Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time and on Tuesday it was announced that he would be the American flag bearer at tomorrow's opening ceremony in Rio. While it all seems to be coming up Milhouse for Phelps right now, it wasn't always like this. In fact, at certain times in the life of this extraordinary athlete's career, things were decidedly not coming up Milhouse.
BREAKING: @MichaelPhelps has been selected as #TeamUSA's flag bearer for #Rio2016! 🇺🇸
➡️ https://t.co/CaoZadzEIl pic.twitter.com/Z1avS3jtth— Team USA (@TeamUSA) August 3, 2016
Born To Swim
Michael Phelps is a freak athlete; there's just no way around it. Phelps really is a man-fish. Facetiousness aside, he has worked hard to get to the pinnacle of his sport. His work ethic and motivation are often cited as reasons for his success. But Phelps is an anomaly within the sport. He is different from the others.
Scientific American wrote that the 31-year-old has a proportionately wider 'wingspan' which means that his arms extend further than the average athlete. Races have been won and lost in the hundredths of seconds so this extra reach is certainly an advantage. He is also double-jointed and has size 14 feet which reportedly bend 15 degrees further than the average person. This allows him to literally propel himself as though he were wearing flippers.
His elongated and hyper-extended limbs allowed him to dominate the competition from a young age. At just 16 he became the youngest male to set a world swimming record by breaking the 200-meter butterfly record. After impressing at the World Championships he went on to win his first gold at the Athens Olympics in 2004, taking 6 in total.
Phelps went on to win 8 medals in Beijing in 2008, setting 7 world records in the process. In London four years ago he won a further 4 gold medals and 2 silvers, surpassing Larisa Latynina to become the all-time record holder for most Olympic medals held with 22, 18 of them gold.
So now that he has been selected as the flag bearer for his nation, Phelps had a shot at redemption, a chance to put the crisis years that have plagued his career behind him.
The Crisis Years
Phelps has always courted controversy. Just months after the Athens Olympics in 2004, a 19-year-old Phelps was arrested for drink driving in Maryland. He had jumped a red light and was also in violation of a driver's licence restriction.
He pleaded guilty saying, "It was a mistake. Getting into a car with anything to drink is wrong. [...] It's dangerous and it's unacceptable. I'm 19, but was taught that no matter how old you are, you take responsibility for actions, which I will do."
America hoped and believed that its water child would not let the crazy lifestyle of a competitive swimmer claim yet another bright future. Phelps didn't go to prison but just five years and 8 Olympic gold medals later, he was once again in the headlines for non-aquatic activities.
In 2009 a picture of Phelps smoking a water pipe during a soiree with some friends (hitting a bong at a frat party with the lads) appeared and swiftly did the rounds. Actually, I suppose you could describe that as an aquatic activity. Fair play to him.
The picture went viral and multiple 'doping' puns were printed. People who didn't know hugely successful Olympian Michael Phelps now knew "The weed smoking swimmer Michael Phelps."
USA Swimming suspended him from all competition for 3 months and Kelloggs decided that they weren't going to sponsor him anymore. Bad times in the Phelps household, especially in the mornings. In an interview with Piers Morgan he described the moment as "the lowest of the low".
In September 2014 Phelps tested the depths of that sentiment by being arrested for drink driving once again, this time with speeding in Maryland. In the 2012 interview with Morgan, Phelps had said "I'll make a million mistakes in my life but as long as I never make the same mistake again then, I've been able to learn and grow."
Learn and grow he did not: just two years later he was arrested for literally making the same mistake again. USA Swimming suspended him once again, this time for 6 months. They also declared that he would not be selected for the 2015 World Aquatic Championships.
One year on and Phelps is seeking to tighten his golden grip on the Olympics. At the US trials for the Rio Olympics Phelps won the 200m butterfly, the 200m individual medley and the 100m butterfly making him the first American male swimmer to to quality for a fifth consecutive Olympics. The stage is set for Phelps to put the dark days behind him and obscure the scrutiny with honour when reminiscent eyes are cast over his legacy.
Take a look at this Under Armour video that Phelps starred in this March.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh9jAD1ofm4
Sure he has to redeem himself!
