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Full name: Michael Fred Phelps
Nickname: The Baltimore Bullet
Nationality: United States
Stroke(s): Butterfly（蝶泳）, Individual Medley（个人混合泳）, Freestyle（自由泳）, Backstroke（仰泳）
Date of birth: June 30, 1985
Place of birth: Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Height: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight: 200 pounds (91 kg)
Everything Was Accomplished
Michael Phelps won eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympic Games, and said his every aim had been achieved.
“Everything was accomplished,” Phelps said.“Doing all best times, winning every race.”
For the fiercely competitive Phelps, there was also the satisfaction of proving the doubters wrong.
“The greatest thing is proving nothing is impossible,” Phelps said.“So many people said it couldn’t be done, but all it takes is an imagination. That is something I have learned.”
At the age of 23, Phelps has set a record for the total number of medals won by a male Olympian with 16. ( In Athens four years ago, Phelps won six gold medals and two bronzes.)
“Michael Phelps—you can’t put it in words what he has done here, his level of achievement is phenomenal2 and I don’t think it will ever be seen again,”said Australian distance great Grant Hackett.
Swimming Superstar
When her son was in grade school, Deborah Phelps was told by one of his grade school teachers,“your son will never be able to focus on anything.”
That boy grew up to be swimming superstar Michael Phelps, and that assessment, to put it mildly, has not turned out to be so.
As a little boy, said the mother, he asked 25 zillion3 questions, always wanting to be the center of attention. If he wasn’t zooming by4 on his big-wheel tricycle, he was swinging past on the monkey bars5.
In the elementary grades, Ms. Phelps said, Michael excelled in things he loved— gym and hands-on6 lessons, like science experiments.
She will never forget one teacher’s comment: “This woman says to me, ‘Your son will never be able to focus on anything.’ ”
His grades were B’s and C’s and a few D’s.
It was a tough period. Ms. Phelps and her husband were divorcing. She had just gone back to school to get a master’s degree to become an administrator7, she said.
Michael grew like crazy, but not evenly —his ears looked huge, and when he ran, his arms swung below his knees. Kids bullied him, and when he whacked8 one on the school bus, he was suspended9 from the bus for several days.
When he was in fifth grade, during his annual check-up, Ms. Phelps and the family physician, Dr. Charles Wax, discussed whether Michael might have ADHD10—attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
The doctor suggested sending assessment forms to his teachers. Their consensus11: Can’t sit still, can’t keep quiet, can’t focus.
At age 9, Michael was put on Ritalin12, a stimulant13 used to treat hyperactivity.
His mother thinks it helped a little. “He seemed to be able to focus longer,” she said.
After two years, Michael asked to come off the meditation14.
“Out of the blue15, he said to me, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore, Mom. I can do this on my own.’”
“From Day 1, I included my children as part of the decision process. So I listened.” she said.
After consulting with Dr. Wax, Michael stopped medication.
By then, the Phelpses were a swimming family. (Michael’s older sister Whitney at 15 was ranked first in the country in the 200-meter butterfly, though her career would be cut short by a back injury.)
In the meantime, Michael the swimmer had appeared. By 10, he was ranked nationally in his age group. Ms. Phelps watched the boy who couldn’t sit still at school sit for four hours at a meet waiting to swim his five minutes’ worth of races.
When Michael was 11, his swim coach at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, Bob Bowman—still his coach—took the Phelpses aside and talked about Michael’s gift. “Bob says,‘By 2000, I look for him to be in the Olympic trials,’ ” recalled Ms. Phelps. “ ‘By 2004, he makes the Olympics. By 2008, he’ll set world records. By 2012, the Olympics will be in ...’—I said, ‘Bob, stop, he’s 11, he’s in middle school.’ ”
As it turned out, the boy would move four years faster than his coach’s prediction.
By 15, in 2000, he was at the Olympics; at 16 he had his first world record; and by 19, at the 2004 Olympics, he had won 8 medals, 6 of them gold.
Of all his mental gifts, the one that amazes his mother the most is this: “Michael’s mind is like a clock. He can go into the 200 butterfly knowing he needs to do the first 50 in 24.6 to break the record and can put that time in his head and make his body do 24.6 exactly.”
