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Keeping cool with Michael Phelps | |
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Around the Academy: |
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Swimming sensation Michael Phelps
How's this for pressure?
You're 19 years old, America's number one swimmer and competing in eight events at the Olympics. And your fans - and the media - expect you to win them all! Welcome to the world of Michael Phelps - winner of six world and six Olympic titles, holder of three world records, and one of the best all-round swimmers on the planet. In 2000, aged 15, he became America's youngest Olympian for almost 70 years, reaching the final of the 200m butterfly.
Four years on, he was expected to clean up, and came away with an incredible haul of six gold and two bronze medals. For most people that would be considered an amazing achievement, but when it comes to Phelps expectations are always incredibly high. Not that the man himself is affected - the 6'4" teenager is taking everything in his stride. "You can look at pressure in two different ways," says Phelps. "It's either going to hurt you or help you. "I see it as something that helps me. If there's pressure on me or someone thinks I can't do something, it's going to make me work even harder. "I guess it'll give me that little extra edge - that extra fire that I need." The Spitz factor Ask any American swimming fan to name their country's greatest ever swimmer and you'll probably get the same answer every time: Mark Spitz. In 1972 Spitz won a record seven gold medals at the Munich Olympics. Before the games, Phelps had to contend with one question - could he equal that record?
"My goal is to get one gold medal," he says. "You've got to start somewhere and after coming back from Sydney with nothing I think that's the place to start." For now, Spitz's record remains in tact. But with more gold medals to fight for and a long career ahead, expect Phelps to break records for many years to come.
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