 200-meter individual medley where he not only won gold; this win also gave him his 13th individual Olympic title, breaking a first-place tie with Leonidas of Rhodes, who won 12 individual titles in the stadium at the Ancient Olympic Games.
And that’s where we stand. Michael Phelps has now won a record 22 Olympic gold medals (more than twice the runners up) and a grand total of 26 medals.
And it’s not over yet. Stay tuned: you might catch history being made, yet again.
