'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time. The American swimmer has earned a total of 28 medals across five Olympics to place him all alone atop the individual leaderboard. Phelps is now retired now but he has a good chance of keeping this record for a while.
There are a lot of things that drive athletes to success. Sometimes it's family. However, in Phelps’ case, that may not be what happened, at least not how it does for most. Phelps recently opened up on the struggles he had growing up.
The decorated athlete had this to say about his life as a child:
“For me, not having a father always there was hard. I had Bob [Bowman], and I had Peter [Carlisle], these guys who acted as father figures. But deep down, inside, it was hard.”
Phelps continued, saying his parents had issues:
“Is my family perfect? Far from it. My parents had issues where they thought it was healthy to split. It wasn’t ideal. It wasn’t easy. But what we went through as kids made us as strong as we are.”
Phelps credits those incredibly tough times for molding him and his sisters, Whitney and Hilary, into the people they would eventually become.
Michael Phelps, the incredible Olympian
Who Michael Phelps would eventually become is perhaps the greatest athlete of all time, and almost assuredly the greatest Olympian. When discussing individual sports and their greatest athletes, a few names come to mind.
For the NBA, the popular answer is Michael Jordan. For the NFL, most agree on Tom Brady. In the golfing world, Tiger Woods is considered the 'G.O.A.T' and for good reason.
All of these athletes have one thing in common: they won. All the time, in fact. They have more championships than most of, if not all their peers.
The same can be said about Michael Phelps but his 23 gold medals are more than Brady's Super Bowls and Jordan's Finals combined.
Phelps began in 2000, remarkably making the Olympics as a 15-year-old. He didn't win a medal, which makes his 28 total medals even more impressive.
In 2004, the American swimmer took home six gold medals and two bronze medals. He also set three Olympic records, a world record and a national record.
In 2008, Phelps had one of the greatest Olympics any Olympian has ever had. He took home eight gold medals and set seven world records and one Olympic record in the process.
During the 2012 Olympics, the Olympian took home four more golds, as well as adding two silver medals to his increasingly cluttered mantle.
In what would be his final Olympic run in 2016, the swimmer added four more gold and two more silver medals. He even set another Olympic record in the process.
