Height: 6'5"
Weight: 185 lbs.
Birth Date: June 30, 1985
Birthplace: Baltimore, Maryland
Sport to Watch：Football
Sport to Play：Basketball
Team to Watch：Baltimore Ravens
Video Game：Tiger Woods PGA Tour（泰格·伍兹高尔夫巡回赛）
Movie：Tommy Boy
TV Show：Sports Center
Food：Pizza
Actor：Denzel Washington
Actress：Cameron Diaz
Athlete：Michael Jordan
Musical Group（演唱组）：50 Cents
Pre－race Meal（赛前餐）：Oatmeal and a Power Bar（麦片和能量棒）
Snack Food （零食）：Pretzels（脆饼干）
Cereal（谷类食品）：Lucky Charms
Book：To Kill a Mockingbird（杀死一只知更鸟）, by Harper Lee
The 2004 summer Olympic Games have just drawn its curtain1. 4,000 athletes from 145 countries and regions competed in the great sport event and billions of people around the world witnessed the glory and success of the games either on the spot2 or on TV. Nine hundred and twenty-nine medals were shared by 61 countries. Of all the medals, 301 are golds. If you think of the number of athletes taking part and the number of gold medals, you will know why Michael Phelps, the young American swimmer, caused a sensation3 in the 2004 Olympic Games: he won five gold and two bronze medals.
So it is time to respectfully call him what he is: The greatest swimmer ever. He is the greatest swimmer we have ever seen. When talking about him, Phelps's teammate Eric Vendt said: “We're the best of the best, and he's head and shoulders above4 us.”
Doing It All
Phelps has already proved to be one of the most versatile5 swimmers of all time. He is one of the world's best in all four strokes: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly. He has won 20 U.S. championships and holds three world records: 200-meter butterfly (1’53”93), 200-meter individual medley6 (1’55”94), and 400-meter individual medley (4’09”09).
At the 2000 Games, Phelps was the youngest swimmer to compete on the U.S. Olympic men's team since 1932. He was a 15-year-old kid with big ears and a goofy7 grin8. He finished fifth in the 200-meter butterfly. “Michael's first year on the national team, we'd do skits9 imitating his big ears,” says teammate Tom Wilkens. “Now we just try to swim like him.”
In 2001, Phelps became the youngest male swimmer (15 years 9 months) to set a world record when he won the 200-meter butterfly in 1’54”92. He lowered the record to 1’53”93 in July 2003.
At the 2003 Spring Nationals, Phelps became the first male to win three different strokes at one national championship:backstroke (200 meters), freestyle (200 meters), and butterfly (100 meters).
Phelps won the 2003 Sullivan Award as the nation's best amateur athlete. The last swimmer to win the award was U.S. Olympic champion Janet Evans (1989).
At the 2003 world championships, he won gold medals in all three events and another gold in the 400-meter medley relay.
A Genius Found
When Michael Phelps was 11 years old, in 1997, his coach, Bob Bowman, saw that he already had the makings10 of an Olympic champion.
“You saw a kid who couldn't wait to get in the water,” says Bowman. “A kid who pushed himself beyond where you tried to push him. [I tried] not to get too excited, even as I wondered how good he could be.”
Bowman watched Phelps easily pick up techniques that most teenage swimmers couldn't master. The coach knew he had a prodigy11 on his hands, so he talked to Michael's parents. “Michael is extremely talented,” he told them. “His potential is unlimited.”
Kid at Heart
Away from the pool, Phelps is a typical, laid-back12 teen. He listens to hip hop, plays video games, and likes to hang out13 with his friends. He graduated from Towson (Maryland) High School in 2003 and plans to attend college, although he's not sure which one, after the Olympics.
But Phelps is anything but typical after he dives into a pool. His lean14, 6'5", 185-pound body glides through the water. His kick is so powerful that his legs seem to be attached to motors.
“I don't think we've seen anything like him,” says Lenny Krayzelburg, the U.S. backstroker who won three gold medals at the 2000 Games. “Nobody's this good in everything.”
Hard at Work
Phelps credits much of his success to training15. Since graduating from high school, he jumps into the pool on most days by 7 A.M. for a 2 and 1/2-hour practice. After lunch and a nap, he swims again, from 3:30 to 6 P.M. In all, he swims as many as 12 miles per day. “I knew nobody was going to work harder than me,” he says.
Phelps trains so hard because he hates losing. He started swimming at age 7 but got really serious about the sport at 11, after Coach Bowman talked to his parents.
“If I didn't swim my best,” he recalls, “I'd think about it at school, at dinner, with my friends. It would drive me crazy.”
Once, when Phelps was 12, he lost a race to another boy his age. He ripped off his goggles16 in disgust17 and hurled18 them across the pool deck. Coach Bowman told him that the next time he lost a race to a kid his age, he was not allowed to act that way. “He got around this problem by not losing to anyone his age again,” says Bowman.
