The fast and thrilling life of Baltimore Bullet - Michael Phelps
(Part 2)
The American marvel, Michael Fred Phelps has reached the new heights of Olympic achievements. Soon after the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Michael decided to give something back to the community as well as the people who had supported him.
So, he established the Michael Fred Phelps Institution with the aim of increasing the awareness and knowledge that people had about the sport of swimming.
The human concord is also an eminent member and renowned participant of the Project Believe Mission, which further stresses the importance of making sure that the sport isn't tainted with PEDs- Performance Enhancing Drugs.
To lead by example, he gets himself checked and scanned every now and then to make sure that his body is free of any substance and also to show the world that he is against the use of any drugs that may create an unfair advantage for any individual.
His lifestyle and honesty made him even more liked by the audiences and his fans. He is an athlete who wants to make a difference outside the competition arenas as well.
If we briefly look at the total number of individual and team efforts that Phelps made in the last decade, we would simply be shocked.
Freddy entered the international arena of swimming at the scintillating age of 15. He made himself known to be a great potential for the future. He set a world record (W.R) only nine months after his first international appearance at the trials for the World
championships which were to take place in Japan.
This made him the youngest person to ever achieve that feat. One year later, he smashed his own record time at the Japan's 2001 Fukuoka World Championships leading him to gain his first Gold medal in an internationally recognized Championship.
It was certainly the start of something totally massive as there was a lot more gold coming to the boy wonder. He galloped towards 2002 and was on a frenzy of setting new benchmarks at that year’s Summer National that took place at California.
The vicious swimmer set a new W.R in the 400m individual mix and also set a couple of more records within the United States in the 100m Butterfly and 200m individual mix.
It was in 2003 that he graduated from Towson High School. Shortly after his graduation, the 17 year old had become much sharper and far more focused than he had been in the past. He created 5 new W.R’s in the Spanish city of Barcelona at the World Championships.
These included the individual medley for the 200m category. Shortly after, once again he surpassed his personal W.R in the 400m medley as he out-swam everyone else at the trials that were held for the 2004 Olympics.
Once the Olympics kicked off at Athens, Greece, all eyes were on Phelps. It was almost like everyone had premonitions that at that time around, the all-time greatest racer would exhibit something outstanding. Their premonitions and expectations were not
only met but he exceeded everyone’s predictions.
The superman ended up winning a total of 8 medals, including six gold and two bronze. His 8 medallions tied him with Alekssandr Dritaytin, who in the 1980 Olympics had also managed to win 8 medals of Honour. It was 24 years later that anyone could match
Dritaytin's record. The long individual reign of the Russian had thus ended.
The artist of a swimmer truly showed the world just the kind of versatility he had and the level of control he was endowed with. The six gold medallions he won were in all categories of the swimming division. His adaptable personality was a great weapon
for him.
He won the individual 400m, the 100 and 200m Butterfly and further went on to take the gold in the separate 200m individual mix style. As for the longer races, the torpedo was part of the winning 800m relay race team and was also part of the winning 400m
freestyle relay race team. He really had outdone himself in 2004.
He outclassed other swimmers in almost all of the various categories and showcased swimming skills like never before whilst creating, making and breaking records left, right and centre in all divisions.
He had become an international superstar after his prolific performances at Athens. It was then that many began to believe that he actually was the greatest swimmer of all times. 2004 was his year of glory.
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