MICHAEL PHELPS

Michael Phelps is an American swimmer. He is the most-decorated athlete in Olympic history with 28 medals, holding the all-time record of 23 gold medals. 

At the 2008 Games in Beijing, he became the first athlete to win eight gold medals at a single Olympics. Currently, Michael Phelps is retired.

1.93 metres tall, Phelps has a physique that is naturally predisposed to race through water: short legs and a long torso that mean decreased resistance in the water. But he still had to learn how to work on his body to optimize his performances. Phelps learned what he needed to do to be successful and focused squarely on that, but swimming seven days a week and taking care of an Olympic-tuned body means there isn’t much time for much else. Luckily, a single-minded focus to achieve his goals made him push himself beyond his limits.

I admire him because when other swimmers taunted Phelps, he listened and used the competition as motivation. He didn’t let himself be put down by other people's words: he used other people’s trash talk as fuel!

Another of his traits is that he never uses the word “can’t”. Indeed Phelps’ coach, Bob Bowman, worked to take the word “can’t” out of Phelps’ vocabulary. This allowed Phelps to “broaden his mind and believe that he could do whatever he wanted to. “I think that was a big key of us being so successful”,  the swimmer said.

To sum it up Michael Phelps is the most incredible athlete and Olympian of all time. A determined, motivated, humble and optimistic champion.  

SILVIA