Supposition theory was a branch of medieval logic that was probably aimed at giving accounts of issues similar to modern accounts of reference, plurality, tense, and modality, from within an Aristotelian context. Philosophers such as John Buridan, William of Ockham, William of Sherwood, Walter Burley, and Peter of Spain were its principal developers. By the 14th century it seems to have drifted into at least two fairly distinct theories, the theory of "supposition proper" which included an "ampliation" and is much like a theory of reference, and the theory of "modes of supposition" whose intended function is not clear.

Supposition proper[link]

Supposition was a semantic relation between a term and what it is being used to talk about. So, for example, in the suggestion Drink another cup the term cup is suppositing for the wine contained in the cup. The logical suppositum of a term was the object the term referred to, (in grammar suppositum was used in a different way). However, supposition was a different semantic relationship than signification. Signification was a conventional relationship between utterances and objects mediated by the particularities of a language. Poculum signifies in Latin, what cup signifies in English. Signification is the imposition of a meaning on an utterance, but supposition is taking a meaningful term as standing in for something. According to Peter of Spain "Hence signification is prior to supposition. Neither do they belong to the same thing. For to signify belongs to an utterance, but to supposit belongs to a term already, as it were, put together out of an utterance and a signification." An easy way to see the difference is in our drink another cup example. Here cup as an utterance signifies a cup as an object, but cup as a term of the language English is being used to supposit for the wine contained in the cup.

Medieval logicians divided supposition into many different kinds, and the jargons for the different kinds, and their relations and what they all mean get complex, and differ greatly from logician to logician. Paul Spade's webpage has a series of helpful diagrams here. The most important division is probably between material, simple, personal, and improper supposition. A term supposits materially, when it is used to stand in for an utterance or inscription, rather than for what is signifies. When I say Cup is a monosyllabic word, I am using the word cup to supposit materially for the utterance cup rather than for a piece of pottery. Material supposition is a medieval way of doing the work we would do today by using quotation marks. According to Ockham (Summa of Logic I64, 8) "Simple supposition occurs when a term supposits for an intention of the soul, but is not take significatively." The idea is that simple signification happens when the term is standing in for a human concept rather than for the object itself. If I say Cups are an important type of pottery the term cups is not standing in for any particular cup, but for the idea of a cup in the human mind (according to Ockham, and many medieval logicians, but not according to John Buridan). Personal supposition in contrast is when the term supposits for what it signifies. If I say Pass me the cup the term cup is standing in for the object that is called a cup in English, so it is in personal supposition. A term is in improper supposition, if it is suppositing for an object, but a different object than it signifies, as in my example Drink another cup.

Modes of supposition[link]

Personal Supposition was further divided in types such as discrete, determinate, merely confused, and confused and distributive. In 1966 T.K. Scott proposed giving a separate name for Medieval discussions of the subvarieties of personal supposition, because he thought it was a fairly distinct issue from the other varieties of supposition. He proposed calling the subvarieties of personal supposition a theory of "modes of supposition."

The Medieval logicians give elaborate sets of syntactical rules for determining when a term supposits discretely, determinately, confusedly, or confusedly and distributively. So for example the subject of a negative claim, or indefinite one supposits determinately, but the subject of a singular claim supposits discretely, while the subject of an affirmative claim supposits confusedly and determinately. Albert of Saxony gives 15 rules for determining which type of personal supposition a term is using. Further the medieval logicians did not seem to dispute about the details of the syntactic rules for determining type of personal supposition. These rules seem to be important because they were linked to theories of descent to particulars and ascent from particulars.

When I say I want to buy a cup I've made an indefinite affirmative claim, with cup as the predicate term. Further cup is a common term, including many particular cups within it. So if I "descend to particulars" I can re-phrase my claim as I want to buy this cup or I want to buy that cup, or I want to buy that other cup - and so on for all cups. If I had an infinite disjunction of all particular cups, it could stand in for the term cup, in its simple supposition in I want to buy a cup. This is called determinate supposition. That is when I say I want to buy a cup I mean some determinate cup, but I don't necessarily know which one yet. Likewise if I say Some cup isn't a table, I could substitute This cup isn't a table, or that cup isn't a table or ...

On the other hand if I say No cup is a table, I don't mean This cup isn't a table or that one isn't a table or ... I mean This cup isn't a table, AND that cup isn't a table, AND that other cup isn't a table, AND .... Here I am referring not to a determinate particular cup, but to all cups "fused" together, that is all cups "confusedly." This is called confused and distributive supposition.

If I say This cup is made of gold I cannot descend to a disjunction of particulars, or to a conjunction of particulars, but only because this cup is already a particular. This kind of personal supposition is called discrete supposition.

However, the predicate of a universal affirmative claim won't really fit any of these models. All coffee cups are cups does not imply All coffee cups are this cup, or all coffee cups are that cup, or ..., but still less does it imply All coffee cups are this cup, and all coffee cups are that cup, and .... On the other hand, if it happened to be the case that there was only one coffee cup left in the world, it would be true that All coffee cups are that cup, so I can validly infer from All coffee cups are that cup, to All coffee cups are cups. Here descent to disjunction fails, and descent to conjunction fails, but "ascent from particulars" is valid. This is called "merely confused supposition."

That is basically how the theory works, a much thornier problem is exactly what the theory is for. Some commentators, like Michael Loux, have suggested that the theory of ascent and descent to particulars is intended to provide truth conditions for the quantifiers. T. K. Scott has suggested that the theory of supposition proper was designed to answer the question What kind of thing are you talking about? but the theory of personal supposition was aimed at answering the question How many of them are you talking about? Paul Spade has suggested that by the 14th century the theory of modes of personal supposition wasn't aimed at anything at all anymore.

Ampliation[link]

When I say No cups are made of lead, cups supposits for all the cups that exist. But if I say Some cups were made of lead in Roman times, cups cannot just be suppositing for all the cups that exist, but for cups in the past as well. Here I am expanding the normal supposition of the terms I use. Peter of Spain says "Ampliation is the extension of a common term from a lesser supposition to a greater one." In practice, if I speak of the past, or the future, or make a modal claim, the terms I use get ampliated to supposit for past things, future things, or possible things, rather than their usual supposition for present actual things. Thus, ampliation becomes the medieval theory for explaining modal and tense logics within the theory of supposition.

References[link]

• Buridan, John (-/1966). Sophisms on Meaning and Truth. New York: Appleton-Temple-Crofts.
• Kneale, William & Martha Kneale (1962). Development of Logic. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Kretzmann, Norman, Anthony Kenny & Jan Pinborg (1982). Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Knuuttila, Simo (1999/2008). Medieval Theories of Modality. In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Loux, Michael (1974). "Ockham on Generality" in Ockham's Theory of Terms. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
• McGrade, A.S. (editor), The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Philosophy, Cambridge University Press (August 25, 2003), ISBN 978-0-521-00063-5.
• Read, Stephen (2006). Medieval Theories: Properties of Terms. In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Scott, T.K (1966). "Introduction" to Buridan, Sophisms on Meaning and Truth. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
• Spade, Paul "Thoughts, Words, and Things: An Introduction to Late Medieval Logic and Semantic Theory" at Mediaeval Logic and Philosophy
• Spain, Peter of (-/1972). Tractatus, Called Afterwards Summule Logicales. Assen: Van Gorcum.