大功告成
迈克尔·菲尔普斯在北京奥运会上斩获8枚金牌，他说他所有的目标都实现了。
“我所有的心愿都达成了，”菲尔普斯说，“在最佳时间内做到这一切，赢得了每场比赛。”
对于这种高强度的竞技运动，菲尔普斯感到满意的是让那些怀疑者无言以对。
“最伟大的事情莫过于证明一切皆有可能，”菲尔普斯说，“许多人说这不可能做到，可它却只需要一点想象力。这就是我学到的。”
现年23岁的菲尔普斯已创下了赢得16枚奥运会奖牌的记录。（四年前在雅典，菲尔普斯获得了6枚金牌、2枚铜牌。）
“迈克尔·菲尔普斯在这里所取得的一切是无法用言语描述的，他的成就非常人所能企及，我认为以后再也看不到这样的奇迹了。”澳大利亚游泳名将格兰特·哈克特说。
泳坛巨星
当黛博拉·菲尔普斯的儿子上小学时，有位老师告诉她：“你儿子将永远不能集中注意力做任何一件事。”
这位男孩长大了就是泳坛超级巨星迈克尔·菲尔普斯，那位老师的评价，用温和一些的语气来说，证明不是那样子的。
他妈妈说，菲尔普斯小的时候，喜欢问问题，总是希望成为大家注意的中心。他不是骑着大轮子的三轮车从你身边飞驰而去，就是在猴子杠上一荡而过。
菲尔普斯夫人说，迈克尔的小学各门功课中，他喜欢的课程成绩很好，比如体育以及科学实验之类的实验课程。
她永远忘不了一位老师的评价：“这位女人对我说：‘你儿子永远不会集中注意力做任何一件事。’”
他的成绩是B和C, 还有几个D。
那是一段很艰难的时期。菲尔普斯夫人说那时她和他丈夫在闹离婚，她刚刚回到学校攻读硕士学位，期望当一位管理人员。
迈克尔身体在疯长，但不均衡——他的耳朵看起来很大，跑动的时候，手臂在膝盖下面摆动。孩子们都欺负他，一次在校车上，他揍了其中的一位，结果好几天被禁止上校车。
在五年级的一次年度体检的时候，菲尔普斯夫人和他们的家庭医生商讨迈克尔是否患了注意力缺陷多动症。
这位医生建议给迈克尔的老师们发放评估表，他们的结果完全一致：不能静静坐下，不能保持安静，不能集中注意力。
9岁的时候，他开始接受服用利他林，这是一种治疗多动症的兴奋剂。
他妈妈认为药物有一些疗效：“他似乎能够做到更长时间地集中注意力。”
两年后，迈克尔要求停止药物治疗。
“他突然对我说：‘妈妈，我现在不想吃药了，我能自己控制自己。’”
“从第一天起，我让孩子们参与到决策过程中来，于是我听从了他的话，”她说。
在咨询威克斯医生之后，迈克尔停止了药物治疗。
至此，菲尔普斯一家人都好游泳。（迈克尔的姐姐惠特尼15岁时全美蝶泳排名第一，她的游泳生涯因为背部受伤而夭折。）
同时，迈克尔的游泳天赋显现出来。10岁时，他在他的年级组全国第一。菲尔普斯夫人注意到，这位上课坐不住的孩子能够在等候室坐上4个小时等待自己为时5分钟的比赛。
迈克尔11岁时，他在北巴尔的摩水上运动俱乐部的教练鲍勃·鲍曼（也是他现在的教练）把菲尔普斯夫妇叫到一旁，谈论迈克尔的天赋。“鲍勃说，‘到2000年，我期待他能够参加奥运会的预赛，’”菲尔普斯夫人回忆道，“‘到2004年，他将参加奥运会比赛。到2008年，他将创造新的世界纪录。到2012年，奥运会将在……’——我打断他的话说：‘鲍勃，别说了，他才11岁，他还在念中学。’”
事实证明，这位男孩比他的教练的预测快了四年。
2000年他15岁时，他参加了奥运会；16岁时创造了他的第一个世界纪录；19岁参加奥运会时，获得了8枚奖牌，其中有6枚是金牌。
在他所有的智力天赋中，最让他母亲感到惊奇的是这个：“迈克尔的头脑像时钟一样精准，他参加200米蝶泳比赛，知道打破纪录需要用24.6秒完成第一个50米，他能够将这一时间输入到大脑中，然后让身体准确地在24.6秒内完成它。”