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Michael Phelps is arguably the greatest Olympian ever, with a total of 28 medals, including 23 golds. The 36-year-old, who retired in 2016, impacted the sport of swimming like few have, inspiring innumerable kids to take up the sport.
His impact can be seen in the increase in the number of 'all-around' swimmers currently in the United States dugout. Phelps' ability to do it all has been an inspiration to millions.
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With that in mind, we take a look at the five best moments of Michael Phelps at the Olympics:
#1 Clean sweep at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
Michael Phelps won eighth out of eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Through this feat, he broke Mark Spitz’s record for most golds in a single Olympic Games.
Spitz previously held the record when he swept the board with seven golds at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
Another highlight of the legendary swimmer's career has to be when Phelps and team achieved perfection, winning the men's 4x100-meter medley relay with a world-record time of 3:29.34.
At Beijing, he ended up winning gold medals in the 400-meter individual medley, 200-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly, 200-meter butterfly, 200-meter medley, 4x100-meter freestyle, 4x200-meter freestyle, and 4x100-meter medley.
Following his historic gold medal spree, Phelps said:
“Records are always made to be broken no matter what they are. Anybody can do anything that they set their mind to.”
#2 Beating Ian Crocker at the 2004 Athens Olympics
However, Michael Phelps' journey to greatness had began well before the Beijing Olympics. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, he beat his compatriot Ian Crocker by just four-hundredths of a second to win his fourth individual gold and his seventh medal overall.
It was the perfect end for Phelps's 2004 Olympics, where he finished with five gold medals.
Phelps pulled off a major upset by defeating overwhelming gold medal favorite Crocker, who was the first swimmer to ever break the 51-second mark.
Phelps had said at the time:
"I came here wanting one gold. Now I've done something no-one in the sport of swimming has done before."
#3 Making his Olympic debut at the 2000 Sydney Olympics
Although Michael Phelps failed to win a medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, it was the beginning of his journey that made him a record 23 gold medal-winning swimmer, who is regarded as the most decorated Olympian of all time. He also clocked a then-personal-best time.
Phelps, aged 15, finished in fifth place for the 200-meter butterfly, perfectly setting the tone for what was in store for the future.
He became the youngest male (since Ralph Flanagan in 1932) to make the United States Olympic swim team in 68 years.
#4 Creating record for most medals in Olympic history at the 2012 London Olympics
Having had a record-breaking 2004 and 2008 Olympics, the 2012 London Olympics was not the ideal Games for Michael Phelps.
The American swimmer won his first gold at the 2012 Olympics in the 4x200m freestyle relay and followed it up with another in the 200-meter individual medley, beating compatriot Ryan Lochte.
He then settled for silver medals in the 200-metre butterfly and the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, respectively, while finishing fourth in the 400-meter individual medley, the first time he had missed out on any medal since 2000.
Despite the mixed results, he signed off on the 2012 edition of the Summer Games as the greatest Olympian ever, taking his overall Olympic medal tally to 19, one more than gymnast Larisa Latynina.
He became the all-time record holder for most Olympic medals won, surpassing the gymnast.
5. Coming out of retirement at the 2016 Rio Olympics
Michael Phelps came out of retirement to win six medals, five of which were gold, to bring the curtains on a legendary career. So much so that the American won the highest number of medals in the history of the Olympic Games - 28 medals across five Summer Games.
Michael Phelps won gold in the 4x100-meter medley, then followed it up with gold medals in the 200-meter butterfly and 200-meter individual medley. He settled for the silver medal in 100-meter butterfly.
He won gold in the 4x100-meter medley along with Ryan Murphy, Cody Miller and Nathan Adrian, with the American team breaking the Olympic record clocking 3:27.95.