External links[link]

• Annotated bibliography on the medieval theories of supposition and mental language

Sir Roger Penrose OM, FRS (born 8 August 1931) is an English mathematical physicist and Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford and Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College. He has received a number of prizes and awards, including the 1988 Wolf Prize for physics which he shared with Stephen Hawking for their contribution to our understanding of the universe.^[1] He is renowned for his work in mathematical physics, in particular his contributions to general relativity and cosmology. He is also a recreational mathematician and philosopher.

Career[link]

He was born in Colchester, Essex, England, Roger Penrose is a son of Lionel S. Penrose and Margaret Leathes.^[2] Penrose is the brother of mathematician Oliver Penrose and of chess Grandmaster Jonathan Penrose. Penrose attended University College School and University College, London, where he graduated with a first class degree in mathematics. In 1955, while still a student, Penrose reintroduced the E. H. Moore generalized matrix inverse, also known as the Moore–Penrose inverse^[3], after it had been reinvented by Arne Bjerhammar (1951). Penrose earned his Ph.D. at Cambridge (St John's College) in 1958, writing a thesis on "tensor methods in algebraic geometry" under algebraist and geometer John A. Todd. He devised and popularised the Penrose triangle in the 1950s, describing it as "impossibility in its purest form" and exchanged material with the artist M. C. Escher, whose earlier depictions of impossible objects partly inspired it. Escher's Waterfall, and Ascending and Descending were in turn inspired by Penrose. As reviewer Manjit Kumar puts it:

As a student in 1954, Penrose was attending a conference in Amsterdam when by chance he came across an exhibition of Escher's work. Soon he was trying to conjure up impossible figures of his own and discovered the tri-bar – a triangle that looks like a real, solid three-dimensional object, but isn't. Together with his father, a physicist and mathematician, Penrose went on to design a staircase that simultaneously loops up and down. An article followed and a copy was sent to Escher. Completing a cyclical flow of creativity, the Dutch master of geometrical illusions was inspired to produce his two masterpieces.^[4]

In 1965, at Cambridge, Penrose proved that singularities (such as black holes) could be formed from the gravitational collapse of immense, dying stars.^[5] This work was extended by Hawking to prove the Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems.

Oil painting by Urs Schmid (1995) of a Penrose tiling using fat and thin rhombi.

In 1967, Penrose invented the twistor theory which maps geometric objects in Minkowski space into the 4-dimensional complex space with the metric signature (2,2). In 1969, he conjectured the cosmic censorship hypothesis. This proposes (rather informally) that the universe protects us from the inherent unpredictability of singularities (such as the one in the centre of a black hole) by hiding them from our view behind an event horizon. This form is now known as the "weak censorship hypothesis"; in 1979, Penrose formulated a stronger version called the "strong censorship hypothesis". Together with the BKL conjecture and issues of nonlinear stability, settling the censorship conjectures is one of the most important outstanding problems in general relativity. Also from 1979 dates Penrose's influential Weyl curvature hypothesis on the initial conditions of the observable part of the Universe and the origin of the second law of thermodynamics.^[6] Penrose and James Terrell independently realized that objects travelling near the speed of light will appear to undergo a peculiar skewing or rotation. This effect has come to be called the Terrell rotation or Penrose–Terrell rotation.^[7][8]

Penrose is well known for his 1974 discovery of Penrose tilings, which are formed from two tiles that can only tile the plane nonperiodically, and are the first tilings to exhibit fivefold rotational symmetry. Penrose developed these ideas based on the article Deux types fondamentaux de distribution statistique^[9] (1938; an English translation Two Basic Types of Statistical Distribution) by Czech geographer, demographer and statistician Jaromír Korčák. In 1984, such patterns were observed in the arrangement of atoms in quasicrystals.^[10] Another noteworthy contribution is his 1971 invention of spin networks, which later came to form the geometry of spacetime in loop quantum gravity. He was influential in popularizing what are commonly known as Penrose diagrams (causal diagrams). In 2004 Penrose released The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe, a 1,099-page book aimed at giving a comprehensive guide to the laws of physics. He has proposed a novel interpretation of quantum mechanics.^[11] In 2010, Penrose reported possible evidence, based on concentric circles found in WMAP data of the CMB sky, of an earlier universe existing before the Big Bang of our own present universe.^[12]

Penrose is the Francis and Helen Pentz Distinguished (visiting) Professor of Physics and Mathematics at Pennsylvania State University.^[13] Penrose is married to Vanessa Thomas, head of mathematics at Abingdon School,^[14][15] with whom he has one son.^[14] He has three sons from a previous marriage to American Joan Isabel Wedge, whom he married in 1959.

Physics and consciousness[link]

At a conference in 2005

Penrose has written books on the connection between fundamental physics and human (or animal) consciousness. In The Emperor's New Mind (1989), he argues that known laws of physics are inadequate to explain the phenomenon of consciousness. Penrose proposes the characteristics this new physics may have and specifies the requirements for a bridge between classical and quantum mechanics (what he calls correct quantum gravity). Penrose uses a variant of Turing's halting theorem to demonstrate that a system can be deterministic without being algorithmic. (E.g., imagine a system with only two states, ON and OFF. The system's state is ON if a given Turing machine halts, and OFF if the Turing machine does not halt, then the system's state is completely determined by the Turing machine, however there is no algorithmic way to determine whether the Turing machine stops.) Penrose believes that such deterministic non-algorithmic processes may come in play in the quantum mechanical wave function reduction, and may be harnessed by the brain. He argues that the present computer is unable to have intelligence because it is an algorithmically deterministic system. He argues against the viewpoint that the rational processes of the mind are completely algorithmic and can thus be duplicated by a sufficiently complex computer. This contrasts with supporters of strong artificial intelligence, who contend that thought can be simulated algorithmically. He bases this on claims that consciousness transcends formal logic because things such as the insolubility of the halting problem and Gödel's incompleteness theorem prevent an algorithmically based system of logic from reproducing such traits of human intelligence as mathematical insight. These claims were originally espoused by the philosopher John Lucas of Merton College, Oxford. The Penrose/Lucas argument about the implications of Gödel's incompleteness theorem for computational theories of human intelligence has been widely criticized by mathematicians, computer scientists and philosophers, and the consensus among experts in these fields seems to be that the argument fails, though different authors may choose different aspects of the argument to attack.^[16] Marvin Minsky, a leading proponent of artificial intelligence, was particularly critical, stating that Penrose "tries to show, in chapter after chapter, that human thought cannot be based on any known scientific principle." Minsky's position is exactly the opposite - he believes that humans are, in fact, machines, whose functioning, although complex, is fully explainable by current physics. Minsky maintains that "one can carry that quest [for scientific explanation] too far by only seeking new basic principles instead of attacking the real detail. This is what I see in Penrose's quest for a new basic principle of physics that will account for consciousness."^[17]

Penrose responded to criticism of The Emperor's New Mind with his follow up 1994 book Shadows of the Mind, and in 1997 with The Large, the Small and the Human Mind. In those works, he also combined his observations with that of anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff.

Penrose and Hameroff have argued that consciousness is the result of quantum gravity effects in microtubules, which they dubbed Orch-OR (orchestrated objective reduction). Max Tegmark, in a paper in Physical Review E,^[18] calculated that the time scale of neuron firing and excitations in microtubules is slower than the decoherence time by a factor of at least 10,000,000,000. The reception of the paper is summed up by this statement in Tegmark's support: "Physicists outside the fray, such as IBM's John A. Smolin, say the calculations confirm what they had suspected all along. 'We're not working with a brain that's near absolute zero. It's reasonably unlikely that the brain evolved quantum behavior'".^[19] Tegmark's paper has been widely cited by critics of the Penrose–Hameroff position.

