Born in Maryland on June 30, 1985, Michael Phelps started swimming when he was seven years old. At the tender age of 15, he placed fifth in the 200-meter butterfly at the 2000 Olympics, where he was the youngest male to compete in the games since 1932. At the 2001 Spring Nationals in the United States, Phelps became the youngest man ever to break a world record in swimming, at the age of 15 years and 9 months. Phelps also became the first swimmer in history to break five individual world records at one meet, at the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona. At the age of 18, in 2003, Phelps won the Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Phelps won eight gold medals, breaking the record of seven golds in one Olympics set by Mark Spitz in 1972. He holds a total of 16 Olympic medals, of which two are bronze and the rest gold.