“I’ll never forget it” 19 years later, Michael Phelps recalls first-ever Olympic gold medal win at the 2004 Athens Olympics

38-year-old Olympic legend Michael Phelps recalled achieving his first-ever Olympic gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics on August 14. The Baltimore Bullet accomplished his dream by winning the 400m IM and becoming a then-world record holder with his impressive timing.

Phelps was 19 years old when he competed in the 2004 Olympics for the second time after 2000. In that championship, he won the gold medal in the 400m IM event, clocking 4:08.26, just three seconds faster than the second-placed swimmer, Erik Vendt. Moreover, Phelps’s timing also made him the then-world record holder in the 400m IM event.

Remembering his career-enhancing win, the retired swimmer recently shared a story posted by the Instagram page, Retro Swimming. The page shared a message for the 23-time Olympic gold medallist along with his picture from the 2004 Athens Olympics.

"On this day, 19-year-old Michael Phelps won his first-ever Olympic event, the 400 IM at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He broke his own world record with a time of 4 minutes, 8.26 seconds."

Michael Phelps celebrates his Olympics win from 2004 (Image via Instagram)

Resharing the story on his Instagram, Phelps expressed his happiness at his remarkable achievement from 19 years ago. He added:

“I’ll never forget it…A dream come true” with a heart-eyes emoji.

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Michael Phelps revealed his winning motto

Phelps at 2016 Golden Goggle Awards

When talking about swimming GOATs, one cannot skip legend Michael Phelps’s name. The 38-year-old is a 28-time Olympic medalist over the course of attending five Olympics throughout his swimming career. Nevertheless, he also boasts 33 world championship medals in a span of six editions of the FINA World Aquatics Championships, from 2001 to 2011.

After winning his first gold medal at the 2004 Olympics, Phelps saw no stopping in his career. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he went on to crush legendary swimmer Mark Spitz’s record of winning seven golds in a single Olympics.

The young Michael Phelps had won eight gold medals in events - 400-meter individual medley, 200-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly, 200-meter butterfly, 200-meter medley, 4x100m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle, and 4x100m medley.

After achieving five gold medals in his last Olympics in 2016, Phelps decided to retire. Years later, during an interview with the employees of the Citadel, he revealed his winning motto:

"I am sure you all want a chance to do something great. My motto is dream, plan, reach. Figure out a dream, how you are going to get there and go. Greatness is a bunch of little things done well and stacked on top of each other," he told.