In their reply to Tegmark's paper, also published in Physical Review E, the physicists Scott Hagan, Jack Tuszynski and Hameroff^[20][21] claimed that Tegmark did not address the Orch-OR model, but instead a model of his own construction. This involved superpositions of quanta separated by 24 nm rather than the much smaller separations stipulated for Orch-OR. As a result, Hameroff's group claimed a decoherence time seven orders of magnitude greater than Tegmark's, but still well short of the 25 ms required if the quantum processing in the theory was to be linked to the 40 Hz gamma synchrony, as Orch-OR suggested. To bridge this gap, the group made a series of proposals. It was supposed that the interiors of neurons could alternate between liquid and gel states. In the gel state, it was further hypothesized that the water electrical dipoles are oriented in the same direction, along the outer edge of the microtubule tubulin subunits. Hameroff et al. proposed that this ordered water could screen any quantum coherence within the tubulin of the microtubules from the environment of the rest of the brain. Each tubulin also has a tail extending out from the microtubules, which is negatively charged, and therefore attracts positively charged ions. It is suggested that this could provide further screening. Further to this, there was a suggestion that the microtubules could be pumped into a coherent state by biochemical energy.

Roger Penrose in the University of Santiago de Compostela to pick up the Fonseca prize.

Finally, it is suggested that the configuration of the microtubule lattice might be suitable for quantum error correction, a means of holding together quantum coherence in the face of environmental interaction. In the last decade, some researchers who are sympathetic to Penrose's ideas have proposed an alternative scheme for quantum processing in microtubules based on the interaction of tubulin tails with microtubule-associated proteins, motor proteins and presynaptic scaffold proteins. These proposed alternative processes have the advantage of taking place within Tegmark's time to decoherence.

Hameroff, in a lecture in part of a Google Tech talks series exploring Quantum biology, gave an overview of current research in the area, and responded to subsequent criticisms of the Orch-OR model.^[22] In addition to this, a recent 2011 paper by Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff gives an updated model of their Orch-OR theory, in light of criticisms, and discusses the place of consciousness within the universe.^[23]

Phillip Tetlow, although himself supportive of Penrose's views, acknowledges that Penrose's ideas about the human thought process are at present a minority view in scientific circles, citing Minsky's criticisms and quoting science journalist Charles Seife's description of Penrose as "one of a handful of scientists" who believe that the nature of consciousness suggests a quantum process.^[19]

Religious views[link]

Penrose does not hold to any religious doctrine,^[24] and refers to himself as an atheist.^[25] In the film A Brief History of Time, he said, "I think I would say that the universe has a purpose, it's not somehow just there by chance ... some people, I think, take the view that the universe is just there and it runs along–it's a bit like it just sort of computes, and we happen somehow by accident to find ourselves in this thing. But I don't think that's a very fruitful or helpful way of looking at the universe, I think that there is something much deeper about it."^[26] Penrose is a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association.

Awards and honours[link]

Roger Penrose during a lecture

Penrose has been awarded many prizes for his contributions to science. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1972. In 1975, Stephen Hawking and Penrose were jointly awarded the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. In 1985, he was awarded the Royal Society Royal Medal. Along with Stephen Hawking, he was awarded the prestigious Wolf Foundation Prize for Physics in 1988. In 1989 he was awarded the Dirac Medal and Prize of the British Institute of Physics. In 1990 Penrose was awarded the Albert Einstein Medal for outstanding work related to the work of Albert Einstein by the Albert Einstein Society. In 1991, he was awarded the Naylor Prize of the London Mathematical Society. From 1992 to 1995 he served as President of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation. In 1994, Penrose was knighted for services to science.^[27] In the same year he was also awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) by the University of Bath.^[28] In 1998, he was elected Foreign Associate of the United States National Academy of Sciences. In 2000 he was appointed to the Order of Merit. In 2004 he was awarded the De Morgan Medal for his wide and original contributions to mathematical physics. To quote the citation from the London Mathematical Society:

His deep work on General Relativity has been a major factor in our understanding of black holes. His development of Twistor Theory has produced a beautiful and productive approach to the classical equations of mathematical physics. His tilings of the plane underlie the newly discovered quasi-crystals.

In 2005 Penrose was awarded an honorary doctorate (Honoris Causa) by Warsaw University and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), and in 2006 by the University of York. In 2008 Penrose was awarded the Copley Medal. He is also a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association and one of the patrons of the Oxford University Scientific Society. In 2011, Penrose was awarded the Fonseca prize by the University of Santiago de Compostela. In 2012 Penrose was awarded the Richard R. Ernst Medal by ETHZ for his contributions to science and strengthening the connection between science and society.

Works[link]

• Techniques of Differential Topology in Relativity (1972, ISBN 0-89871-005-7)
• Spinors and Space-Time: Volume 1, Two-Spinor Calculus and Relativistic Fields (with Wolfgang Rindler, 1987) ISBN 0-521-33707-0 (paperback)
• Spinors and Space-Time: Volume 2, Spinor and Twistor Methods in Space-Time Geometry (with Wolfgang Rindler, 1988) (reprint), ISBN 0-521-34786-6 (paperback)
• The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and The Laws of Physics (1989, ISBN 0-14-014534-6 (paperback); it received the Rhone-Poulenc science book prize in 1990)
• Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness (1994, ISBN 0-19-853978-9 (hardback))
• The Nature of Space and Time (with Stephen Hawking, 1996, ISBN 0-691-03791-4 (hardback), ISBN 0-691-05084-8 (paperback))
• The Large, the Small, and the Human Mind (with Abner Shimony, Nancy Cartwright, and Stephen Hawking, 1997, ISBN 0-521-56330-5 (hardback), ISBN 0-521-65538-2 (paperback), Canto edition: ISBN 0-521-78572-3)
• White Mars or, The Mind Set Free (with Brian W. Aldiss, 1999, ISBN 978-0-316-85243-2 (hardback))
• The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe (2004, ISBN 0-224-04447-8 (hardcover), ISBN 0-09-944068-7 (paperback))
• Cycles of Time: An Extraordinary New View of the Universe (Bodley Head (23 Sep 2010) ISBN 978-0-224-08036-1)

Penrose also wrote forewords to Quantum Aspects of Life and Zee's book Fearful Symmetry.

See also[link]

• Conformal Cyclic Cosmology
• Orch-OR
• Quantum mind
• Multiverse
• Quantum Aspects of Life (book)
• Illumination problem

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Ferguson, Kitty (1991). Stephen Hawking: Quest For A Theory of Everything. Franklin Watts. ISBN 0-553-29895-X.
• Misner, Charles; Thorne, Kip S. & Wheeler, John Archibald (1973). Gravitation. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-0344-0. ; see Box 34.2.

