an American swimmer who is generally considered the greatest swimmer of all time as well as one of the greatest Olympians of all time
his strokes are: butterfly, freestyle, backstroke, individual medley
he has won 14 Olympic gold medals, the most by one Olympian
he has broken over 35 world records
he holds the record for the most gold medals at a single Olympics, his 8 at the 2008 Beijing Games
overall, he has won 16 Olympic medals (Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008), he is second, only Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina won 18 medals over 3 Olympics
he earned the World Swimmer of the Year Award 5 times in 2008 also Sportsman f the Year
Personal life
father – work by police, mother – school principle, 2 older sisters – both were swimming
in his youth, he was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
so he started to swim at 7, to much energy
twice problems with law – 2004 driving under the influence of alcohol, 2009 – he was in the newspaper at a photo where he was smoking marihuana (USA Swimming suspended him from swimming competitively for 3 months)
between 2004 and 2008 he attended University of Michigan (sports marketing and management), then he moved to Baltimore again, with his coach
he earns lot of money, face of Mazda in China and Speedo – with the money created M. P. Foundation, a charity for kinds who want to swim
his body: arms span 201 cm, height 193 cm, he eats 10 000 kcal (kilocalories) – 5 times more than normal adult male
Career
at the age of 15, he competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and was 5th in the 200meter butterfly, 5 months later ho broke the world record and became the youngest man who ever broke some world record
2004 wanted to win 8 gold M., but he made it 4 years later in Beijing, so he beat another great swimmer – Mark Spitz (he won 7 gold M. in Munich 1972)
in the 2008 Games, if MP had been a separate country, he would ranked 4th in gold medals (after China, USA and Germany)
