The 37-year-old Olympic champion Phelps almost committed suicide due to depression, and his current condition is as old and haggard as the age of 60.
Phelps: A swimming superstar with numerous accolades, but also suffering from depression.
Phelps, once a prodigy swimmer, is now suffering physically and mentally. He made the mistake of drunk driving, drug use, and even came close to suicide after the 2012 Olympics.
However, the restoration of the father-son relationship and the birth of a son allowed him to be born again. Despite battling depression for many years, he is no longer the lightning-fast "flying fish" he used to be.
Now, he is less than 40 years old, but he looks like a 60-year-old man, looking so vicissitudes and haggard.
In 1985, a rising star in the swimming world was born in Baltimore, USA, and he was Phelps. However, his childhood was not peaceful, and his parents' relationship problems shattered his family life.
For Phelps, his childhood memories are filled with shadows of escaping from his family. It wasn't until he was 7 years old that his parents divorced and he began to live with his mother Debbie, and he gradually came out of the shadow of his childhood.
Despite his rough childhood, Phelps became a bright new star in the swimming world with his hard work and talent.
When Phelps was 9 years old, doctors diagnosed him with ADHD. This condition not only makes him hyperactive and careless, but also accompanied by a certain degree of cognitive and language development lag.
Debbie and Phelps' two older sisters have also experienced these symptoms firsthand.
As a child, Phelps had difficulty in language expression, difficult to distinguish similar words, fell when he walked, was covered with scars, and scored at the bottom of various sports tests.
But he has an endless amount of energy.
According to Debbie, Phelps showed exuberant energy and athletic talent from an early age. Until the age of seven, he played a variety of ball games almost every weekend, playing baseball in the morning, football and hockey in the afternoon, and basketball in the evening.
Even when he is quiet, he will keep fiddling with small objects. However, since being introduced to the sport of swimming, Phelps has finally found a stage where he can fully release his energy.
His two older sisters showed great athletic talent, so Debbie decided to send them to the Baltimore Aquatic Club for training. In order to drain her son's endless energy, Debbie decides to take him to the club as well.
However, no one expected that this decision would unexpectedly spark Phelps' athletic talent. He once recalled: "I was like a fish out of water, I would rather live in the water, which is the safest and most comfortable place for me, where I could swim, train, and even sleep." ”
At just 10 years old, Phelps showed amazing talent in swimming, surpassing even his older sisters. In 1996, he had an Olympic swimming competition in Atlanta, and his desire to win was deeply stimulated by watching swimmers chase after me in the pool.
Back in Baltimore, he began to look for a professional swimming instructor, and luckily, he met a coach named Bob Bowman, who came into Phelps' life.
At the beginning of Professor Bowman's coaching career, he was fortunate to meet future swimming prodigy Phelps. Professor Bowman did not hesitate to praise Phelps' physical condition, calling him a rare swimmer with broad shoulders and slender upper limbs, but relatively short legs.
In the water, Phelps is like a light sailboat, with his extraordinary flexibility and long reach, his performance in the field of professional swimming immediately attracted widespread attention, and he was hailed as a "swimming genius".
Whether it's freestyle, butterfly, backstroke or medley, he swims with ease, far surpassing his peers. In 1999, Phelps was named to the U.S. National Swimming Team II.
As a result of his outstanding performance at the Olympic Trials, he became the youngest Olympian in U.S. history.
At the Sydney Olympics, the young Phelps joined the team in the competition. However, he made a careless mistake before the competition, forgetting to bring his badge and having to rush back to the Olympic Village to collect his pass.
Despite this, he competed with unwavering determination and eventually finished fifth in the butterfly event. Although the results did not turn out as he had hoped, the experience undoubtedly made Phelps more mature and resilient.
When Phelps returned to the United States, he was surprised to find that no one cared about his results, and even his closest teammates only asked him if he had seen Australian kangaroos.
This feeling of neglect pierced his heart deeply. At that moment, the 15-year-old Phelps had a big ambition: he wanted to surprise the world with him.
Based on Phelps' performance, Bowman laid out a detailed career blueprint for him. He plans to compete in the Olympic trials in 2000, become an official member of the national team in 2004, and break the world record in 2008 ......However, the reality was very different from what Bowman had expected.
Phelps' career came 4-7 years earlier than he expected. In fact, Phelps' diligence and perseverance allowed his dream to come true ahead of schedule. His determination and love for swimming made him a shining star in the swimming world, leaving the world amazed and amazed by him.
1.In 2000, Phelps stood on the Olympic stage as a young player 2.In 2001, Phelps set a world record in the 200m butterfly, becoming the youngest record holder in the world at the time.