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Roger Penrose

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Roger Penrose

• Dangerous Knowledge – Penrose was one of the principal interviewees in a BBC documentary about the mathematics of infinity directed by David Malone
• Penrose's new theory "Aeons Before the Big Bang?":
  • Original 2005 lecture: "Before the Big Bang? A new perspective on the Weyl curvature hypothesis" (Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge, Nov 11, 2005).
  • Original publication: "Before the Big Bang: an outrageous new perspective and its implications for particle physics". Proceedings of EPAC 2006. Edinburgh. 2759–2762 (cf. also Hill, C.D. & Nurowski, P. (2007) "On Penrose's 'Before the Big Bang' ideas". Ithaca)
  • Revised 2009 lecture: "Aeons Before the Big Bang?" (Georgia Institute of Technology, Center for Relativistic Astrophysics)
  • BBC interview on the new theory
• Roger Penrose on The Forum
• Penrose on sidestepping reason
• O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Roger Penrose", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews, http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Penrose.html .
• Shaking Up Foundations of Math: Roger Penrose on Kurt Gödel's Groundbreaking Work
• Hilary Putnam's review of Penrose's 'Shadows of the Mind' claiming that Penrose's use of Godel's Incompleteness Theorem is fallacious
  • Beyond the Doubting of a Shadow: A Reply to Commentaries on Shadows of the Mind
• Penrose Tiling found in Islamic Architecture
• Two theories for the formation of quasicrystals resembling Penrose tilings
• Tegmark, Max. 2000. "The importance of quantum decoherence in brain processes". Physical Review E. vol 61. pp. 4194–4206.
  • "Biological feasibility of quantum states in the brain" – (a disputation of Tegmark's result by Hagan, Hameroff, and Tuszyński)
    • Tegmarks's rejoinder to Hagan et al.
• "Toilet Paper Plagiarism" – D. Trull about Penrose's lawsuit concerning the use of his Penrose tilings on toilet paper
• Roger Penrose: A Knight on the tiles (Plus magazine)
• Penrose's Gifford Lecture biography
• Quantum-Mind
• Audio: Roger Penrose in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion show

The Forum

• Roger Penrose speaking about Hawking's new book on Premier Christian Radio

Michael Phelps

180px Michael Phelps, April 2009
Personal information
Full name	Michael Fred Phelps[1]
Nickname(s)	MP; The Baltimore Bullet[2]; Flying Fish[3]
Nationality	USA
Born	(1985-06-30) June 30, 1985 (age 26)[4] Baltimore, Maryland
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)[4]
Weight	185 lbs. 83.9 kg[5]
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Stroke(s)	Backstroke, butterfly, freestyle, individual medley
Club	North Baltimore Aquatic Club
Medal record Men's swimming Competitor for the  United States Olympic Games Gold 2004 Athens 100 m butterfly Gold 2004 Athens 200 m butterfly Gold 2004 Athens 200 m medley Gold 2004 Athens 400 m medley Gold 2004 Athens 4×200 m freestyle Gold 2004 Athens 4×100 m medley Gold 2008 Beijing 100 m butterfly Gold 2008 Beijing 200 m butterfly Gold 2008 Beijing 200 m medley Gold 2008 Beijing 400 m medley Gold 2008 Beijing 200 m freestyle Gold 2008 Beijing 4×100 m freestyle Gold 2008 Beijing 4×200 m freestyle Gold 2008 Beijing 4×100 m medley Bronze 2004 Athens 200 m freestyle Bronze 2004 Athens 4×100 m freestyle World Championships – Long Course Gold 2001 Fukuoka 200 m butterfly Gold 2003 Barcelona 200 m butterfly Gold 2003 Barcelona 200 m medley Gold 2003 Barcelona 400 m medley Gold 2003 Barcelona 4×100 m medley Gold 2005 Montreal 200 m freestyle Gold 2005 Montreal 200 m medley Gold 2005 Montreal 4×100 m freestyle Gold 2005 Montreal 4×200 m freestyle Gold 2005 Montreal 4×100 m medley Gold 2007 Melbourne 200 m freestyle Gold 2007 Melbourne 100 m butterfly Gold 2007 Melbourne 200 m butterfly Gold 2007 Melbourne 200 m medley Gold 2007 Melbourne 400 m medley Gold 2007 Melbourne 4×100 m freestyle Gold 2007 Melbourne 4×200 m freestyle Gold 2009 Rome 100 m butterfly Gold 2009 Rome 200 m butterfly Gold 2009 Rome 4×100 m freestyle Gold 2009 Rome 4×200 m freestyle Gold 2009 Rome 4×100 m medley Gold 2011 Shanghai 100 m butterfly Gold 2011 Shanghai 200 m butterfly Gold 2011 Shanghai 4×200 m freestyle Gold 2011 Shanghai 4×100 m medley Silver 2003 Barcelona 100 m butterfly Silver 2003 Barcelona 4×200 m freestyle Silver 2005 Montreal 100 m butterfly Silver 2009 Rome 200 m freestyle Silver 2011 Shanghai 200 m freestyle Silver 2011 Shanghai 200 m medley Bronze 2011 Shanghai 4×100 m freestyle World Championships – Short Course Gold 2004 Indianapolis 200 m freestyle Pan Pacific Championships Gold 2002 Yokohama 200 m medley Gold 2002 Yokohama 400 m medley Gold 2002 Yokohama 4×100 m medley Gold 2006 Victoria 200 m butterfly Gold 2006 Victoria 200 m medley Gold 2006 Victoria 400 m medley Gold 2006 Victoria 4×100 m freestyle Gold 2006 Victoria 4×200 m freestyle Gold 2010 Irvine 100 m butterfly Gold 2010 Irvine 200 m butterfly Gold 2010 Irvine 4x100 m freestyle Gold 2010 Irvine 4x200 m freestyle Gold 2010 Irvine 4x100 m medley Silver 2002 Yokohama 200 m butterfly Silver 2002 Yokohama 4×200 m freestyle Silver 2006 Victoria 200 m backstroke

Michael Fred Phelps (born June 30, 1985) is an American swimmer who has, overall, won 16 Olympic medals—six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at Beijing in 2008, becoming the most successful athlete at both of these Olympic Games editions. In doing so he has twice equaled the record eight medals of any type at a single Olympics achieved by Soviet gymnast Alexander Dityatin at the 1980 Moscow Summer Games. His five gold medals in individual events tied the single Games record set by compatriot Eric Heiden in the 1980 Winter Olympics and equaled by Vitaly Scherbo at the 1992 Summer Games. Phelps holds the record for the most gold medals won in a single Olympics; his eight at the 2008 Beijing Games surpassed American swimmer Mark Spitz's seven-gold performance at Munich in 1972. Phelps' Olympic medal total is second only to the 18 Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina won over three Olympics, including nine gold. Phelps also holds the all-time record for most gold Olympic medals, at 14.

Phelps's international titles and record breaking performances have earned him the World Swimmer of the Year Award six times and American Swimmer of the Year Award eight times. He has won a total of sixty-six medals in major international competition, fifty-four gold, nine silver, and three bronze spanning the Olympics, the World, and the Pan Pacific Championships. His unprecedented Olympic success in 2008 earned Phelps Sports Illustrated magazine's Sportsman of the Year award.

After the 2008 Summer Olympics, Phelps started the Michael Phelps Foundation, which focuses on growing the sport of swimming and promoting healthier lifestyles. As a participant in the US Anti-Doping Agency's "Project Believe" program, Phelps is regularly tested to ensure that his system is clean of performance-enhancing drugs.

