Michael Phelps was a hyperactive kid who couldn’t sit still in class. His mother signed him up for swimming partly to burn off energy. At first he refused to put his face in the water. By age 15 he was the youngest male swimmer at the Olympics in 68 years.
His body seemed almost custom-built for the pool: tall torso, very long arms, size-14 feet that worked like flippers, and a body that made unusually little lactic acid (which means he could recover from hard efforts faster than other swimmers). In Beijing in 2008 he won 8 gold medals at a single Olympics - breaking a record nobody thought would ever fall.
Over four Olympics he collected 28 medals, 23 of them gold. No other athlete in any sport has come close. He retired (a few times), spoke openly about his struggles with depression, and now spends time coaching, advocating for mental health, and raising his sons.