In the same year, he won the first world championship of his career at the World Championships 3.After four years of hibernation, Phelps finally arrived at the long-awaited Athens Olympics.
Prior to this, he had already won eight swimming spots in the Olympic Games with an absolute advantage, just to continue the Olympic glory. He vowed to use his strength to get rid of his shame.
After winning bronze medals in the 200m freestyle and 4x100m freestyle relay, Phelps won gold in all other events, with all the competitors being his foil.
In this Olympics, Phelps is undoubtedly the biggest winner. The only regret is that he failed to break the record of seven gold medals held by swimming predecessor Spitz at a single Olympic Games.
But this is only a temporary regret, because in four years, Phelps will once again perform miracles at the Beijing Olympics.
Over the past decade, the Phelps curve has shown a rapid upward trend, especially in 2008, when his performance reached a spurt peak. Whether it's butterfly, freestyle or medley, whether it's 100m, 200m or 400m, or relay, as long as he participates, other athletes have little chance of winning gold.
"He knows when and how to paddle, he is like a fish, he swims almost without any bubbles, and every stroke he makes is extremely precise," his opponents said helplessly.
The Water Cube was a testament to Phelps' success, winning eight gold medals at the Olympics, seven of which set new world records or broke them.
His performance left other athletes in the dust, even despairing. Although Phelps showed signs of decline at the 2012 London Olympics, he still earned respect with four golds and two silvers.
People began to study Phelps' unique talents. One of the goals of an athlete's high-intensity training is to improve the ability of muscles to tolerate lactic acid. The greater this ability, the less lactic acid is produced, and the athlete's endurance and endurance will increase.
Through the test of Phelps, it was found that his lactic acid tolerance far exceeded that of ordinary athletes. With the same muscle contractions, the lactic acid in Phelps' body is only half that of a normal person.
His coach and teammates also confirmed that at the same training intensity, others always felt fatigued before Phelps.
After 20 years of research, physiologists on the U.S. national swimming team counted the post-competition lactate levels of 5,000 athletes and found that most people had between 10-15 millimoles of lactate per liter.
However, Phelps broke the world record in 2003 with only 56 millimoles, which indicates that his body is able to withstand a much more lactic acid load than ordinary people.
After several measurements, Phelps' post-race lactate remained at 6 millimoles. Although his lactate level briefly rose to 9 millimoles during the Beijing Olympics, this was understandable, as he had to compete in 17 races over nine days and swim a total of 38 kilometres.
This is equivalent to a long-distance runner running 8-9 marathons in a row in half a month.
What makes Phillips great is his extraordinary lung capacity. Normally, a person's lung capacity is between 3000-5000 ml, while the average athlete's lung capacity is around 7000, yet Phelps' lung capacity is as high as a staggering 15000 ml.
This means he can breathe longer in the water without having to ventilate frequently.
It is widely believed that Phelps' exceptional physical condition and swimming talent were the key to his numerous championships. While this is true to a certain extent, if we attribute such a brilliant achievement entirely to talent, it would be the greatest misunderstanding and disrespect for him.
No genius can succeed without breaking a sweat, and Phelps is no exception.
After the Sydney Olympics, Phelps left his rest days behind. Whether it's weekends, holidays, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, he will keep training, whether it's spring, summer, autumn or winter, rain or shine.
Every morning at 5:30 a.m., he is woken up punctually by the alarm clock. "The moment I turn on the light and look at the swim cap on the table, I think there are 10,000 reasons why I don't want to get up, but as soon as I think of that 'training,' I immediately sit up and get into the water," he says. ”
In the memories of the 2004 Athens Olympics, Phelps skillfully placed:"Athens"The two characters are sewn on the inside of his swimming cap, and whenever he sees these two words in the swimming cap, all the fatigue and slackness will immediately dissipate.
His persistence and perseverance were admired by his coaches, who commented: "I was amazed at the talent he showed when he was always eager to jump into the water and demanded more from himself. The so-called "God rewards hard work", the glory and applause that Phelps later won perfectly interprets this sentence.
After the London 2012 Olympics, Phelps decided to retire so that the rest of the swimmers could finally breathe a sigh of relief. However, just as the Rio 2016 Olympics were about to begin, Phelps surprised everyone by announcing his decision to return to swimming.
Even more surprisingly, Phelps won five gold medals and one silver medal after a four-year absence, setting a world record of 23 total Olympic gold medals.
Phelps has announced his retirement from swimming for good, leaving behind many unbroken world records and his storied career. However, despite his public acclaim, honor and applause, he hides pain and untold troubles inside.
In 2004, Phelps was arrested for drunk driving, and his life was plagued by depression. After pleading guilty, he received an 18-month suspended sentence and a $250 fine.