Early life[link]

Phelps was born and raised in the Rodgers Forge neighborhood of Towson, Maryland, a northwest suburb of Baltimore City.^[6] Michael was the youngest of three children. His mother, Deborah Sue "Debbie" (née Davisson), is a middle school principal.^[7] His father, Michael Fred Phelps, was a football player in high school and almost made the team for the Washington Redskins.^[7] His ancestry includes English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and German.^[8]

Phelps began swimming at the age of seven, partly because of the influence of his sisters and partly to provide him with an outlet for his energy.^[9] When Phelps was in the sixth grade, he was diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).^[10][11] His parents divorced in 1994 and Michael and his sisters went to live with their mother. By the age of 10, he held a national record for his age group, and Phelps began to train at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club under coach Bob Bowman. More age group records followed, and Phelps' rapid improvement culminated in his qualifying for the 2000 Summer Olympics at the age of 15 and becoming the youngest male to make a U.S. Olympic swim team in 68 years.^[12] While he did not win a medal, he did make the finals and finished fifth in the 200-m butterfly.^[13]

At the World Championship Trials for the 2001 World Aquatics Championships, on 22 July, Phelps broke the world record in the 200-m butterfly to become, at 15 years and 9 months, the youngest man ever to set a swimming world record, breaking the record previously held by Ian Thorpe when he lowered the 400-m freestyle world record at 16 years, 10 months.^[14] At the World Championships in Fukuoka, Phelps broke his own world record in the 200-m butterfly en route to becoming a world champion for the first time.^[15]

2002 Pan Pacific Championships[link]

Pan Pacific medal record
2002 Yokohama – Men's swimming
Competitor for the  United States
Gold	200 m individual medley	1:59.70
Gold	400 m individual medley	4:12.48
Gold	4 × 100 m medley relay	3:33.48 (WR)
Silver	200 m butterfly	1.55.41
Silver	4×200 m freestyle relay	7:11.81

At Nationals, the selection meet for the 2002 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, in Fort Lauderdale, Phelps set an American record in the 200-m individual medley and was just off the world record in the 200-m butterfly.^[16] In the 400-m individual medley, Phelps bettered the world record held by Tom Dolan with a time of 4:11.09, just ahead of Erik Vendt, who finished second with a time of 4:11.27, also below the old world record. In the 200-m freestyle, Phelps was barely beaten by Klete Keller and in the 100 m butterfly, Phelps beat Ian Crocker.^[17]

At the 2002 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Yokohama, Phelps won three gold medals and two silvers. In his first event, the 400-m individual medley, Phelps won gold ahead of Erik Vent with a time of 4:12.48. In the 200-m butterfly, Phelps lost to Tom Malchow, finishing behind him 1:55.41 to 1:55.21. Phelps said he lost because he did not take butterfly training seriously after he broke the world record. In the 200-m individual medley, Phelps won with a time of 1:59.70. In the 4×200-m freestyle relay, Phelps, along with Nate Dusing, Klete Keller, and Chad Carvin, won the silver medal with a time 7:11.81 finishing behind Australia. The U.S. 4×100-m medley relay team consisted of Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Phelps, and Ian Crocker. In the final for the medley relay, Phelps swam a 51.1 split, at the time the fastest split in history. The final time of 3:33.48 was a world record.^[18]

2003 World Championships[link]

At Nationals, Phelps won the 200-m freestyle, 200-m backstroke, and the 100-m butterfly.^[19] He became the first American swimmer to win three different races in three different strokes at a national championship.^[19] At the 2003 Duel in the Pool, a meet that pits swimming stars from Australia and the United States, Phelps broke the world record in the 400-m individual medley with a time of 4:10.73 and almost broke the world record in the 100-m butterfly, just missing the record by 0.03 seconds.^[20] At a meet in Santa Clara, Phelps broke the world record in the 200-m individual medley with a time of 1:57.94.^[21] Phelps said he broke the 200-m individual medley world record after Don Talbot said Phelps was unproven, using his words as motivation.^[22]

At the 2003 World Aquatics Championships, Phelps won four gold medals, two silver medals, and broke five world records.^[23] Phelps broke his first world record on July 22 in the semi-finals for the 200-m butterfly. Phelps swam a 1:53.93 to break his own world record of 1:54.58 set in 2001 and became the first man to swim under 1:54.00.^[24] In the final of the 200-m butterfly, on July 23, Phelps easily won the gold medal, but did not come close to his world record with a time of 1:54.35.^[25] Less than an hour later, Phelps swam the lead-off leg for the 4×200-m freestyle relay. Phelps put up a solid time of 1:46.60 (an American record) but the Americans could not match the depth of the Australians and ultimately finished second 7:10.26 to 7:08.58.^[26] In the 200-m individual medley, Phelps showed complete dominance. On July 24, in the semifinals of the 200-m IM, Phelps broke his own world record with a time of 1:57.52.^[27] On July 25, in the final of the 200-m IM, Phelps smashed his own record with a time of 1:56.04 to win the gold medal and finished almost 3 seconds ahead of Ian Thorpe.^[28] About an hour before the final of the 200-m IM, Phelps swam in the semifinals of the 100-m butterfly. Phelps again showed dominance, finishing in the top seed with a world record time of 51.47.^[29] However, in the final of the 100-m butterfly, on July 26, Ian Crocker erased Phelps' world record with a time of 50.98, to become the first man under 51 seconds. Phelps swam a 51.10 (also under his former world record), but had to settle for silver.^[30] In the final of the 400-m individual medley, on July 27, Phelps broke his own world record with a time of 4:09.09 to easily claim the gold medal.^[31] About half an hour later, Phelps earned his final gold medal when the United States team won the 4×100-m medley relay.^[32] Phelps did not swim in the finals, but still earned a medal because he swam in the heats.^[33]

2004 Summer Olympics[link]

Trials[link]

At the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Phelps competed in six events, including the 200- and 400-m IM, the 100- and 200-m butterfly, the 200-m freestyle, and the 200-m backstroke.^[34] In his first event, the 400-m individual medley, Phelps easily won with a world record time of 4:08.41.^[35] Two days later, in the 200-m freestyle, Phelps won with a time of 1:46.27, finishing sixth-tenths of a second ahead of Klete Keller.^[36] Phelps, however, was not pleased with the result and wanted to be in the 1:45s and was uncertain if he would swim the event in Athens.^[37] The following day, Phelps won in the 200-m butterfly with a time of 1:54.31, three seconds ahead of second place finisher Tom Malchow.^[38] After two days off, Phelps was back in the pool and finished second to Aaron Peirsol in the 200-m backstroke.^[39] Less than half an hour later, Phelps won the 200 m individual medley title ahead of Ryan Lochte by 2.70 seconds.^[40][41] The following day, Phelps finished second to Ian Crocker in the 100 m butterfly. Crocker won in a time of 50.76, a world record and 0.39 seconds ahead of Phelps.^[42] When the Trials were over, Phelps became the first person to qualify in six individual events for a U.S. Olympic team.^[43] However, Phelps dropped the 200-m backstroke to focus on the 200-m freestyle because he wanted to race Ian Thorpe.^[43] Even though Phelps didn't compete in the 100-m freestyle at the Trials, he was still selected for the 4×10-m freestyle relay. Gary Hall, Jr. thought this was unfair and said Phelps did not deserve a spot on the relay. Phelps argued his program was too crowded to compete in 100-m freestyle and was at least among the top four swimmers because he had beaten the top-seeded Jason Lezak the last time he had swum against him.^[44]

Olympics[link]

