Michael Phelps was born in Baltimore (Maryland, USA) on June 30, 1985. Michael lived with his mother Debbie and her two older sisters Whitney and Hilary. The latter were in turn swimming champions. At the urging of his sisters at the age of 7 he began to practice swimming. Initially he did not like water and often complained. Two years later he was revealed to have attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder. At 12, Michael followed his coach’s advice and stopped practicing any other sport to fully devote himself to swimming. In 1999 he took part for the first time in a national competition in Minnesota, on the 400m medley. Between March and April 2000 he participated in the national championships on three disciplines. At the US Trials he qualified for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games on the 200m butterfly behind the world record holder Tom Malchow. In that same edition he also competed on 200m and 400m mixed.
He made his first international appearance in Sydney at just 15 years of age.
Now Michael is nicknamed “The Baltimore Bullet” and is the Olympic medalist in the world, in fact he has obtained a total of 83 medals: 66 gold, 14 silver and 3 bronze. From 2001 to 2009 he broke 39 world records in eight disciplines. His sporting career ended on August 13, 2016.