American former swimmer Michael Fred Phelps is the most decorated olympian of all time. Phelps holds the record for the most Olympic medals, he won 28 medals in swimming between 2004 and 2016. He also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals, topping the previous American male record of 11 held by fellow swimmers Mark Spitz and Matt Biondi.

Phelps qualified for his first Olympics at the 2000 Summer Olympics at the age of 15 and became the youngest male to make a US Olympic swim team in 68 years. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, he won eight medals of any color at a single Game by winning six gold and two bronze medals. In the 2021 Summer Olympics, he won four gold and two silver medals and in the 2016 Olympics, he won five golds and one silver. 

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All these wins made him the most successful athlete of the Games for the fourth Olympics in a row.  At the 2008 Beijing Games, he broke American swimmer Mark Spitz’s 1972 record of seven first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games. Phelps also broke the overall record of 18 by Soviet Union gymnast Larisa Latynina during the 2012 London Games. 

Phelps holds the world record in the men’s 400-meter individual medley as well as the former long course world record holder in the 200-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly, 200-meter butterfly, and 200-meter individual medley. Out of 28 medals, 23 of them were gold for an Olympic record that might never be broken. 

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In his long course, his international titles and record-breaking performances have earned him the World Swimmer of the Year Award eight times and the American Swimmer of the Year Award eleven times, as well as the FINA Swimmer of the Year Award in 2012 and 2016.