In his first event, the 400-m individual medley, Phelps won with a world record time of 4:08.26 to win his first Olympic gold medal.^[45][46] The following day, in the 4×100-m freestyle relay, Phelps, along with Ian Crocker, Neil Walker, and Jason Lezak, finished in third place with a time of 3:14.62.^[47][48] Crocker's lead-off time of 50.05 was the worst among the field and was blamed on sickness.^[49][50] In the event many were calling The Race of the Century, held the following day, Phelps finished in third place behind Ian Thorpe and Pieter van den Hoogenband in the 200-m freestyle.^[51][52] Although this race ended the chance to match Spitz's record, Phelps had savored the challenge even though it was not his strongest event, saying "How can I be disappointed? I swam in a field with the two fastest freestylers of all time".^[53] In his fourth event, the 200-m butterfly, held the following day, Phelps finished first with a time of 1:54.04, breaking Tom Malchow's Olympic record.^[54][55] About an hour later, in the 4×200-m freestyle relay, Phelps, along with Ryan Lochte, Peter Vanderkaay, and Klete Keller, finished in first place with a time of 7:07.33.^[56] Two days later, in the 200-m individual medley, Phelps finished first with a time of 1:57.14, an Olympic record.^[57] In the 100-m butterfly final, held the following day, Phelps defeated American teammate Ian Crocker (who held the world record in the event at the time) by just 0.04 seconds with a time of 51.25.^[58][59] Traditionally, the Olympian who places highest in an individual event will be automatically given the corresponding leg of the 4×100 m medley relay. This gave Phelps an automatic entry into the medley relay, but he deferred and Crocker swam instead.^[59][60] Phelps' gesture gave Crocker a chance to make amends as well getting his final shot at a gold medal.^[60] The American medley team went on to win the event in world-record time, and, since Phelps had raced in a preliminary heat of the medley relay, he was also awarded a gold medal along with the team members who competed in the final.^[61][62] In winning six gold and two bronze medals, Phelps, still a teenager, had the second-best performance ever at a single Olympics, behind Mark Spitz's seven gold medals in Munich in 1972. Also, he became the second male swimmer ever to win more than two individual titles at a single Games with four, tying Spitz's four from 1972.

2005 World Championships[link]

Victory lap of the 100 m butterfly during the 2005 FINA World Championships in Montréal. Phelps is far right.

At the 2005 World Championship Trials, Phelps decided to drop his specialty events, the 400-m individual medley and the 200-m butterfly, and experiment with the 400-m freestyle and the 100-m freestyle.^[63] Phelps went on to win the 400-m freestyle, the 200-m freestyle, the 100-m butterfly, the 100-m freestyle, and the 200-m individual medley at the Trials.^{[64][65][66][67][68]}

At the 2005 World Aquatics Championships, Phelps won a total of six medals, 5 golds and one silver.^[69] In the 400-m freestyle, Phelps did not make it past the preliminary heats and finished 18th overall with a time of 3:50.53.^[70] Later that day, in the 4×100-m freestyle relay, Phelps won his first gold in the Championships.^[71] Two days later, on July 26, Phelps won his second gold in the 2000m freestyle with a new American record time of 1:45.20, finishing ahead of Grant Hackett.^[72] Two days later, on July 28, Phelps finished 7th in the 100-m freestyle final.^[73] Later that day, Phelps won his third gold in the 200-m individual medley.^[74] On July 29, Phelps, along with Ryan Lochte, Peter Vanderkaay and Klete Keller, won the gold in the 4×200-m freestyle relay with a time of 7:06.58. This was the fourth gold medal for Phelps.^[75] On July 30, Phelps swam in his last individual event, the 100-m butterfly. In the final, Phelps could not match the speed of Ian Crocker and had to settle for silver, finishing 51.65 to 50.40.^[76] On July 31, Phelps earned his final gold medal when the United States team won the 4×100-m medley relay.^[77] Phelps did not swim in the finals but still earned a medal because he swam in the heats.^[78]

2006 Pan Pacific Championships[link]

At the 2006 National Championships, Phelps won a total of three events.^[79] In his first event, the 200-m butterfly, Phelps won with a time of 1:54.32.^[80] In his second event, the 100-m butterfly, Phelps just edged out Ian Crocker 51.51 to 51.73.^[81] In his third event, the 200-m individual medley, Phelps won with a time of 1:56.50, just ahead of Ryan Lochte's time of 1:56.78.^[82]

At the 2006 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Victoria, Phelps won five gold medals and one silver.^[83] In his first event, the 200-m butterfly, Phelps won in a world record time of 1:53.80, his first world record in two years.^[84] In his second event, the 400-m individual medley, Phelps easily won with a time of 4:10.47, 3.38 seconds ahead of second place finisher Robert Margalis.^[85] In his third event, the 4×200-m freestyle relay, Phelps, along with Ryan Lochte, Peter Vanderkaay, and Klete Keller, won the gold medal with a time of 7:05.28.^[86] In his fourth event, the 200-m backstroke, Phelps won the silver medal, finishing behind Aaron Peirsol 1:56.81 to 1:54.44.^[87] In his fifth event, the 4×100-m freestyle relay, Phelps, along with Neil Walker, Cullen Jones, and Jason Lezak, won the gold medal with a world-record time 3:12.46.^[88] In his sixth event, the 200-m individual medley, Phelps won with a world record time of 1:55.84, breaking his record of 1:55.94 set in 2003.^[89]

2007 World Championships[link]

At the 2007 World Aquatics Championships, Phelps won seven gold medals, tying the record, and broke five world records.^[90] Phelps first gold medal came in the 4×100-m freestyle. Phelps swam the lead-off leg in 48.42 and Neil Walker, Cullen Jones and Jason Lezak each expanded the lead to win in a Championship record of 3:12.72, just missing the world record of 3:12.46 set the previous year.^[91] Phelps set his first world record in the Championships in the 200-m freestyle, his second race. Phelps won the gold ahead of Pieter van den Hoogenband and broke Ian Thorpe's six-year-old world record with a time of 1:43.86.^[92] For his third race, the 200-m butterfly, Phelps won the gold and bettered his own world record of 1:53.71 with a time of 1:52.09.^[93] For his fourth race, the 200-m individual medley, Phelps set his third world record with a time of 1:54.98, bettering his own world-record time of 1:55.84^[94] For his fifth race, the 4×200-m freestyle relay, Phelps swam the lead-off leg in 1:45.36 as the American team of Ryan Lochte, Klete Keller, and Peter Vanderkaay went on to win the gold medal and beat the previous world record set by Australia in 2001 with a time 7:03.24.^[95] For his sixth race, the 100-m butterfly, Phelps edged out Ian Crocker 50.77 to 50.82 to win his sixth gold medal.^[96] For his seventh event, the 400-m individual medley, Phelps won the gold medal in a world-record time of 4:06.22, more than 3.5 seconds ahead of Ryan Lochte.^[97] The 4×100-m medley relay team would have competed in the final, but received a disqualification for a false start during a changeover in the heats, ending Phelps' chance of eight gold medals.^[98]

2008 Summer Olympics[link]

Trials[link]

At the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Phelps competed in six individual events. In his first event, the 400-m individual medley, Phelps broke his own world record of 4:06.22 with a time of 4:05.25.^[99] In his second event, the 200-m freestyle, Phelps won with a time of 1:44.10, ahead of Peter Vanderkaay's time 1:45.85.^[100] In his third event, the 100-m freestyle, Phelps placed second in his heat with a time of 47.92, ensuring him a spot on the relay.^[101] In his fourth event, the 200-m butterfly, Phelps won with a time of 1:52.20.^[102] In his fifth event, the 200-m individual medley, Phelps broke his own world record of 1:54.98 with a time of 1:54.80.^[103] In his sixth and final event, the 100-m butterfly, Phelps won with a time of 50.89.^[104] When asked about his chances of winning eight gold medals in Beijing, Phelps said, "I am going to prepare for that meet just like I do every other meet ... There is only so much I can do in a month and then I am going to prepare myself the best that I can."^[105]

