Swimmer Michael Phelps could become the winningest American Summer Olympian

Swimmer Michael Phelps could become the winningest American Summer Olympian

For most of his life, Michael Phelps has had very little interest in self-reflection.

Occasionally, though, when he is away from the swimming pool and when he is bored, he will type his name into Google. He will click the image function, and then stare at snapshots people have taken of him over the years.

It is not an exercise in vanity. He likes to think about who he was in that brief and frozen moment. He studies his facial expressions after races and he tries to recall what he was thinking, channeling those emotions into the present.

"There are some after races where I like how intense I look," he says. "I can see the picture and just replay everything that was going through my head at that moment."

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The lowdown on swimmer Michael Phelps

Beyond that, he does not like to look back. He doesn't think much about the moments and the forces that shaped him into the man he is today. Especially not as he prepares for the start of the Beijing Olympics this week.

It's an event many expect will be the pinnacle of his career. You will see him every time you turn on your television, and not just in the pool. He will be featured in a stream of commercials pitching everything from low-interest credit cards and designer watches to skintight swimsuits and energy bars.

He insists he never has let any of it go to his head. It's a lesson he learned when he returned home from Sydney in 2000 after competing in his first Olympics at age 15. His mother, Debbie, had blanketed his house in Rodgers Forge, Md., with banners and American flags to celebrate his return. Phelps' stern coach, Bob Bowman, was not happy.

"Bob was like, 'Debbie, take those down! We don't need those up,' There is so much more that's going to happen. We can't do this for everything.' " Phelps says. "I think it was then that I realized you can't get caught up on one thing. You just have to keep going."

The past, though, is important. When you watch Phelps swim in Beijing next week—when you tune in to see if he can accomplish the unprecedented, winning eight gold medals in a single Olympics—know that it is only possible because of what happened in the last four years after he became famous for winning six gold medals in Athens.

Study those moments, and you begin to see how time and pain—two of the most powerful forces in a swimmer's life—have shaped the second act of Phelps' career.

The big mistake
It's Nov. 15, 2004—a cool fall Monday morning in Manhattan—and on the Today Show set, just a few minutes after 7 a.m., 19-year-old Michael Phelps sits across from the show's host, Matt Lauer.

Just 11 days before this moment, he was in Salisbury, Md., visiting his best friend. At an off-campus party, he had a few drinks. In the years leading up to Athens, every decision was made with swimming in mind, and so after the Olympics, he was given time to decompress. To be a kid. To leave the pool and make mistakes.

In Salisbury, he made a big one. After leaving the party, he rolled through a stop sign while making a right turn in his Land Rover. He was pulled over and charged with driving while intoxicated.

This is his first television interview since the arrest and Lauer is standing in as the Moral Conscience of the American Public. This is what happens when 19-year-old idols stumble and fall. They must beg for our forgiveness while we brush our teeth and wait for the weather report.

"For that 12- or 13-year-old boy or girl who's got the poster of Michael Phelps up on the wall in their bedroom, and they're throwing on the swim cap every day running to the pool to try and be like Mike, what do you say?" Lauer asks.

"I definitely let myself down and my family down," Phelps says, and the camera moves in for a close-up. His eyes only briefly meet Lauer's.

He pleaded guilty to driving while impaired, got 18 months probation, and had autograph seekers waiting for him in the parking lot after he left the courtroom.

Ask him to name the dumbest thing he ever has done and you will get an interesting answer.

"I think I've had stupid things that I've done, but I've been able to learn from all of them," Phelps says. "You learn the most from mistakes you make. They all may not be good, but I think I've learned from every mistake I've made. In that respect, I don't think I've done any stupid things."

It would be neat and tidy if that one moment represented all the maturation necessary in Phelps' journey. An epiphany that forced him to grow up in an instant. Sometimes, when he's written about, even today, it's spun that way.