Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps is one of those rare athletes who broke the scale entirely. Twenty-eight Olympic medals, twenty-three of them gold, is not a record so much as a different category of human, and the Baltimore-born swimmer's 193 cm frame, vast wingspan, and uncanny lung capacity made him look genetically built for the water. But what I respect most is the grinding repetition behind the genius; back-to-back Athlete of the Year honors in 2008 and 2012 were accumulation, not magic. His later candor about depression rounded him out for me. Strength and fragility in the same person is far more compelling than invincibility ever was.

Name (English)

Michael Phelps

Name (Japanese)

マイケル・フェルプス

Reading

まいける・ふぇるぷす

Born

June 30, 1985 (age 41)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Cancer / Ox

Origin

Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Height

193 cm

Occupation

swimmer

High school

Towson High School

University

University of Michigan

Awards & achievements

• 2008 Associated Press Athlete of the Year
• 2012 Associated Press Athlete of the Year

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttp://www.michaelphelps.com
• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/m_phelps00/
• Xhttps://x.com/michaelphelps
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9E%E3%82%A4%E3%82%B1%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%83%95%E3%82%A7%E3%83%AB%E3%83%97%E3%82%B9

Tags

• Maryland
• swimmer

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.