2004年奥运会刚刚落下帷幕，来自145个国家和地区的4000名运动员参加了这个盛大的体育赛事，世界各地的亿万观众在现场或者在电视上目睹了本次奥运会的辉煌和成就。有61个国家和地区共同分享了929块奖牌，其中金牌301块。如果你算一算参加运动员的人数以及金牌的数量，你就会明白为什么美国年轻的游泳运动员迈克尔·菲尔普斯在2004年夏季奥运会上引起轰动：他得了5块金牌，2块铜牌。
现在我们可以把一个他当之无愧的称号送给他，他是有史以来最伟大的游泳运动员。他是我们所见到的最优秀的游泳运动员，他的队友埃里克·芬特谈到他的时候说：“我们（美国游泳队）是精英中的精英，但他的实力远在我们之上。”
全能型选手
菲尔普斯已经向人们证明他是历史上最全面的游泳运动员之一，他在自由泳、仰泳、蛙泳以及蝶泳四种姿势中是世界泳坛领军人物之一。他获得过20项美国游泳冠军，是200米蝶泳（1分53秒93）、200米个人混合泳（1分55秒94）和400米个人混合泳（4分9秒09）三项世界纪录的保持者。
在2000年悉尼奥运会上，菲尔普斯是自1932年以来美国男子奥运游泳队中最年轻的选手，其时他还是个15岁的少年，有一双大大的耳朵，常常咧嘴傻笑，他最终获得200米蝶泳的第五名。他的队友汤姆·威尔金斯说：“迈克尔刚参加国家游泳队的第一年，我们老是做动作模仿取笑他的大耳朵，可现在我们都要模仿他游泳。”
2001年，菲尔普斯以1分54秒92的成绩获得了200米蝶泳冠军，并成为最年轻的打破世界纪录的男游泳选手（15岁9个月）。2003年7月，他将这一纪录缩短到1分53秒93。
在2003年美国春季游泳锦标赛上，菲尔普斯成了第一个在全美锦标赛上囊括仰泳（200米）、自由泳（200米）和蝶泳（100米）三项冠军的男运动员。
2003年菲尔普斯获得萨利文全国最佳业余运动员奖，在他之前获得此奖的游泳运动员是美国奥运会冠军珍妮特·埃文斯（1989年）。
2003年世界游泳锦标赛上，菲尔普斯获得所有三项游泳赛事的金牌，另外还获得400米混合接力的金牌。
发现天才
1977年，迈克尔·菲尔普斯11岁的时候，他的教练鲍勃·鲍曼发现他具有奥运冠军的素质。
鲍曼说：“你会看到他总是迫不及待地跳入水中，他给自己的压力远远超过别人对他的要求，我尽量做到不喜形于色，尽管我为他的表现感叹不已。”
鲍曼注意到菲尔普斯能轻松学会别的少年所不能掌握的技巧，这位教练知道他面对的是一位游泳天才，于是他对菲尔普斯的父母说：“迈克尔天赋极佳，他的潜力是无限的。”
童心未泯
游泳池外的菲尔普斯是个典型的随意少年，他喜欢嘻哈摇滚，玩电脑游戏，喜欢和朋友们闲逛。2003年，他从马里兰州的道森高中毕业，计划奥运会后上大学，但还没有确定上哪所大学。
然而，菲尔普斯一跳入泳池就不再是那个平凡的少年了。他身高6英尺5英寸，体重185磅，浑身没有一丝赘肉，游起来像鱼一样在水中划过。他蹬腿动作非常有力，双腿好像装有发动机。
曾在2000年悉尼奥运会上获得三枚金牌的美国仰泳运动员伦尼·克雷泽伯格说：“我还从没有见过像他那样的人，没有人像他那样样样出色。”
刻苦训练
菲尔普斯认为他的成功很大部分要归功于训练。从高中毕业后，大多数时间都是从早晨7点钟开始长达2个半小时的训练，中餐后稍稍打个盹，然后接着游，一直从下午3点半到6点。 总之，他每天游的距离多达12英里，他说：“我知道没有人比我训练更刻苦。”
菲尔普斯训练如此刻苦是因为他憎恨失败。他7岁开始游泳，但直到11岁教练鲍曼和他父母谈过以后才开始认真对待这项运动。
他回忆说：“如果没有发挥自己的最佳水平，我就会不停地去想它，上学的时候想，吃饭的时候想，和朋友在一起的时候还是想。这样会让我发疯的。”
一次，12岁的菲尔普斯输给了一个和他同龄的男孩，他厌恶地抓掉对方的护目镜，一下子扔过游泳池的平台。教练鲍曼告诉他，下次如果再输给同龄孩子，他不允许出现类似的行为。鲍曼说：“他克服了这个坏毛病，因为从此他再也没有输给任何同龄的游泳选手了。”
1. draw curtain 落幕
2． on the spot现场
3． sensation n． 轰动
4． has head and shoulders above 远远超出
5． versatile adj． 全能的，多面手的
6． medley n． 混合泳
7． goofy adj． 傻傻的
8． grin [grin] n． 咧嘴而笑
9． skit [skit] n． 滑稽短剧
10． making n． 素质
11． prodigy n． 天才
12． laid－back adj． 随便的，随意的，懒散的
13． hang out 闲荡
14． lean adj． 瘦的，没有脂肪的
15． credit．．．to．．． 将…归功于…
16． goggle n． 护目镜
17． disgust n． 厌恶
18． hurl v． 抛，扔