Michael Phelps
Top Oympic gold medals Athlete from Beijing.
Photo: wikimedia.org
Michael Phelps was born on June 30, 1985. He is an American swimmer and 14-time Olympic gold medalist, who currently holds seven world records in swimming. Michael Fred Phelps holds the record for the most gold medals won at a single Olympics; a total of eight, surpassing Mark Spitz, also a swimmer. Overall, Phelps has won 16 Olympic medals: six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In winning these medals, he has twice equaled Soviet gymnast Alexander Dityatin’s record of eight medals (of any type) at a single Olympics; Dityatin garnered eight at the 1980 Summer Olympics, while Phelps won eight medals at both the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics. Out of his eight gold medals from Beijing, five were won in individual events, tying the record for individual gold medals at a single Games originally set by Eric Heiden in the 1980 Winter Olympics and equaled by Vitaly Scherbo at the 1992 Summer Games. Phelps ranks second in total career Olympic medals, after Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina, who won a total of 18 medals (nine gold) spanning three Olympic Games.