Olympics[link]

Phelps set an Olympic record in the preliminary heats of the men's 400-m individual medley.^[106][107] He followed that up in the final by winning the gold medal, as well as breaking his previous world record by nearly two seconds.^[108][109]

Phelps swam the first leg of the men's 4×100-m freestyle relay in a time of 47.51 seconds (an American record for the 100-m freestyle), and won his second gold medal of the 2008 Olympics, as well as setting his second world record of the Olympics (3:08.24).^[110] Teammate Jason Lezak, after beginning the anchor leg more than half a body length behind Alain Bernard, managed to finish ahead of the second-place French team by eight hundredths of a second. The top five teams in the final finished ahead of the world record of 3:12.23 set the previous day by the American B team in a preliminary heat.^[111]

For his third race, Phelps broke his previous world record in the 200-m freestyle by nearly a second and won his third gold medal. He also set his third world record at the Olympics, 1:42.96, winning by nearly two seconds over silver medalist Park Tae-Hwan.^[112] In this race, Phelps became only the fifth Olympic athlete in modern history to win nine gold medals, joining Mark Spitz, Larisa Latynina, Paavo Nurmi, and Carl Lewis.^[113]

Phelps holds his gold medal on the podium on August 10, 2008. Pictured with Ryan Lochte and László Cseh

The next day, Phelps participated in two finals. In his first event, the 200 m butterfly, Phelps made it four gold medals and world records in four events by swimming the final in 1:52.03, defeating silver medalist László Cseh by almost seven-tenths of a second despite his goggles' having filled up with water and being unable to "see anything for the last 100 meters.^[114] This fourth gold medal was his tenth, and made him the all-time leader for most Olympic gold medals won by an individual in the modern Olympic era.^[115]

Less than one hour after his gold medal victory in the 200-m butterfly, Phelps swam the lead-off leg of the 4×200-m freestyle relay. With Lochte, Ricky Berens, and Peter Vanderkaay, he won his fifth gold and set his fifth world record as the American team finished first with a time of 6:58.56. The Americans were the first team to break the seven-minute mark in the relay, and broke the previous record, set in Melbourne, Australia, by more than four and a half seconds.^[116]

After taking a day off from finals (Phelps did swim in qualifying heats), Phelps won his sixth gold of the Beijing Games on August 15 by winning the 200-m individual medley with a world record time of 1:54.23, finishing ahead of Cseh by over two seconds.^[117]

7th gold medal and controversy[link]

Before the final of the 100-m butterfly, Serbian-American swimmer Milorad Čavić caused a minor stir when he said it would be "good" if Phelps lost. "It'd be good for him if he loses. It would be nice if historians talk about Michael Phelps winning seven gold medals and losing the eight to 'some guy.' I'd like to be that guy", Čavić said.^[118] Phelps responded, "When people say things like that, it fires me up more than anything."^[119] On August 16, Phelps won his seventh gold medal of the Games in the men's 100-m butterfly, setting an Olympic record for the event with a time of 50.58 seconds and edging out his nearest competitor Čavić, by 1/100 of a second.^[120]

Unlike all six of his previous events in the 2008 Games, Phelps did not set a new world record, leaving intact Ian Crocker's world-record time of 50.40 seconds, set in 2005.

Phelps's 0.01-second finish ahead of Čavić prompted the Serbian delegation to file a protest. Subsequent analysis of the video by the FINA panel, which required analyzing frames shot 1/10,000th of a second apart, was used to officially confirm Phelps's victory,^[121] but the images were not immediately released to the press. The initial refusal by official timekeeper Omega to release underwater photos of the finish also raised questions due to Phelps's sponsorship relationship with Omega.^[122] Čavić later wrote in his blog, "People, this is the greatest moment of my life. If you ask me, it should be accepted and we should move on. I've accepted defeat, and there's nothing wrong with losing to the greatest swimmer there has ever been".^[123] However, in August 2009, Omega officials admitted that while Čavić "for sure" touched the wall first, "Phelps did it more forcefully," thus registering the time first.^[124]

Phelps's seventh gold medal of the Games tied Mark Spitz's record for gold medals won in a single Olympic Games, set in the 1972 Olympics. It was also his fifth individual gold medal in Beijing, 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. Said Phelps upon setting his seventh-straight Olympic record of the Games in as many events, "Dream as big as you can dream, and anything is possible ... I am sort of in a dream world. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure it is real."

Michael Phelps celebrates with his team-mates after winning his 8th gold medal.

All-time record[link]

On August 17, Phelps won his eighth gold medal in the men's 4×100-m medley relay, breaking Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals won in a single Olympic Games, which had stood since 1972.^[126] Phelps, along with teammates Brendan Hansen, Aaron Peirsol, and Jason Lezak, set a new world record in the event with a time of 3 minutes and 29.34 seconds, 0.7 seconds ahead of second-place Australia and 1.34 seconds faster than the previous record set by the United States at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. When Phelps dived in to swim the 100-m butterfly leg, the third leg of the 400-meter medley, the United States had been trailing Australia and Japan. Phelps completed his split in 50.1 seconds, the fastest butterfly split ever for the event, giving teammate Jason Lezak a more than half-second lead for the final leg, which he would hold onto to clinch the event in world record time.^[127] Said Phelps, upon completing the event that awarded him his eighth gold medal and eighth Olympic record in as many events, "Records are always made to be broken no matter what they are ... Anybody can do anything that they set their mind to."^[128]

2009 World Championships[link]

At the 2009 National Championships, Phelps drastically shortened his program, swimming in only three individual events. In his first event, the 200-m freestyle, Phelps won with a time of 1:44.23.^[129] In his second event, the 200-m butterfly, Phelps easily won with a time of 1:52.76, 0.88 seconds ahead of the second place finisher.^[130] In his third event, the 100-m butterfly, Phelps won with a world-record time of 50.22.^[131]

Phelps (center) before the start of the 200 m butterfly semifinal during 2009 FINA World Championships.

