Michael Phelps wins 50th U.S. title in 100m butterfly
The humble ‘best swimmer of the year’ felt absolutely awful after breaking Tracy Caulkins record of winning 48 titles after he won the 200 metres butterfly and freestyle on Wednesday, winning his 49th title of his career.
On Thursday night, the legendary champion claimed his 50th title when he won the 100 metre butterfly in the shortest time so far this year at the U.S. National Championships in Irvine. Michael Phelps is a multi-Olympic champion through his performances in the Beijing Olympics. Phelps, who has won 8 Olympic gold medals, will be a part of the 200 metres individual medley contest and the 200 metres backstroke at the championship that will come to an end on Saturday.
Very much pleased with his performance, Phelps set a record of finishing the race in 50.65 seconds, leaving behind the previous quickest swimmer Evgeny Korotyshkin of Russia. Tyler McGill came in the second position who managed the race in 52.20 seconds. The third swimmer to finish the race was Timothy Philips. Aaron Peirsol, who is a specialist in backstroke swimming, made it to the fourth place.
Michael Phelps attributed his success to his participation in so many championships and swimming in five events at every championship. He still thinks he is not as fast as he wants to be. Michael Phelps became the best swimmer in history on Wednesday night when he won the 50th title. The breakdown of his victories is as follows:
Race Wins
200m freestyle 11
100m butterfly 10
200m individual medley 7
200m butterfly 7
100m freestyle 4
200m backstroke 4
400m individual medley 3
400m freestyle 2
100m backstroke 1
Winner of 8 gold medals, unlike any other Olympian, Michael Phelps broke 37 world records in swimming last year. He topped the record of American swimmer Mark Spitz, who won 7 gold medals at Munich and 8 medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. All together, Phelps has to his credentials the victory of 16 Olympic medals, six gold and two bronze in 2004 Athens Olympics and 8 in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
He has earned the World Swimmer of the Year Award six times and American Swimmer if the Year Award eight times on the basis of his international titles and record breaking performances. He is also the winner of a total of 54 career medals; 45 gold, 7 silver and 2 bronze. He won these medals at events like the Olympics, World Championships and Pan Pacific Championships.
In the 2002 Pan Pacific Championship at Yokohama, Phelps added to his record by winning 5 more medals, 3 of which were gold and the other 2 were bronze. He won the gold medals in the 200 and 400 metre individual medley, 4 into 100 metre relay medleys and silver in 200 metre butterfly and 4 into 200 metre freestyle.
In the 2003 World Championships, he won 4 gold and 2 silver medals. The gold medals won by Phelps came in the 200 metre butterfly, 4 into 100 metre individual medley relay while the silver came in the 100 metre butterfly and 4 into 200 metre freestyle relay.
5 gold medals along with a silver medal were won by Phelps in the 2005 World Championships in 200 metre freestyle, 200 metre individual medley, 4 into 100 metre freestyle relay, 4 into 100 metre medley relay and 100 metre butterfly.
Phelps took home 5 gold 1 silver medal from the 2006 Pan Pacific Championship, Victoria as well. These were won in the 200 metre butterfly, 200 metre individual medley, 4 into 100 metre freestyle relay, and 200 metre backstroke.
In the 2007 World Championships, he won all 7 gold medals in the 100 metre butterfly, 200 metre butterfly, 200 metre freestyle, 200 metre individual medley, 400 metre individual medley, 4 into 100 metre freestyle relay and 4 into 200 metre freestyle relay.
The gold medals that he won at the Summer Olympics 2008 were in the 100 metre butterfly, 200 metre butterfly, 200 metre freestyle, 200 metre individual medley, 400 metre individual medley, 4 into 100 metre freestyle relay, 4 into 200 metre freestyle relay and 4 into 100 metre medley relay.
Apart from being a great swimmer, Phelps also works for the promotion of sports and healthier lifestyles. He used $1 million Speedo bonus towards establishing this foundation.
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