First of all, Phelps' famous saying - if you take one day off, your performance will drop for two days.

Michael Phelps is already regarded by some as the greatest all-around athlete in the history of his sport. Winner of 18 Olympic gold medals and 22 medals. Good at all swimming strokes, especially butterfly. He dominated the swimming world in the first decade of the 21st century. Now that he has retired, many sports commentators use the post-Phelps era to define this era. (You can search for his results yourself.)

Michael Phelps was born on June 30, 1985. His father was an excellent athlete and passed this talent on to himself children. Although hesitant at first, Michael eventually followed his two sisters into the pool. Sensing Michael's fear, his coach allowed him to float around on his back. Not surprisingly, he The first swimming stroke he learned was backstroke.

Michael's coach told Michael's mother that her son was a rare swimming genius. With his slender limbs and big hands and feet, he could swim well. Coach, likes to train hard, and never seems to feel nervous during competition. People say that his body type is born to be a swimmer. His big hands and feet are like oars in the water. Although butterfly swimming is his specialty, He has shown his strengths in various projects. In fact, Michael's only "shortcoming" is that he grows too fast. For a period of time, this caused him to feel tired.

In 1999, At the U.S. Junior Games, Michael broke the 200-meter butterfly record in the 20-year-old age group. At the age of 15, Michael participated in the Sydney Olympics as the youngest Olympic swimmer from the United States in 68 years. During the World Swimming Championships in Barcelona, ??Spain, Michael became He became the center of discussion in the swimming world. He won 6 medals with outstanding performance and set 5 world records. Michael won the gold medal in the 200-meter butterfly with a new world record, and also won the gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly and 200-meter individual medley. New records were set in two events---these records were set on the same day, which was the first time in the history of world swimming competitions.

Besides his swimming career, Michael is an ordinary teenager. He usually falls asleep with his cat Savannah, who curls up next to him. He is reluctant to get up in the morning. , but once he starts a day's work, he will not be lazy at all.

Michael's goal is not just to win glory in the Olympics, he wants to change the sport he engages in, just like great athletes such as Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods once did.

In 1997, when Michael Phelps was 11 years old, his coach Bowman discovered that he had the qualities of an Olympic champion.

Bowman said: "You will see that he is always eager to jump into the water. The pressure he puts on himself far exceeds what others ask of him. I try not to be overly happy, even though I feel sorry for him. Bowman noticed that Phelps could easily learn skills that other teenagers could not master. The coach knew that he was facing a swimming genius, so he To Phelps' parents: "Michael is extremely talented and his potential is unlimited."

Phelps outside the swimming pool is a typical casual boy. He likes hip-hop rock and plays computer games. Games and enjoys hanging out with friends. He graduated from Dawson High School in Maryland in 2003 and planned to attend college after the Olympics.

However, as soon as Phelps jumped into the swimming pool, he was no longer the ordinary boy. He was 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 185 pounds. He had not a trace of fat on his body. He swam through the water like a fish. His kicks were so powerful that his legs seemed to be equipped with motors.

American backstroker Lenny Kretzerberg, who won three gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, said: "I have never seen anyone like him. No one is as good as him. So good."

Phelps attributes much of his success to training. After graduating from high school, I started training for two and a half hours at 7 a.m. most of the time, took a short nap after lunch, and then continued swimming from 3:30 to 6 p.m.

In all, he swam up to 12 miles a day. He said: "I know no one trains harder than me."

The reason Phelps trains so hard is because He hates failure. He started swimming at age 7, but didn't take the sport seriously until he was 11, after coach Bowman talked to his parents.

He recalled: "If I didn't perform at my best, I would think about it all the time, when I was at school, when I was with my friends. It would drive me crazy. "

Once, when the 12-year-old Phelps lost to a boy of his own age, he grabbed the opponent's goggles in disgust and threw them across the swimming pool platform. Coach Bowman told him that if he loses to a child of the same age next time, he will not allow similar behavior. "He got over it because he never lost to another swimmer his age again," Bowman said.

What would happen if Phelps were a Chinese athlete who magically won eight Olympic gold medals?

——The threshold of their home will be stepped down by reporters, leaders, and neighbors during the Olympics. Every day, a room full of people will watch TV together, and vendors buying firecrackers will be in their home. Set up a stall at the door.

——He will receive material rewards from the central and local governments, with each gold medal worth at least one million yuan; at the same time, the bosses of many large companies across the country will donate generously; in addition, advertisers will also People lined up to sign with him. If nothing else, he will become a billionaire within a month after the Olympics.

——Of course, he needs to pay taxes, and in addition to paying taxes like an American, he also has many expenditures with Chinese characteristics. He wants to give a red envelope to everyone from the first coach to the current coach, from the masseur to the canteen master, so that the poor relatives at home can also benefit from it. In addition, from the sports school to the provincial team to the Chinese Swimming Association , will take a proportional cut from his income.

——After the Olympics, he will first join a traveling lecture group and travel across the country to tell his heroic deeds of winning eight Olympic gold medals. He would burst into tears and tell touching stories about overcoming injuries and training hard, making the audience burst into tears.

——He will definitely be invited to the 2009 CCTV Spring Festival Gala and participate in a program. It is expected that Gong Hanlin or Pan Changjiang will make jokes about his great achievements.

——He will soon be elected as a deputy to the National People's Congress and appear on the rostrum of the Great Hall of the People in March next year.

——His face will be everywhere, and advertisers will plaster his face all over China, from huge billboards beside airports to bus compartments; From the exquisite display windows to the simple counters of grocery stores, you can see him when you open your eyes and you can't even hide.

——He will retire after the 2009 National Games. China's outstanding athletes always retreat at this time.

——After retiring, he will be admitted to Peking University under special circumstances. After some study, he will successfully graduate and get at least a master's degree. While in school, he was able to star in ten movies, participate in dozens of TV variety shows, and attend nearly a hundred celebrations.

——Finally, after a few years, Michael Phelps will immigrate to the United States and become an American citizen.

——Korean media issued an announcement: Phelps is actually Korean!