At the 2009 World Aquatics Championships, Phelps won a total of 6 medals, 5 golds and 1 silver. In his first event, the 4×100-m freestyle relay, Phelps swam the lead-off leg in 47.78, well off his 47.51 performance in Beijing, but the American team was able to edge out Russia and France for the gold.^[132] For his second race, the 200-m freestyle, Phelps lost his first race in four years to Germany's Paul Biedermann. Phelps touched second in 1:43.22, but Biedermann smashed Phelps' record of 1:42.96 set in Beijing a year ago with a time of 1:42.00.^[133] Phelps took the silver graciously, but coach Bob Bowman threatened to withdraw Phelps from international competition because Bowman claimed Biedermann had an unfair advantage because he was wearing a full polyurethane swim suit, specifically an Arena X-Glide. Bowman said, "It took me five years to get Michael from 1:46 to 1:42 and this guy has done it in 11 months. That's an amazing training performance. I'd like to know how to do that."^[134] Phelps rebounded from this loss and for his third race, the 200-m butterfly, Phelps won the gold and broke his own world record of 1:52.03 with a time of 1:51.51.^[135] For his fourth race, the 4×200-m freestyle relay, Phelps swam the lead-off leg in 1:44.49 as the team went on to win the gold medal and break the world record set the previous year.^[136] After his loss in the 200-m freestyle, many thought Phelps was vulnerable coming into the final for the 100-m butterfly.^[137] His closest competitor, Milorad Čavić, who wore an Arena X-Glide (the same suit Biedermann beat Phelps with), thought people were making excuses for Phelps because he was wearing an LZR Racer. Čavić even offered to buy Phelps a new suit.^[138] For his fifth race, the 100-m butterfly, Phelps won the gold and became the first man to complete it in under 50 seconds, beating Čavić 49.82 to 49.95.^[139] The victory prompted a fierce celebration from Phelps, who sat on the lane rope and pumped his chest and swimsuit.^[140] For his final event, the 4×100-m medley relay, Phelps won his fifth gold medal. Phelps, along with teammates Aaron Peirsol, Eric Shanteau, and David Walters, set a new world record in the event with a time of 3 minutes and 27.28 seconds.^[141]

2010 Pan Pacific Championships[link]

At the 2010 National Championships, Phelps competed in five individual events. In the 200-m freestyle, Phelps won ahead of Ryan Lochte in a time of 1:45.61.^[142] About an hour later, Phelps returned to the pool to win the 200-m butterfly.^[143] But Phelps was not happy with his performance and called it the "worst" 200-m butterfly of his life. In the 100-m butterfly, Phelps won his 50th national title in 50.65.^[144] After the race, Phelps said he was "fairly pleased" with the result.^[145][146] In the 200-m individual medley, Phelps finished second to Lochte 1:55.94 to 1:54.84.^[147] It was the first time Lochte had beat Phelps in a major national meet.^[148] In the 200-m backstroke, Phelps finished in 4th place in 1:56.98.^[149]

On the first day of competition at the 2010 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, Phelps opted out swimming in the final of the 200-m freestyle to focus on the 200-m butterfly. In the 200-m butterfly, Phelps led from start to finish, coming in first with a time of 1:54.11. Although it was much slower than his 1:51.51 time from the previous year, Phelps has not lost a 200-m butterfly final since 2002.^[150][151] On day two of the competition, Phelps swam in the heats of the 400-m individual medley and contributed in the 4×200-m freestyle relay. In the heats of the 400-m individual medley, Phelps failed to make the A final, with Lochte and Tyler Clary taking the top two American positions.^[152] Phelps did not swim in the B final of the 400-m individual medley. In the 4×200-m freestyle relay, Phelps, with Peter Vanderkaay, Ricky Berens, and Lochte, finished first ahead of Japan and Australia.^[153] On day three of the competition, Phelps competed in the 100-m butterfly and contributed in the 4×100-m freestyle relay. In the 100-m butterfly, Phelps finished first in a time of 50.86, a championship record.^[154] In the 4×100-m freestyle relay, Phelps, with Lochte, Jason Lezak, and Nathan Adrian, finished first ahead of Australia and South Africa. As the lead-off leg in the 4×100-m freestyle relay, Phelps set the championship record in the 100-m freestyle with a time of 48.13.^[155] In his final event, Phelps swam in the 4×100-m medley relay with Aaron Peirsol, Mark Gangloff, and Adrian and finished first ahead of Japan and Australia.^[156]

2011 World Championships[link]

In his first event at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, Phelps won bronze in the 4×100-m freestyle relay with Garrett Weber-Gale, Jason Lezak, and Nathan Adrian.^[157] This was Phelps' first bronze in a World Aquatics Championships. Phelps swam the lead-off leg in 48.08, the second-best lead-off in the field behind James Magnussen's 47.49. In his second event, the 200-m freestyle, Phelps won silver for the second consecutive time at a World Aquatics Championships. This time he finished second to Ryan Lochte in the event with a time of 1:44.79, compared to Lochte's time of 1:44.44.^[158] In his third final, the 200-m butterfly, he won his first gold medal with a time of 1:53.34 to become the first swimmer to win five gold medals in one discipline at the World Aquatics Championships.^[159] In his fourth event, the 200-m individual medley, Phelps again finished second to Lochte in a personal best of 1:54.16, which was 0.16 behind Lochte who swam a new world record.^[160] It was Phelps' 30th medal in the World Aquatics Championships. Shortly after completing the semifinals of the 100-m butterfly, Phelps competed in the 4×200-m freestyle relay with Peter Vanderkaay, Ricky Berens, and Ryan Lochte. Phelps' team won the gold medal in a time of 7:02.67. Phelps swam the lead-off leg in 1:45.53, the third-best leg in the field.^[161] In the 100-m butterfly, Phelps won his third consecutive title (also winning in 2007 and 2009) and second individual title of the meet with a time of 50.71.^[162] In his last event, the 4×100-m medley relay, Phelps teamed with Nick Thoman, Mark Gangloff, and Nathan Adrian to win gold in a time of 3:32.06. Phelps' butterfly leg of 50.57 was by far the fastest butterfly leg in the field.^[163]

2012 Summer Olympics[link]

Phelps has said he will compete at the 2012 Summer Olympics but it would likely be his last Olympics.^[164][165] For the 2012 Olympics, Phelps has stated he will never do eight events again and will try new events. Phelps has said he will for sure drop the 400-m individual medley from his program, but his other events are in question. Phelps said, "I keep saying I want to go down and start sprinting, but Bob really isn't so keen on that ... I don't think that's going to happen ... Over the next four years, I'd like to try some different events, maybe not do some of the events I did here."^[166][167]

Physique[link]

Michael Phelps starting a race, Santa Clara, California, 2009.

A few physical attributes particularly suit Phelps to swimming: his long, thin torso offers low drag; his arms span 6 feet 7 inches (201 cm)—disproportionate to his height of 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm)—and act as long, propulsive "paddles"; his relatively short legs lower drag, and perhaps add the speed enhancement of a hydrofoil; his size-14 feet provide the effect of flippers; and his hypermobile ankles can extend beyond the pointe of a ballet dancer, enabling him to whip his feet as if they were fins for maximum thrust through the water.^[168]

Allegations of performance enhancing drug use[link]

Throughout the 2008 Olympics, Phelps was questioned by the press as to whether perhaps his feats were "too good to be true", a reference to unsupported rumors that Phelps might be taking performance enhancing drugs.^[169][170] In response, Phelps noted that he had signed up for Project Believe, a project by the United States Anti-Doping Agency in which U.S. Olympians can volunteer to be tested in excess of the World Anti-Doping Agency guidelines.^[171] During the Games, Phelps was tested nine times, and passed all of them.^[172][173]

Bob Bowman[link]

Phelps has trained under Bob Bowman since he was 11 years old.^[174] Bowman swam for Florida State University from 1983 to 1985.^[175] Phelps has said Bowman reminded him of a drill sergeant because of his disciplined and regimented ways.^[176] However, Phelps has said, "Training with Bob is the smartest thing I've ever done ... I'm not going to swim for anyone else."^[177] After the 2004 Summer Olympics, Bowman was hired as the head coach for the University of Michigan after Jon Urbanchek retired. Phelps joined Bowman at Michigan to train and even took a few classes, but did not pursue a degree.^[178][179] After the 2008 Summer Olympics, Bowman returned to Baltimore as CEO at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club. Phelps also returned to Baltimore with Bowman.^[180]