In court, he said firmly: "I am deeply aware of my mistakes, and I will learn from them and work hard to correct them." ”
In September 2014, Phelps was in Baltimore for drunk driving and speeding**. He reportedly drove a white car around the city at 1 a.m. when the speed limit was 45 mph, but he increased the speed to 84 mph.
After testing, his blood alcohol concentration was twice the legal limit. Phelps was banned for six months by the United States Swimming Association for repeated violations.
In addition to drunk driving, Phelps was also involved in drug use and gambling. At the beginning of 2009, he gathered to smoke ** was **, and fell to the bottom in an instant from the "eight gold kings" of the Olympic Games.
Although he immediately apologized publicly, his image and favorability in my heart were greatly damaged by his avoidance of talking about drug use.
In the interview, Phelps responded to rumours that he had taken **, saying it was "a grave mistake" and admitting that he acted very stupidly.
Surprisingly, though, shortly after his retirement, Phelps made his secret that he suffered from depression, which may have been the main reason for his mistakes.
After the 2004 Athens Olympics, depression crept into Phelps. By the end of his trip to London in 2012, he was serious enough to want to end his life.
However, after the 2014 drunk driving incident, Phelps locked himself in his room for five days, skipping meals and sleeping, and his mind was full of suicidal thoughts. But as a world champion loved and respected by the audience, why did Phelps fall into depression?
It's a question that everyone wants to figure out.
According to research, there are two main causes of Phelps' depression. First of all, his family of origin has put a lot of pressure on him. When he was 7 years old, his parents divorced, and swimming became his main escape from his family's misfortunes.
In past interviews, he has said that the breakdown of his family has had a great negative impact on his life and his sister. Secondly, as a male, he is not allowed to show any weakness.
Coupled with the cognitive limitations brought about by ADHD, he fell into a state of inextrication. This pressure accumulates in the body, but there is no outlet for release.
As an athlete, Phelps is even more invested in swimming training than in the company of his family. The Olympics are a rollercoaster ride of excitement for athletes, with the moment of dive undoubtedly adrenaline-pumping, but once the competition is over, the athlete's physical and mental state is quickly depleted, replaced by endless anxiety and emptiness.
Many athletes have experienced the disease, known as "post-competition depression," but Phelps' condition is far more serious than they are.
In 2014, Phelps was in the most difficult moment of his life, his condition made it almost impossible to save himself, and he had to turn to the hospital for help. However, in the end, it was his reconciliation with his father and the birth of his son that helped him get out of his predicament.
Since his parents' divorce, Phelps' relationship with his father has been strained, and there was no communication between them at one point. However, as Phelps became an adult, their communication increased, which somewhat compensated for the trauma of his broken family as a child.
In 2016, Phelps' eldest son was born, and the arrival of this new life changed his life and gave him hope for the future.
From this moment on, Phelps decided to open up about his condition, and he actively participated in various public events, sharing his experience with those who were struggling with depression and helping them to get out of it.
Although his own illness is not yet complete, he is willing to use his experience to encourage and help those who are going through difficulties.
The postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has left Phelps full of emotion. From the perspective of an ordinary person, he believes that this buys more time for humanity to defeat the virus.
However, as an athlete who has suffered from depression, he is deeply concerned about the psychological state of the participants: "The sudden change of events can disrupt the rhythm of the athletes, and I can't imagine what they are going through.
At the same time, Phelps did not hesitate to say: "If this happened to me at a low point, I would definitely not be able to survive." So he generously reached out and offered assistance to all athletes: "I am willing to provide psychological counseling for those who have psychological fluctuations in the next few months."
At this summer's World Swimming Championships, Phelps surprised audiences with his appearance as a guest commentator in Fukuoka, Japan. The former "flying fish" of the pool is no longer the lightning-fast figure, his face is covered with a thick beard, and he looks haggard and thin.
Apparently, he is still struggling with depression. However, judging by his positive attitude, we need not worry too much that he will fall into the abyss of despair again.
On the evening of July 23, the men's 400m medley final was in full swing, and Phelps attended the competition as a guest commentator. Surprisingly, Marchand, a young player from France, managed to break Phelps' record of 15 years in this event.
Seeing this achievement, Phelps couldn't help but stand up and applaud Marchand, the smile on his face full of relief and encouragement.
Others only see the honor of Phelps as "the first person in swimming", but they don't know how much sweat he has put in behind him, let alone the seemingly brilliant road to the championship, and there are times when he is troubled by depression.
Today's Phelps has long since lost the sharpness of his youth, and he is as old as a 60-year-old man. But fortunately, he has embarked on the journey of anti-depression, and I believe that he will soon be able to get rid of the sea of suffering and usher in a new dawn.